# Tomorrow I'll be driving a Nissan Leaf, Renault Fluence Z.E. and the Renault Twizy



## patrickza (Dec 28, 2009)

So it's not often you get to drive 4 ev's in one day... Ok, quick review time. I had 30 minutes with each the leaf and the fluence, but only 10 in the twizy. 

Started with the leaf. An unusual looking car. Kind of like the tiida but a little more funky. 80kW on tap but 280nm of torque from 0rpm of course. It feels very nippy. Shooting into gaps in traffic is a breeze. I didn't like the crawl forward they programmed into the car to make it feel like an auto. Seems wasteful to me. I did like the dash, the quietness and the overtaking power. Quite a lot. I drive a 1.6l manual transmission nissan almera, and the leaf is far nippier. It's quite unusual as to how it feels so light on the road, but obviously isn't really. The wind was howling and while my car was getting thrown about, in the leaf it was all calm. I think this is due to the low CoG. Would I buy one? Well I'm building an electric car, so no, but at the price you guys can get it for in the states it makes a hell of a lot of sense. I'd buy one for my wife in a heartbeat. If I had one. A wife that it, the heartbeat I do have! Range reports seem to be between 60 and 120 miles. Perfect for everyday use. And they've done a really, really good job. If I wasn't building a car I'd have one too.

Ended with the renault. A good looking french car. It's big and luxurious. Feels a lot more like a regular car too. Analog dash, auto style gear lever not a star trek buttonny lever thing in the nissan, regular handbrake and not a switch ala leaf. It also creeps forward like the leaf, but on hills it would roll back if it was steep. This has 70kW, but you can't really feel the difference. And I did try, racing other cars at the lights you're still very quick on takeoff. It feels heavier though, and I guess it is. The battery is also mounted higher up, between the rear seat and the boot. The major difference between the two is that with the renault you do a battery swap at a swap station while with the leaf you do a rapid charge at a 50kW charging station. I'd go for the rapid charge. I don't want somebody else's badly abused battery thank you.

Just btw, the nissan guys (and we had all the best engineers in and around the car all day) say it won't be heading for my country soon because we don't have the infrastructure yet. What infrastructure. All you need is electricity. They seem to be stuck on the same what if I need to drive more than 100 miles story that all the idiot potential customers are. At least they know their market.  

In between the two big ev's I had a brief stint in the twizy. Too brief. I'm in love. It's nippy, feels super light, turns on a dime, super easy to park and is everything I want in a city car with none of the fat that's crept into the rest of the auto industry. 50mph is all you get from the 15kW, but it feels like it'll get there in no time. I love the central seating, and even though you feel quite upright and comfortable, all the weight is very low down. I never once though it would fall over. Interestingly it looks even smaller in real life than it does in the pictures. Range is 60 miles from the 7kwh pack. It's enough, especially considering that you only need 2 hours to get charged again. Is it perfect? firstly it sounds insanely cheap, only $10000, but then you have to lease the battery for something like $100 a month. I've never leased anything in my life, don't plan on starting now. The other shortcoming is the lack of full doors. I want to be able to use a city car all year round, summer and winter. I don't need a heating system, but I don't want to dress like I'm on a motorcycle either. They've gone and made gulwing style half doors, why not just go that little bit further and finish them. I have a feeling the aftermarket world will take care of this for us. Even so, at $10000 for the twizy, and let's be generous and say another $4000 for the 7kwh pack (should be far less though), and $1000 for some door solution. So $15000 before any incentive. If that was available today I'd be handing it over. Right now in fact. It's exactly what I want in a city car (with doors of course). The central seating suits me too, as my job means I could live in different countries every couple of years, switching between left hand drive and right hand drive would be no issue if I shipped it. It would also take up much less space in the container we get given. I want one. I really, really want one!

So what was the fourth EV for the day? My kona! Packed it into the back of my car before the trip down. Took a great 15 mile trip up and down the coast, it was stunning. Also the fastest EV to 30mph on the day. 5000km's on the clock and still running like a swiss watch. I really love my bike, it's awesome. On a day with many EV grins, this one was still the widest. Ok the twizy came a close second. Maybe I should go back and try organise a race with the leaf or renault later today .

And here's a quick unedited video to show you the twizy. The videos of the leaf and fluence are still to come when I finally edit everything together neatly. Apologies for the quality, and my hair in the camera, but I was using my sunglass camera...

Here's the vid, not sure why I can't embed: http://youtu.be/2Qw7JrDmZu0


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