The Crittenden Automotive Library

Nissan’s Five-Point EV Plan

Topics: Nissan

Nissan’s Five-Point EV Plan

Geoff Maxted
DriveWrite
November 27, 2013

The whole motoring world is now well aware of the limitations of electric cars. Now it seems that manufacturers are waking up to the fact that they need to change public opinion if only to recover all that R&D money. One such is Nissan – a company that has listened to its growing LEAF customer base and is introducing a comprehensive customer commitment to dramatically improve the ownership experience of their otherwise excellent EV. Nissan believe that their innovative Nissan CARE-EV LEAF customer commitment scheme is unrivalled in the pure EV market. It makes five cast iron pledges designed to provide the ultimate in reassurance and peace of mind and answer many of the questions that customers face when considering electric car ownership for the first time. Available at all 205 Nissan retailers nationwide, the scheme makes the following promises:

Get to know the Nissan LEAF

The package starts before the car is even purchased. Nissan’s guaranteed 24-hour test drives will allow potential LEAF customers to experience the vehicle and learn just how well it fits their lifestyle.

Rapid charge your LEAF for free at any Nissan dealership and on the Electric Highway.

LEAF customers may rapid charge their vehicle for free at 60 Nissan dealerships across the country. LEAF owners can also charge at the 50 and growing locations equipped with rapid charging units installed by Nissan as part of Ecotricity’s Electric Highway. Powered by sustainably sourced electricity from wind and solar power and located at key service stations up and down the UK’s motorway network, these rapid chargers can charge the new Nissan LEAF from empty to 80% in just 30 minutes.

Borrow a petrol or diesel Nissan free for up to 14 days

LEAF owners who need an extra car for a special occasion can borrow a petrol or diesel Nissan model free of charge for up to two weeks. Simply give your dealer seven days’ notice and cover the fuel and insurance. Although this seems like an admission that EV technology is restrictive, this is a great idea for local urban users - for whom the Leaf is the perfect answer - to get out on the open road for, say, holiday purposes, without the need to plan for charging.

Free pan-European EV roadside assistance

There will be large areas of continental Europe that don’t have our small island accessibility. Garages will be more scarce. In the unlikely event a LEAF customer should run out of power on the road, help will soon be at hand with free towing from Nissan roadside assistance.

Free battery state of health guarantee

Finally, the Nissan LEAF battery state of health guarantee covers against lithium-ion battery capacity loss below nine bars (out of 12) within the first five years or 60,000 miles. This, however, raises the spectre of longevity in EV batteries - still pretty much an unknown quantity.

Nissan have hit the nail on the head with this wheeze. There’s probably many folk out there who like the idea of an EV but are put off by all the reasons we know full well. This five-point plan should help allay some of those fears at least and as a consequence help to boost the moribund EV market.