Nissan was an early EV pioneer, but although the LEAF is still a common sight on the streets, sales have been flat in the US. In Japan, however, things look different. According to Nikkei, the LEAF and Nissan’s hybrid models accounted for 25% of sales in fiscal 2018, and the company aims to expand this… Read more »
4R Energy, a joint venture between Nissan and Sumitomo that focuses on EV battery reuse, will be the first group certified to the UL 1974 Standard for Evaluation for Repurposing Batteries. UL 1974 outlines how to sort and grade EV battery packs, modules, and cells, identifying state-of-health and determining viability for second-life use as storage…. Read more »
Nissan’s Global Director of Electric Vehicles, Nic Thomas, recently took a trip Down Under for the Australian launch of the Nissan LEAF Plus. In his speech, he highlighted the LEAF’s bidirectional charging capability, which he said is already being used in Japan, and is expected to be available in Australia within months. Nissan Australia’s Manager… Read more »
Over the past few years, we in the EV media have been highly critical of automakers for failing to advertise their EVs (and then claiming that there’s no consumer demand for them). So it’s only fair that we praise them now that they’re starting to release some pro-EV ad spots. Several TV campaigns have referred… Read more »
Data collected by Nissan indicates that a LEAF battery should last as long as 22 years, according to Francisco Carranza, Managing Director of Renault-Nissan Energy Services. Nissan monitors various parameters, including charging patterns and battery degradation, on the over 400,000 LEAFs it has sold in Europe since 2011. Carranza did not discuss the issue of… Read more »
If you pay an electric bill (and who doesn’t?), keep your eyes open for a message from your local utility announcing that you can take advantage of a $3,500 rebate on a Nissan LEAF. Nissan has been partnering with various utilities around the US to offer customers a special rebate. The rebate comes from Nissan,… Read more »
For the last couple of years, EV fans have been eagerly awaiting a new version of the LEAF with a 200-mile range to match that of the Chevy Bolt and Tesla Model 3. Nissan did launch a redesigned 2018 LEAF, with a 40 kWh battery pack and 150 miles of range, early this year, but… Read more »
Bidirectional charging technology (vehicle-to-grid or vehicle-to-building) has the potential to help reduce utility costs by using EV batteries to store energy and release it at times of peak consumption. Now Nissan, in partnership with Fermata Energy, a vehicle-to-grid systems company, has launched a pilot program that uses LEAFs equipped with bidirectional charging capability to partially… Read more »
Carlos Ghosn, the head of the Renault-Nissan Alliance and one of the global auto industry’s most prominent proponents of electrification, has been arrested in Tokyo over “financial misconduct.” Along with Nissan Director Greg Kelly, Ghosn was arrested for “reporting compensation amounts in the Tokyo Stock Exchange securities report that were less than the actual amount,… Read more »
The federal EV tax credit is something of a blunt instrument, but there’s little doubt that it has encouraged a substantial number of EV purchases. The future of the $7,500 tax credit is uncertain. Recently, one Republican senator introduced a bill to expand the credit, and another introduced a bill to get rid of it… Read more »