For the first time in the 32-years long history of this prestigious award, an electric vehicle has won it: zero emission model Nissan LEAF was crowned yesterday ‘Car of the Year Japan’ at the Tokyo Motor Show. This is yet another outstanding achievement for the model, which also won the 2011 European Car of the Year Award in November 2011 and the 2011 World Car of the Year.

Nissan LEAF (backronim for Leading, Environmentally friendly, Affordable, Family car) is a five-door hatchback electric car that hit the worldwide market in January 2011 and boasts optimally-placed lithium-ion batteries, a high-performance electric motor and advanced control technologies such as a dedicated on-board IT system that can be accessed by remote control via mobile phones.

Nissan President and CEO Carlos Ghosn commented: “We have sold 20,000 Nissan LEAFs and also delivered on our promise of affordable, zero-emission mobility on a global scale. This award is as much a win for Nissan as it is for our customers. All these accolades show that zero-emission vehicles can clearly be competitive alternatives to conventional ones.” There can be no denial that this car has already secured its place in automotive history.

via | Auto-Media.Info

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Renault-Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn told the press that the group aims to sell 1.5 million electric cars by 2016 in a bid to become the world’s leading manufacturer in the zero-emissions market. Automotive News reports that Ghosn’s vision on the future of the automotive industry is quite different from what other leading groups expect, announcing a 4 billion dollars investment in the eco-friendly cars sector by 2017. “I understand we were not the first in developing hybrid cars - Ghosn said - and that is completely fine, as long as we are the leading company in developing all-electric cars.”

So far Nissan sold 15,000 units of its electric model Leaf (pictured), and is planning to add another 3 all-electric models and 1 hybrid plug-in car in its green range by 2016. Besides, the group is planning to extend the production of batteries to its American, English, Portuguese and French facilities in an attempt to achieve an output of 500,000 units per year in 2015. This way, the automaker expects to cut its carbon footprint by 20 % and improve overall fuel economy by 35 %. Ghosn is convinced that consumers will soon get used to electric cars, even though analysts say that range autonomy and battery charging time are elements that will slow down the evolution of this market until technology will find a way around them.

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Embarassing day for Top Gear: evidence has surfaced implying that Jeremy Clarkson was totally aware of the fact that the battery of the Nissan Leaf tested for the final episode of the show’s 17th series did not have enough charge to finish its 60-mile journey. A serious issue, if you consider that the incident has been used to discredit electric cars‘ effectiveness as well as their place in the future of the automotive sector.

During the Top Gear test in fact we can see the Nissan Leaf running out of electricity half way through its journey to Lincoln - Lincolnshire - followed by the presenters’ 10-hour long struggle to get it recharged. Little we know that the show’s producers have deliberately flattened the battery before setting off in order to make electric vehicles look unmanageable and unreliable in the real world.

We have to remind you that Top Gear seems to have a problem with this kind of cars, often knocking them down, and is currently been sued by electric car maker Tesla for the similar alleged misrepresentation of their Roadster during a 2008 show. The Guardian seems to back up the Nissan Leaf test sabotage theory by pointing out that the car’s electronic dashboard would have notified the driver about the percentage of electricity available (and its translation in miles) as soon as he turned the ignition on.

Top Gear has replied stating that the point of the test wasn’t to make the vehicle look bad, but “to show how bad the charging infrastructure is in the UK [therefore] the car needed to run out of charge so that could be demonstrated” adding that the purpose of the test was not to test the car’s mileage claims. Still Jeremy, we feel a bit cheated.

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After announcements that the UK would have a large slice of Nissan Leaf construction, the new Qashqai will also be built and even designed in Britain. Nissan has a style centre in Paddington which will be responsible for the European design of the future Qashqai, and the rest of the development will take place at Nissan’s European technical centre in Bedfordshire.

Production will then take place at Sunderland facilities where Note and Juke models are also built, although the Qashqai has so far been the most popular model. It’s good news for the UK car production industry and shows that Japanese car manufacturers are still happy to design and build in Europe.

Source | Autocar

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If you’re wondering what the battery looks like in one of these cars, you’ve got a very good indication.” And so we open our post with two almost totally unrelated pieces, if weren’t for the fact that we’re sharing the electric car love today. After Euro NCAP tests, the Nissan Leaf has come off with five stars for its:

specially designed battery pack below the rear-seat compartment, making sure that not only occupants are well protected in a crash, but also that the risks of battery damage or high voltage leaking are reduced to zero.

We’re guessing that after a crash the Leaf wouldn’t look like the cars in the video from Jalopnik above. After the jump, you can see the Nissan Leaf crash test video to see exactly what does happen. The classification confirms the US safety IIHS results recently, and the word is that the Nissan Leaf “proves that EVs can be equally safe as common cars.”

