Darryl Siry's Blog: Nissan's first big mistake out of the blocks (Nissan LEAF)

Darryl Siry's Blog: Nissan's first big mistake out of the blocks (Nissan LEAF): "Like many, I waited with great anticipation for Nissan to unveil their electric car. Nissan has been the most outspoken of the majors in favor of electric vehicles and seem committed to the mass commercialization of EVs as a major thrust of their strategy. In addition to the car itself, Nissan has invested a lot of effort reaching out to utilities to prepare the ground for the infrastructure that will aid the adoption of electric vehicles.

So with all this careful preparation and with the very large bet they are placing on EVs, why did they make such a major and avoidable mistake in how they are communicating the true range of their vehicle, the LEAF? This is a mistake that is sure to haunt them when they actually bring the vehicle to market, and could have a negative impact on EV adoption in general.

The issue is one I have written about previously - the EPA range figures that are typically communicated by most EV manufacturers overstate the true range of the vehicle in daily use. That means that consumers who buy the car are bound to be disappointed when the range they experience is significantly less than what they have been told by the manufacturer.

In my analysis, I point out that the EPA combined (a mix of city and highway numbers) number that an EV will post when tested with a new battery is more like an upper limit of the range you will experience. Unfortunately, Nissan has upped the ante of exaggerating the realistic range of their vehicle by using the LA4 cycle as the single number they quote, which is the same as what we refer to as 'EPA City', or 'UDDS' driving cycle. As you can see below, this test cycle assumes an average driving speed of 19.59 mph and in the 22 minute driving cycle, it assumes you only break 40 mph once, for about 100 seconds, and never exceed about 58 mph."