From Autopia Nissan’s Electric Leaf Spreads the EV Gospel (via The Transportationist)
“You don’t worry about the battery,” Ghosn said. “We worry about the battery.”
Company CEO Carlos Ghosn is among the industry’s loudest EV evangelists, and he firmly believes the four-door, five passenger Nissan Leaf will usher in the era of cleaner, greener motoring when it goes on sale late next year.
Nissan is confident the cost of the lease, plus the money you’ll pay for electricity, will for most consumers be no more expensive than buying gasoline. When we drove a Leaf development prototype in April, a company exec said the cost per mile is 4 cents if you figure gas is four bucks a gallon, electricity is 14 cents a kilowatt hour and you drive 15,000 miles a year. Nissan said at the time the car would cost about 90 cents to charge if you plug it in off-peak.
By retaining ownership of the battery, Nissan also can update them as technology advances so consumers aren’t left with “last year’s model.” And though Ghosn didn’t mention it, leasing provides Nissan with some cover should the battery wear out prematurely because it can just replace the pack.
The Leaf’s air-cooled battery provides enough juice to go 100 miles in city traffic.
Read more at Autopia
