As I sit at OR Tambo International, draught beer in hand, laptop lying prostrate in front of me, I wonder if I haven’t tasted the future of motoring today? A moment of quiet reflection is in order. I’ve just driven 60-odd km in the only series production zero emission electric vehicle, the Nissan Leaf. I know, the second you see words like ‘zero emission’ and ‘electric,’ you switch off, and I know 60 km isn’t exactly a lot, but if you squint at it and give it a second to swill around your head, the electric vehicle makes sense.
Okay, let’s look at the positives as Nissan interprets them: If you have a Nissan Leaf you’ll never need to visit a petrol station ever again. Goodbye R11-whatever per litre. Of course, fuel is only going to get more expensive as the oil resources dissipate, so think of how much you’ll be saving three, four or ten years from now when fuel costs goodness knows what? Get your head out of head and think long term. Look at how quickly our world has changed since 2003 with the wide-scale adaptation of mobile smartphones and social media, the whole value chain of how we live, shop and communicate has changed radically. How are you to know what the motoring realm will look like in ten years’ time?
We’re moving from an industrialised age into an electronic one at break neck speed and that brings with it either extinction or growth opportunities for companies, that’s how the value chain is changing. ‘Eco-ism’ isn’t some far flung thing anymore. Things that are ‘eco’ have changed from ‘eco-ugly’ low-performing and un-appealing to ‘eco-iconic’ and broadly recognised by those on the cutting edge of fashion, according to fashionista and trend interpreter, Dion Chang, who helped introduce the Nissan Leaf to the media. The hipsters, guys with beards and people who ride bicycles are the modern day ‘hippies,’ or ‘techno-hippies’ if you will. These are people from generation Y, or the ‘millennials,’ as they’re also known, and they are driving this trend towards rebuilding trust in the world, society and the environment. These bearded people are the ones who’ll make the Nissan Leaf work.
That’s a good thing because Nissan does have an uphill battle, from a practical point of view, when it comes to making the Nissan Leaf EV work in South Africa. A fully charged Leaf battery will last about 195 km and a recharge from empty will take seven hours at a conventional charging point. Nissan say you can ‘top-up’ your Leaf at ten Nissan dealerships in-and-around Gauteng if you’re caught a bit short, but that might get a bit tedious if you’re not interested in spending too much time wandering round a dealer showroom floor. There are no recharge points anywhere else at this stage or in the Western Cape at all. So If I want to saunter out to the winelands from the CBD, which is about 90 km one way, I’d better be very drunk for the journey so as not to panic too much about my range on the way back.
38 000 Nissan Leafs have been sold in the U.S., 22 000 have been sold in Japan and 18 000 in Europe. Nissan say this figure is worth 85 million tons of CO2 that hasn’t gone into the atmosphere. How do Nissan know this? That’s because Nissan track every Leaf EV sold. So, if you buy one, Big Brother is watching and counting your km. What about total cost of ownership? The Nissan Leaf costs R460 000 to buy and that includes the cost of a R30 000 recharging point that’ll be fitted in your garage at your house. If you live in an apartment with a parking bay, you can’t theoretically have a Nissan Leaf.
Nissan figure you’ll spend R22 500 on electricity when you recharge the Leaf over six years and they say that’s comparable, or a few thousand rand cheaper in fact, than running a comparable petrol-powered car of the same price for the same amount of time. Except cars can go 500 km plus on a tank and refuel in minutes. That figure assumes fuel prices stay the same over six years and you don’t have solar panels at your house to draw additional solar power from. If you figure those two factors into it, all of a sudden your Leaf isn’t just breaking even, but it’s ‘in the green,’ as they say – but just with limited range.
To drive, the Nissan Leaf is pretty unremarkable and relaxing, I suppose. It’s a bit like sitting at home in a corner chair. It’s about as exciting as that as well. The electric motor makes 80 kW and 250 Nm of torque which is instantly available. What it doesn’t make is any noise at all. As Dion Chang said as an apparent ode to Die Antwoord at the start of his presentation, ‘I think it’s freaky, but I like it a lot.’ Personally, from a ride and handling point of view, it was unlike any other similarly sized hatchback I’ve driven. You can feel the weight of those 192 lithium-ion batteries. While they’re all mounted low down and in the centre of the car, they are still noticeable and make the car feel almost lumpen in the middle but in a unique way.
But even I will recognise that this rare sensation won’t make the blindest bit of difference to a potential Nissan Leaf owner. Buying the Nissan Leaf takes a serious commitment to sustainability and eco-ism, and you’d most likely find the person in question is in the process or already living a life, or running a household or business, that’s ‘off the grid’ – the grid referring to having little or no reliance on Eskom power.
So, if you really want to get the most out of your Nissan Leaf, you should have solar power somewhere in your life. If you don’t, you’ll most likely look into it and it’ll be the catalyst for a lot of other eco-centric changes in your life. I doubt that’s a bad thing. You’ll probably start harvesting rainwater at home, you’ll grow your own herbs and vegetables at home and this will impact your children, make them cleverer and make them live a more eco-centric life as well. Just make sure they don’t start hanging out with those burger-eating, petrol-swilling, Nissan GT-R-coveting types on the weekends with their turbos and big horsepower. They might be in for a bit of a shock when they realise the same company that made their Dad’s Leaf EV also made the Nissan GT-R Nismo.
Nissan Leaf EV Pricing:
Nissan Leaf EV – R460 000
Pricing includes Vat, a 3yr/90 000km service plan, 3yr/90 000km warranty and a recharging station fitted in your garage.
