Well, I attempted to do some freelance writing and failed. I decided to put this up here so at least my time wasn’t entirely wasted.
Nissan LEAF: The electric car with its head in the cloud
Most people are familiar by now with the concept of the hybrid car even if they have not driven one. A hybrid vehicle uses a combination of a conventional internal-combustion engine and an electric motor, the downside of which (from an environmental point of view) is that you’re consuming fuel. Conversely, an electric vehicle (EV) can potentially consume no fossil fuels whatsoever; the only means of propulsion is an electric motor. Without an extra source of fuel to extend the range, pure electric vehicles rely entirely on the capacity of the onboard battery.
It’s worth mentioning that batteries have not kept up with the rapid rate of improvement that other avenues of electronics have seen in the last four decades. A modern lithium-ion battery is superior to a lead-acid battery, true, but the level of improvement pales next to the advances made, for example, in transistor design. Metal-air batteries that promises up to a ten-fold energy improvement over lithium-ion are being developed but may not be available for automotive use before the end of the decade.
Nissan will be first to release a mass-market EV in Australia. The LEAF will be connected to the internet at all times and will use this connection to help you understand your range and modify your driving style to maximise it. It’s referred to as the Intelligent Transport system and ties your car to your PC, phone and Nissan’s global data centre.
While you’re away from your LEAF, the data centre has been keeping a watchful eye on the battery. It will have alerted you via your phone or computer if it needs charging or if the power cable has become dislodged. You can remotely instruct the car to warm the cabin in winter or cool it in summer so that you’re immediately comfortable for the trip. The car will also take advantage of offpeak electricity rates if instructed.
Once on the move, the IT system monitors the drain on the battery from the motor, air conditioning and stereo and projects how far you can travel with and without the creature comforts enabled. If it detects that you’re running low on power, it will request the location of the closest charging station from the data centre and plot a course on the satellite navigation.
And at the end of the trip, the integration between the car and the cloud services continues. Each LEAF has a personal web page – think of it as Facebook for cars. You’ll be able to access the page to configure the vehicle remotely or compare your economy in a global leaderboard.
Another benefit of a constant internet connection is the ability for the car’s computer to download firmware updates while charging, in much the same way as your PC or Mac does. As Nissan gets more data on real-world usage of the LEAF, they’ll be able to make improvements not only to the systems on-board but also to the services that their web page provides. Perhaps the LEAF will be the first car that actually gets better the longer you own it?
