| The Future is in the Leaf |
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| Tuesday, 31 May 2011 10:00 | |||
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“Yes dear! The coffee’s on the table and the car is warming up” “Unplugged the car” and it’s “warming up”? These might not be the sentences that you are used to using to describe your mode of 4 wheeled transport to work. Maybe switched the car on and it’s warming up...However this is our future, the car that you “plug in” over night that is intelligent enough to know how much power to take to top up its battery, and an alarm clock style wake up call for it to come to life, just in enough time to warm the battery before it knows when you are scheduled to leave; so that it can work at optimum efficiency. If this has not been set, then it is easily controlled remotely by smart phone or PC. Naturally, the next stage of getting to work is leaving the house but with this future, your mode of transport is ready for you. Keyless entry means no fumbling for buttons or keys. There’s no panic that you may have to visit a petrol station on the way to work, which may make you late because it’s very unpredictable just how busy it could be, not to mention how grubby the pump handles are. No, these fears and troubles are completely out of your mind and you can travel to work relaxed. On your journey, your engine (battery) is silent, you can hear the radio clearly and you are content knowing your neighbours were not disturbed with the sound of an engine starting early this morning. As you look down at the dash display your economical driving has been rewarded with a digital display of a tree. You know that the more carefully you continue to drive, the larger the tree will get and the more of them there will be. This promotes you to select a more economical driving mode for the car; whereby more energy is taken from the braking to feed the battery and the accelerator pedal is more gradual and less energetic. You effortlessly travel through city traffic without the need to change gears or feel automatic gear changes. It’s simple; there is faster, or slower (Single Speed Gear Reduction). It’s smallish with comfortable seats, a far cry from the hard “don’t sit on me very long” seats that you find in a lot of small cars. When it starts to rain, the automatic wipers come on. The road pace quickens as you join a dual carriage way for a short burst of speed. It is pleasing to be in a car that smiles with you, you’ve chosen economy and sensible over performance, however its inner self does not mind you speeding up a little bit at times and never makes you think you are in something that is not capable or is too slow. When you can get from 0-60 in 11.9 seconds and can travel a maximum speed of 90mph, combined with the safety features anyone would expect such as airbags, ESP, ABS and EBD with brake assistance you feel that if there was a battle to fight, you would not be on the losing team. No road tax, no congestion charge and at just £2.30 for a hundred miles that is a pretty good deal for a town or city dweller. To change in to reverse the very small control that could also be likened to a selector switch for a high end kitchen device or another equally impressive gadget is easily moved to the required position. Technically this is called a palm shift selector by wire. The rear view camera allows an easy parking manoeuvre in to your designated spot, your journey to work has come to an end, the Sat Nav switches off, the blue tooth hands free says goodbye to your phone and the car locks itself as you walk away and begin your days work. How’s that for a drive in the future? Bravo to Nissan for developing the Leaf that supersedes electric car expectations. By Rebecca Jackson Worth Checking - Motoring news - Road Tests
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| Last Updated on Tuesday, 28 June 2011 08:06 |
Please keep up the good work as I shall **** it to my male dominated sites whenever I can.