Nissan Leaf Battery

The Nissan Leaf (also formatted “LEAF” as an acronym for Leading, Environmentally friendly, Affordable, Family car) is a five-door hatchback electric car manufactured by Nissan and introduced in Japan and the United States in December 2010. As an all-electric car, the Nissan Leaf produces no tailpipe pollution or greenhouse gas emissions at the point of operation, and reduces dependence on petroleum.

The Nissan Leaf is as close to a unique car as you’ll get: It’s one of two pure electric cars offered in the U.S. for the 2011 model year. Among other awards and recognition, the Nissan Leaf won the 2010 Green Car Vision Award, the 2011 European Car of the Year award, the 2011 World Car of the Year, and the 2011-2012 Car of the Year Japan.

Nissan hasn’t the Nissan Leaf retail price as yet, but the company says its overall cost of ownership will be comparable to, or better than, a gasoline car of the same size. The Nissan Leaf frontal style is characterized by a sharp V-shape design with large, up slanting light-emitting diode (LED) headlights that create a distinctive blue internal reflective design.

The Nissan Leaf headlights also split and redirect airflow away from the door mirrors, which reduces wind noise and drag. The Nissan Leaf headlights consume 50% less electricity than halogen lamps. Nissan sought to make the Nissan Leaf images appealing to mainstream drivers by giving it a familiar sedan- and hatchback-like design.

The bottom of the Nissan Leaf has aerodynamic paneling to reduce drag and improve aerodynamics as much as possible. The Nissan Leaf uses a 80 kW (110 hp) and 280 N•m (210 ft•lb) front-mounted synchronous electric motor driving the wheels, powered by a 86 megajoules (24 kW•h) lithium ion battery pack rated to deliver up to 90 kilowatts (120 hp) power.

The Nissan Leaf battery pack contains air-cooled, stacked laminated battery cells with lithium manganate cathodes. The Nissan Leaf battery and control module together weigh 300 kilograms (660 lb) and the specific energy of the cells is 140 W•h/kg. Each Nissan Leaf battery pack costs Nissan an estimated US$18,000 (as of May 2010).

The 24 kWh Nissan Leaf battery pack consists of 48 modules and each module contains four cells, a total of 192 cells, and is assembled by Automotive Energy Supply Corporation (AESC) – a joint venture between Nissan, NEC and NEC Energy Devices, at Zama, Japan.

The Battery Nissan Leaf

The Leaf’s design locates the Nissan Leaf battery, the heaviest part of any EV, below the seats and rear foot space, keeping the center of gravity as low as possible and increasing structural rigidity compared to a conventional five-door hatchback.

The Nissan Leaf battery voltage is expected to retain 70% to 80% of its capacity after 10 years but its actual lifespan depends on how often fast charging (440-volt) is used and also on environmental factors. Nissan said the Nissan Leaf battery has a “lifespan of 5–10 years under normal use”.

The Nissan Leaf battery is guaranteed by Nissan for eight years or 100,000 miles (160,000 km). Under its five-cycle testing, the United States Environmental Protection Agency found the Leaf’s energy consumption to be 765 kJ/km (34 kWh/100 miles) and rated the Nissan Leaf mileage combined equivalent at 99 MPGe (2.4 L/100 km), with an equivalent 106 mpg-US (2.22 L/100 km; 127 mpg-imp) in city driving and 92 mpg-US (2.6 L/100 km; 110 mpg-imp) on highways. The Nissan Leaf has a top speed of over 150 km/h (93 mph). Unofficially, 0 to 60 mph (0 to 97 km/h) performance has been tested at 9.9 seconds.