Continue reading: How electric cars crash and Euro NCAP five stars for Nissan Leaf

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The European car market will be relying on hybrid and electric vehicles more in the future if reports about banning fuel-driven cars in Europe are to be believed. But at this stage, despite the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, the Japanese car manufacturers are still slowing making their mark in the electric sector.

After seeing the first Nissan Leaf deliveries in the UK, Japanese counterpart Toyota has announced a new partnership in Paris to help test its Toyota Prius hybrid models and the supporting electric recharging infrastructure. We don’t know what agreements a company like Renault might have, so we’re making a guess when we say that the Japanese company might have beaten the French in their own market.

Renault is heavily investing in its electric vehicles, with the Renault Fluence to be released later this year, and an electric Twingo to follow, possibly as early as 2014. With the Nissan Leaf winning the 2011 European Car of the Year award, and the Toyota Prius still the world’s original hybrid, the Japanese brands could well have a head start in the electric segment of the European car market if these kinds of infrastructure deals continue.

Source | WCF

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The new Nissan Leaf has hit the UK car market with the first deliveries having been made of the electric car. The future of the Leaf is looking positive since it won the 2011 European Car of the Year Award, and it will become more of a protagonist in the UK car manufacturing sector in the future.

The Nissan Leaf is currently built only in Japan, but starting from 2013 the small electric model will also be assembled in the UK factory of Sunderland, where other models like the Juke are also put together. According to Nissan, an electric recharge network is being constructed across Britain, meaning that the early adopters shouldn’t find themselves alone for long.

Nissan dealerships are also preparing for recharge points to be installed in their facilities. They will be capable of an 80 percent recharge in just 30 minutes. There is a plan to install about 9,000 recharge points across the UK by 2013.

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The Audi A8, new BMW 5 Series and electric Nissan Leaf will be the final three finalists in the 2011 World Car of the Year awards. The final verdict will be given on April 21st during the New York Auto Show, and will be the result of the evaluations of 66 judges. The vehicles involved have to have been on sale in at least two continents between January 1st and May 31 to be considered for the prize.

The Nissan Leaf gets two nominations because it’s also competing in the World Green Car of the Year category alongside the BMW 320d EfficientDynamics Edition and the Chevrolet Volt. The World Performance Car of the Year finalists are the Ferrari 458 Italia, the Mercedes SLS AMG and the Porsche 911 Turbo. Frankly, it’s quite a predictable line-up and the only thing that will make it interesting is if the Leaf gets to win in the overall category as well, marking a moment when electric cars finally turn the corner and compete with their fuel-powered counterparts.

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The BMW Megacity model, which should eventually appear under a different brand, looks like it will take on the same premium label as the mother ship, so to speak. According to sources cited by Autocar, the BMW Megacity will be expensive when it’s released, such that it could cost more than the Nissan Leaf on the UK market, even after government incentives have been taken into account.

The source said: “BMW is a premium product and electric mobility will not be cheap,” but no mention was made of the new brand and how it will sit in relation to the BMW premium segment. It makes sense that BMW as a brand, would be more expensive than the Nissan Leaf, and it looks like BMW is investing in some serious technology for its electric citycar model.

It will have carbonfibre components including the passenger cell and an aluminium chassis, while BMW is also simplifying the things that can go wrong, with a singe-speed gearbox and robust electric motor. It’s planning that only the battery pack will have a limited life, and these small innovations should make the Megacity cheaper and quicker to build. We’ll be interested to hear more about this model as information emerges, especially as to its target market and competitors.

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Could this mark the beginning of a true electric car evolution in Europe? The Nissan Leaf, an all-electric vehicle, has won the 2011 European Car of the Year Award in what was not, however, a smooth victory. According to some reports, some journalists had placed the Leaf at the bottom of the list of finalists, while others had put it first. The Nissan Leaf is now being cited as the first all-electric car that normalises this kind of vehicle, bringing the segment much closer to the readiness of consumers to swap from traditional fuel-powered units to the more environmental Leaf. Apparently it is the most ‘normal’ electric car on the market which could remove some of the stigma, and ‘weirdness’, surrounding this technology as it struggles to go mainstream.

The Nissan Leaf headed the list of seven finalists, with the Alfa Romeo Giulietta coming second (cited as the best car Alfa has built in years), followed by the Opel Meriva rounding out the top three. The rest of the models following were the Ford C-Max/Grand C-Max, the Citroen DS3 and C3 and the Volvo S60 and V60. In an interesting twist of fate, while the Nissan Leaf won for its novelty of being an electric car going mainstrem, the Dacia Duster low-cost SUV came last. We say interesting because while it’s not exactly a revolutionary vehicle, it works in the same kind of way the Leaf does - it brings a segment, often unattainable due to cost, much closer to the everyday consumer. See after the jump for the review from the Car of the Year website.

Continue reading: 2011 European Car of the Year: the Nissan Leaf

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