Nissan announces overtime pay to workers to ramp up Leaf production to 4000 per month

I always marvel when authors refer to the Volt as an EV.


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i suppose it's more of an EV than the prius phEV?

 

I thought they were both hybrids with extended EV range, whereas the Leaf is an EV.

Am I missing something here?

 

Nah, hill is just taking the mickey out of the press release calling the Volt an EV. whats far more important is that BOTH the cars are in high demand. whether or not we think the prius is more efficient than volt and more convenient than the leaf, they are all much much better than tundras and frontiers so the more the merrier.

 

It is PHV Prius. Volt is also a hybrid. Just look under the skirt (ahem rear bumper), there is a tail pipe.

 

You're right. It's a great thing that Nissan are so confident in this completely new product that they're investing such money into production.

Shame the Volt appears to be sold in such small numbers so far. Quite a half hearted effort by GM it appears.

Quite a contrast between the two manufacturers.

 

I believe first expectations were well above 4000/month...
Nissan plans Leaf production capacity to reach 500,000 units globally by 2012 - egmCarTech

Toyota has announced making 100 thousand Li-ion batteries per year, which is much above 4000/month, and its PHEV is not rolling out yet...

Nissan numbers are not astonishing, may that be a reason for not posting big comment over it? We would praise, but after a lollypop, any icecream tastes sour...

 

Anyone knows the number of Leaf sold worldwide? I think majority of the production is staying in Japan.

Toyota is mass producing 100k plugin battery starting this autumn so it is 7 months away. Will we see the PHV Prius early next year, if not this year?

 

Not unless you are the type to refer to illegal aliens as mere "immigrants".

 

Leaf is a real EV. It only has one power source (battery). Both the Volt and PHV Prius are hybrids because they have the battery pack and the gas tank/engine.

Both the Volt and PHV Prius starts in EV mode. They will run on the battery until a certain condition, then the gas engine will run.

The condition when the gas engine turns on is different between Volt and PHV Prius. PHV Prius is designed to do more with less. It has the ability to intelligently select the best powertrain(s) depending on the condition. It focuses on raising the efficiency of both battery or gas by each powertrain helping another, when it is suitable. The result is the synergy effect and you get more out with less.

Volt focuses on running down the battery pack first. That strategy turns out to be engineering nightmare - it puts too much strain on the battery life and warranty. The worse was climbing up a mountain where the pack can deplete in 10 minutes. So they put a mountain mode to run the gas engine earlier.

Volt also run the gas engine to keep the battery pack warm. It can turn on while driving or in a cold garage, if you precondition the car. Volt's gas engine runs every 6 weeks as required by the engine maintenance schedule. There is also annual fuel maintenance schedule that will empty the gas tank, if you have not. These extra maintenances simply require the owner to drive with the gas engine on. There is no need to visit the dealer. The need for them really highlights the result of doing less with more.

Leaf does not have to worry about all those because it doesn't have a gas engine or a gas tank. However, it does require brake fluid change every 30k miles. I don't know why since regen brake will be used most of the time anyway.

Leaf production should skyrocket once the battery plant in the US is online. Until then I think most of the production will stay in Japan.

 

Nope. Neither are. Gotta have no tail pipe. I didn't know the issue was so confusing.

It's a cost thing. If you don't qualify for credits/incentives, the $42,000 + is a lot more than many folks can afford, just to reduce fuel consumption. But like many nitch products (including the Leaf) ... there's always a market. How limited or major will they end up being? Time will tell.

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The 500K global capacity is when all the EU & US factories come online.

The current capacity is 50K in Oppama.

 

Yes, it is written that.
However, multiply by ten in a year time would be a holeshot. Can Nissan do that? Can a manufacturer do that? I do not believe, at all.

Here in Portugal there was intention of changing a previous Renault factory to build batteries for Nissan-Renault. Nothing yet.

 

Changes in Smyrna are on target to make 150K cars. Nissan factories generally can make upward of 300K cars.

Nissan’s Tennessee Battery Plant Going Up



BTW, Renault will also get LG batteries.

 

Nissan has announced battery production in Portugal for quite a while.
Today, our prime minister was present on site.
Nissan lança primeira pedra de fábrica de baterias em Cacia - Autoportal

First delivery date December 2012, at an promised "cruise" rate of 50 thousand batteries, for Renault/Nissan EVs.

 

The numbers of leaves delivered to american customers have been very small as deliveries have been favored in Japan. I'm glad they are trying to get production up to meet global instead of just domestic (japanese) demand. I don't think we will see the real numbers until the effects of the Japanese incentive are over.

Is this a temporary thing or are some cars designed for LG? With all that battery capacity coming on line next year I hope Nissan/Renault will be licensing some LG patents if they are better but don't think they need to be buying the batteries.

 

I believe thats because Nissan/Renault won't be making enough batteries. LG batteries use chemistry similar to Nissan's - may be just a couple of years behind. They will catch up. Maybe they will use LG's for replacement of older batteries - not in new cars.

 

There are more and more cars at the TESLA plant (formerly nummi). I should take a picture sometime, but you guys probably don't care about that stuff.