I have been looking for a word to describe the S. It is so inovative and new that nothing applies. A new word must be created to describe this new car. Clean does not do it justice. The car has no visible buttons or levers on the dash, no motor or batteries or wires can be seen anywhere. There is nothing under the hood, just a carpeted lugage area. Nothing in the trunk, more storage. The dash is smooth and tastefully devoid of any controls. The huge touch screen in the center console is the main input drivers will use to control the car.

We have gone way past the point in automotive history where people want to examine chrome valve covers on a new car. The Tesla takes advantage of the electric drivetrain to reshape components and tuck away the motor , battery and other bits in a way that makes the car seem to be a rolling chassis or concept vehicle. The interior floor is almost completely flat lacking the tunnel and other contours that normally define the floor of a modern car. This car will make history. Other automakers will undoubtedly copy the clean smooth finished look that is both inovative and impressive. I felt inspired with confidence that this vehicle will be every bit as luxurious as a Porsche less the roar of the engine, the smell of oil, the tubes and wires that clog the engine bay.

I was not the only one impressed with this vehicle. The gentleman standing next to me decided to buy one.  He put a $10k deposite on the $71k long range variant. 300 miles per charge. The 83kWh pack is 2 1/2 inches thick and hidden in the floor of the vehicle. $70k sports car buyers with no interest in going green will find the Tesla an appealing option. Even a long term Porche driver would not write off the S as underpowered or confined by range limitations. 0-60 in 4.4 seconds is nothing to snuff at.

Conclusion:

Nobody has driven the Model S and written a review of the driving personality of the vehicle. From what I can be see the S will be a big hit and an instant classic. The initial 5,000 unit production run is sold out. More orders are being taken for delivery in about one year. If you are thinking of buying a vehicle in this price bracket consider the Tesla before pushing the button on that BMW Audi or Porsche. This vehicle is innovative in ways beyond the electric drive train.

From the perspective of an average American car buyer the  benefits and drawbacks of  buying A Nissan Leaf  electric car must be carefully considered. Range Anxiety is high on the list of things to ponder before making the plunge. Those of us deeply steeped in green car culture see the Leaf as a mainstay of efficient vehicle technology, an obvious choice for those who want to go green in their vehicle choice.

A bit of History about the Nissan Leaf. Nissan gave industry insiders an oportunity to test drive the Leaf protype, the mule. The mule was a Nissan cube fitted with a Leaf preproduction drivetrain. The batteries, motor and steering gear to be used in the Leaf were installed neatly into the confines of a highly modified cube chassis. The finished mule was trucked to a few key locations to be shown and test driven.

I slipped behind the wheel of the mule and cruised around a closed circuit inside the grounds of Fort Mason in San Francisco in April of 09′. The drive experience was quiet and smooth. The gauges and controlls all functioned. This was a first rate Nissan factory engineer made protoype with full funtionality. The car was quick and silent. The low end torque was impressive. The agressive regen also left an impression. The cube mule felt well planted and evenly weighted. It did not dive on braking or lift under heavy acceleration. Looking back that vehicle was probably built using high quality struts and springs not basic economy car parts. The electric propulsion system was probably tweaked for performance with settings that sacrificed battery life in favor of high performance. I left the test area with confidence that the Nissan team had the technology and ability to create a  lithium battery powered  four seater Electric Vehicle.

Fast forward a few years and the finished Leaf is here to drive and discuss.

My first drive of  the current production Leaf was more of a study of the interior gauges and controls than anything. The dash is just dumbfounding until the wonder and amazement fade giving way to a solid impression of how this vehicle handles regular driving situations.

First lets review the reality of  driving  this vehicle. The Leaf is of course an electric car but  lets leave the electric vs gasoline argument  for later and accept  the following premise…. The Leaf can and will do anything a basic 4 door economy car will do except to drive 250 miles without stopping. The reality of driving a four door economy car for most Americans is driving from home to work and back while you play music, talk on the phone, drink coffee, sit in traffic etc.

The Leaf drives and feels like a Toyota Prius clone. The driver is imersed in a micro suede and plastic infotainment world while driving in a state  mostly insulated from road feel. The suspesion is soft, the steering wheel turns easily. The shift lever is not connected to a cable but is more of a joystick. This is a proven design when it comes to driving with minimal effort and paying little attention to the driving experience. The emphasis is placed on passing the time. The maximum number of easily accessable entertainment features for the price are available. Blue tooth phone, usb ipod jack, steering wheel audio controls are standard, nav and XM radio are extra. It is quite convenient to flick the shifter into  ”D” , turn on your favorite music and hit the road. The parking brake automatically releases and the car accelerates smoothly and gives a pleasing electric whine. The brakes are very Japanese economy car like – acceptably powerful without the German car bite. Acceleration and vehicle speed are also acceptable – the car goes as fast as you would need to go in any law abiding driving situation . The suspension is similar to a Prius over bumps and rail road tracks the car is confident and relatively quiet. The nose of the car does lift a bit under full acceleration, maybe the Nissan engineers had trouble setting up the suspension for such an evenly balanced car without overspending. Inspecting the undercarriage of the Leaf does reveal some incredibly cheap looking control arms and ball joints. They had to pay for that giant battery somehow and they probably determined that very few Leaf drivers would expect the car to handle high speed maneuvers like a sports car.  In fact the cheap suspension is par for the course on Japanese economy cars Prius included.

