Originally Posted By: Am_Fear_Liath_Mor
The Nissan leaf (@99mpg equivalent) is a small car equivalent roughly in size to the Fiat Panda Eco (@56.5 mpg). The Nissan Leaf energy spec will be at the battery @ 32kwhr and doesn't take into consideration the transmission and the battery loses with respect to the generation of the source electricity (Lithium Ion has 80% efficiency so you can easily knock 20-30 mpg of that 99mpg headline figure when taking these losses into account) so the differences aren't to great when everything is taken into consideration especially when you take into account the real world combined driving figure as a combination of motorway, urban and city driving.


Actually, that number does take into account charging losses. The 'at the battery' number is 24kwh. Also, the 99mpg figure is for combined driving (typical 55% city/45% highway). Pure city driving is at 106, while highway is at 92.

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The other problem is of course would be the peak loading issues for the electrical grid as everyone tops of their car batteries just before the rush hours.


The current charging systems are designed to charge over night (which takes advantage of off-peak electricity usage). When used in this manner, there is no need to charge right before rush hour.

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The other major problem of course is replacing millions of those cheap toxic $9000 Li-ion battery packs every 3-5 years or so in the rather small and very compact Nissan Leaf.


After 10 years the batteries are expected to maintain 70-80% of their charging capacity. However, it comes with an 8 year/100,000 mile battery warranty. The battery itself is also about 85% recyclable.