Let's turn over a new Leaf

I like the sound that a rev happy engine makes. Meaty exhaust notes are music to my ears. Turbo-kick backs are to die for. Such thoroughbred cars were hard to come by when I was growing up. Well, there was the Esteem which had ridiculously fast 0-100 Km/hr times in those days. Then came along the Ford Ikon 1.6, City Vtec, Palio 1.6, the Swift diesel, the Ocatvia VRS and things got interesting. Nowadays you can get something like the VW Polo GTi and the new gen Octy VRS with fancy features like Launch Control and what not.

But now India is going to witness an entirely different paradigm shift in its auto history. The ELECTRIC shift, with focus on AI and IOT, in making cars smarter and connected. The ground work is already ON with giants like Nissan setting up first of its Global Digital Hub's in Trivandrum, Kerala. The company is also ready to launch the Leaf all-electric model it seems with dates as early as December, 2018. I am super excited, because, Leaf is the world's best selling all-electric vehicle. 

Nissan had been thinking about this launch for quite some time and India will most probably get the 2nd gen Leaf. However, like its previous niche products such as 350z and GT-R aka Godzilla, the fully imported Leaf will serve the purpose of understanding the market and help in building the Nissan brand. Nissan would expect low numbers here for the Leaf but would effectively use the market reactions for building a locally manufactured, low-cost EV for emerging markets such as ours. 

The all-new leaf is a C-segment hatchback (a market non-existent in India) which is 4480 mm in length, 1790 mm in width and 1540 mm in height. It has a ground clearance of 150 mm. Coming to the business part, powering it is an electric motor that makes 150 PS and 320 Nm of torque. The lithium-ion battery pack is rated at 40 kWh and takes about 16 hours for a full charge. But with a DC quick charger, you get to 80% charge in about 40 minutes. Nissan says it delivers a test range of 400 km on a single charge. It's got some cool features like e-Pedal which gives driving assistance in starting, accelerating, decelerating and stopping. The feature ProPilot can be used for single-lane autonomous driving. ProPilot Park is an autonomous parking feature. 

The 5-door hatchback comes with a V-shaped grille with black inserts, sweptback headlamps and a sloping roof line. The rear houses a V-shaped tail light cluster and the tailgate has glossy black panel. On the inside, it gets a 3-spoke multi function steering wheel, digital instrument cluster and the center console houses a touchscreen infotainment system that supports Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. Being a CBU import, from the Oppama plant (likely) in Japan, it could cost somewhere between Rs. 40 lakhs and Rs. 50 lakhs.

Electric vehicles, apart from being environment friendly and easy on the pocket (in the long-run), are quick accelerating vehicles. The absence of engine's combustion and turbo spooling relates directly to instant power delivery as soon as you press the throttle. But it would drastically eat into the car's range though. With the battery packs sitting low in the car's platform (B0), what you get is a car with good handling and dynamics, thanks to the low center of gravity. The Leaf can do a 0-100 dash in about 7.9 seconds. Nissan is also mulling of launching a Nismo (track and performance division of Nissan) version which will be a performance oriented version of the Leaf.

But it will take a lot of education effort from Nissan and other car manufacturers to make people switch from their regular cars to electric vehicle. Sure there is a lot of savings but what else does an electric car have to offer for the premium pricing. Consumers have started paying attention to the finer aspects of vehicle quality and overall experience these days. The 'thud' of the doors and the 'scratch' from dashboard are common tests used by consumers to judge the quality of vehicles. Some consumers have openly retaliated on the quality front too.

It is certainly exciting times ahead for petrol heads (maybe I'll have to come up with a new term). This could propel the idea of a 10 second car that you can charge at home and take out for a spin. If only it came in rear-wheel drive, with a non-electronic handbrake and an option to turn off traction control. It's already giving me goosebumps. I'm sure Clarkson would also agree to this proposition.

Being a millennial in India, an EV with a minimum of 250 Km range (semi-enthusiastic driving), peppy motors, fast charging, full control and connectivity via mobile app's, decent ground clearance and good overall quality would work just fine for me. But I wonder what I will do about that meaty exhaust, hope the manufacturers can provide a software tweak that allows exhaust sound to be played via the cars audio system.