Looking back at 2013, the Nissan Leaf could be the car of the year and the most risky car model that conservative Tan Chong has embarked on. Of all the good Nissan cars, Tan Chong chose to launched an all electric car in Malaysia, further with huge investment in setting up public charging points. If you wanted one, it will cost you almost RM170k for Leaf, which could buy you many litres of petrol for the next 10 years. If you ever wanted to drive this from KL to Ipoh, you can forget about the road trip as at full charge, it could provide about 190km of journey, and this is calculated, not real world range. As it is an electric motor car, it could produce 108hp/254Nm of power, from a single-speed gearbox, good enough to carry full load of 5 adults.
No engine, thus no noise, however, you still need some common fluid to run the car, such as the brake oil and coolant. The battery in the engine bay is used to power electronic accessories, which is charge by a roof mounted solar panel. Wow, that's green in design. For safety reason, it is equipped with noise generator, which Nissan called it VSP (Vehicle Sound for Pedestrians), produced high pitch of approach sound and also reverse sound to warn nearby person. Being a car with 5-star Euro NCAP, it has 6-airbags, traction control and hill-start assist.
The interior looks fairly simple and being a Nissan, there is nothing to shout about. The space is huge for a hatchback and seat are comfortable. The lithium-ion battery is seated beneath the front and rear seat. Thus hopefully it is well protected from water and against foreign item from punctuating the underneath floor. A Tesla caught fire when the battery at the bottom was punctured by a foreign item while on the move.
The Leaf really could take a lot of thought for one to decide to put their money down, as it could only serve well for short groceries shopping trip and the rich to show off. In our heavy traffic city, you could be very worried as there are only 4 public charging locations in Klang Valley, which are located in KLCC, Lot 10, BSC, and Petronas Serdang Solaris. I would think without much incentive, this car is most suitable for Green advocates only, but has people ever think about how poisonous the battery is and what is the proper recycling process in our country! By the way, if you live in an apartment or condominium, this is not your choice then, as you could not install the charger in an open car park! For the landed property owner only! Worst still...3-Year-Warranty is too short for the battery which is known to degrade in hot weather. Further read here before you decide on how Nissan bought back their lemon leaf in US.
