Nissan's Leaf Is Not Going After Tesla. It Wants All Compact Car Buyers

(c) Bertel Schmitt

Two new Leaf, at Nissan's HQ in Yokohama, Japan

Nissan's 2nd generation Leaf, launched yesterday with aplomb, appears to be quite well received. There was apprehension among Nissan’s PR cadre that the company would get a public drubbing for equipping the car with a battery only good for 150 miles. The media definitely got the message that the new Leaf is so equipped to hit a price point. Motortrend even came up with new math: "Why 29,950 is more important to some than 150." As in dollars, and miles.

Nissan could have easily equipped the new Leaf with a 60 kWh battery that would better Tesla's Model3, and match the battery of Chevrolet's Bolt. That it wasn't done is a triumph of sound business over bragging rights. Nissan wants to “democratize” EVs, as Nissan’s Chief Marketing Officer Daniele Schillaci likes to put it. Schillaci wants to sell the Leaf to all people who are in the market for a C-segment sedan, not just to EV converts. As a mass market maker, Nissan knows the power of price points, and of value for money.

“The price position of the car is extremely competitive,” Schillaci told me today. “On top of that, the car has all the latest mobility features, from the ProPilot to an e-pedal that changes the way we are driving a car.”

(c) Bertel Schmitt

Nissan Chief Marketing Officer Daniele Schillaci

In coming to the battery decision,  Nissan studied its clientele carefully. The Nissan Leaf remains the world's most-bought battery-electric vehicle, and the company can draw on the experiences with and of the world's largest EV buyer pool. "Range is really only one part of the equation,” Schillaci said today. “Once you are above 200 km, the anxiety drops significantly. Any range above that is really not a big issue.”

It would be fairly easy to add more range to an electric vehicle: You simply put more batteries in it. The rest becomes a bit more involved. Batteries are heavy, more of them requires a beefed-up structure to carry the extra load. That structure adds even more weight. Then, the EV collides with Sir Isaac Newton’s second law that acceleration of more mass requires more energy. At some point, the battery would have to spend most of its energy to lug itself around.

That's why auto engineers strive for a proper balance in an EV, and that's why Nissan’s R&D Chief Hideyuki Sakamoto explained that “a 40 kWh battery is the best balanced proposition we can provide in the C segment.”

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(c) Bertel Schmitt

Two new Leaf, at Nissan's HQ in Yokohama, Japan

Nissan's 2nd generation Leaf, launched yesterday with aplomb, appears to be quite well received. There was apprehension among Nissan’s PR cadre that the company would get a public drubbing for equipping the car with a battery only good for 150 miles. The media definitely got the message that the new Leaf is so equipped to hit a price point. Motortrend even came up with new math: "Why 29,950 is more important to some than 150." As in dollars, and miles.

Nissan could have easily equipped the new Leaf with a 60 kWh battery that would better Tesla's Model3, and match the battery of Chevrolet's Bolt. That it wasn't done is a triumph of sound business over bragging rights. Nissan wants to “democratize” EVs, as Nissan’s Chief Marketing Officer Daniele Schillaci likes to put it. Schillaci wants to sell the Leaf to all people who are in the market for a C-segment sedan, not just to EV converts. As a mass market maker, Nissan knows the power of price points, and of value for money.

“The price position of the car is extremely competitive,” Schillaci told me today. “On top of that, the car has all the latest mobility features, from the ProPilot to an e-pedal that changes the way we are driving a car.”

(c) Bertel Schmitt

Nissan Chief Marketing Officer Daniele Schillaci

In coming to the battery decision,  Nissan studied its clientele carefully. The Nissan Leaf remains the world's most-bought battery-electric vehicle, and the company can draw on the experiences with and of the world's largest EV buyer pool. "Range is really only one part of the equation,” Schillaci said today. “Once you are above 200 km, the anxiety drops significantly. Any range above that is really not a big issue.”

It would be fairly easy to add more range to an electric vehicle: You simply put more batteries in it. The rest becomes a bit more involved. Batteries are heavy, more of them requires a beefed-up structure to carry the extra load. That structure adds even more weight. Then, the EV collides with Sir Isaac Newton’s second law that acceleration of more mass requires more energy. At some point, the battery would have to spend most of its energy to lug itself around.

That's why auto engineers strive for a proper balance in an EV, and that's why Nissan’s R&D Chief Hideyuki Sakamoto explained that “a 40 kWh battery is the best balanced proposition we can provide in the C segment.”

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Read Again https://www.forbes.com/sites/bertelschmitt/2017/09/07/nissans-leaf-is-not-going-after-tesla-it-wants-all-compact-car-buyers/

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