Leaf Suspension inspection post test drive

Outwardly the Leaf  has more eco cred than a Prius, a more futuristic dashboard, and more access to special lane privileges. Driving a Leaf  makes a statement about the owner’s beliefs, a desire to aide the environment and reduce personal oil consumption. Driving a Prius has grown past a singular statment and moved into anything and everything from saving the environment to opperating a taxi fleet. The Leaf remains a clear statement and a pure EV.

Conclusion

The Leaf misses the mark by a very fine margin.  This is an excellent vehicle given the confines of making an EV for under $40k.  Currently the only other EV in this price range is Mitsubishi iMiev (Chevy Volt is a PHEV not EV) Given the choices at hand the Nissan Leaf is a great car. I look forward to driving the next generation Leaf. I have total confidence in Nissan’s EV technology I would like to like to see a freshened exterior and interior before I seriously consider buying.

BMW’s first factory made entry into the EV market is the Active E. Based on the 1 Series sedan The Active E is similar in size to a Mercedes C class sedan. The active E is a factory conversion not a ground up EV development like Nissan Leaf. The BMW engineers stayed true to the core values of BMW design by making the Active E a drivers car. Details like 50/50 weight distribution, rear wheel drive, analogue gauges and tight responsive steering make the Active E a true BMW.

The only hint that this is not a standard gas engine equipt 1 series comes from the unusual tunnel mounted shift lever and a dash mounted start button in place of the standard shift lever and keyed ignition.

The main info screen is understated with and unobtrusive, a total departure from the Nissan Leaf  display that begins each drive with a short melody and quick display of flashing lights and sweeping bar graphs. The BMW simply initiates the dash displays and brings the analogue gauges to life with a single blip of all the analogue gauge needles in unison. various perameters are controlled from steering wheel mounted buttons as on many modern cars but the eye is drawn to the center mounted charge discharge gauge a black face white numeral display that starts with the needle centered pointing up to 12 o’clock until the throttle is applied.

Initial take off is brisk and controlable. Electric whine is audible and pleasing adding some sensation of speed to the driving experience. As with most BMW products the motor noise is intentionally introduced to the passenger cabin while road noise and wind noise are kept to a minimum. The everpresent whine noise eminating from the fixed ratio electric powerplant helps keep the driver aware of approximate  vehicle speed with out checking the speedometer. The Nissan Leaf offers a more removed driving experience with noticably less motor noise and a more disconnected steering experience. The black cockpit and off white leather seats of the BMW interior is also much sportier than the Leaf’s micro sued and plastic futuristic cabin.

The down side of all the sporty driving pleasure of the BMW active E is the price tag. At near $60,000 the Active E begs the question – Should I just wait to buy a Tesla before spend $60k on this thing. To be fair to BMW this is a high quality EV maybe the best combination of sporty drive feel and practicality of four seats that is currently available to buy. As with any new technology the early adopters pay a premium price. If you need to be the first kid on the block with a high performance Electric sedan the BMW Active is the one and only choice currently available to buy.

It is difficult to see from the photo but the total sticker price is $60,395

The technical details of the Active E are:

- Battery:

32kWh battery divided into three sections. The reason BMW engineers divided the battery into three pieces was to maintain 50/50 front rear weight distribution and to build the car on the existing 1 series platform. One portion of the battery is under the hood another in the area normally occupied by the transmission the third in place of the fuel tank.

As with other EV products the manufacturers are very secretive about battery controll startegies, this is the secret sauce that could be easily replicated if the formula got out. The overall capacity of 32 kWh is listed in the vehicle specs but it is unknow how much of that capacity is used before the battery gauge shows empty and computer controls shut down the car. Assume 90% as a rough estimate and the BMW battery usable capacity would be 28.8 kWh, a fair amount more than the Nissan leaf 21.6 kWh capacity but quiter a bit less than the upcomming Tesla model S 37.8 kWh battery pack ( Nissan and Tesla capacities also reduced to reflect 90% discharge until empty estimate)

-Motor: The Active true to BMW heritage is a rear wheel drive. This may not be important to many drivers but rear wheel drive is a nice feature when negotiating high speed maneuvers. In my experience rear wheel drive does not increase the safety of a vehicle but makes the vehicle more predictable when it is pushed past the limits of safe road handling.

In terms of motor power output again the Active is a middle ground between the Leaf and the Tesla S

Nissan Leaf Motor power output 80 kW

0-60mph 9.9 seconds

BMW active E Motor power output  125 kW

0-60 8.5 seconds

Tesla S Motor power output – TBD

0-60 5.6 seconds

Conclusion:

The BMW Active E is at the top of it’s field. There is no better choice if you are looking for a high performance practical (four seater) EV. Unfortunately the field of Electric Cars is changing so quickly that no one will remain on top for very long.

Pictured from left to right:

Ron Gremban – Technincal lead Cal-Cars, Andy Frank Professor UCDavis, Pat Cadam Founder of Pat’s Garage and Green Gears, Felix Kramer Founder Cal Cars, Nick Rothman Partner Green Gears

Green Gears attended the first San Francisco Green Drive Expo Saturday 10/9/2010. This amazing showcase of green vehicles is organized by the same group who created Hybridfest, one of the best consumer oriented hybrid shows in the United States.  Hundreds of die hard Plug-in, Hybrid Electric and Alternative Fuel Vehicle owners came and showed off their rides. Pat Cadam and Nick Rothman spoke on a panel concerning Plug-in conversions for existing vehicles in the American fleet. Ron Gremban of Cal Cars also spoke on the panel.

Click bellow to see a video review of the show from EVTALK.org

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UouARxsocnU&feature=player_embedded