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This Monday, Nissan’s all-electric Leaf will officially go on sale in Japan. All of the 6,000 Leafs scheduled to be made this fiscal year has already been reserved, reports Japan’s Asahi Shimbun. A lot of them are in the grips of pre-orderer’s remorse after a trip to their garage:
“According to a Nissan-affiliated dealership, one-third of people who preordered a Leaf had canceled their reservations by October, saying their garages were not equipped with a plug.”
17 Comments on “As Plug-Ins Go On Sale, Japanese Can’t Find The Plug...”
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If you’re not smart enough to call an electrician and have a plug installed in the garage, the Leaf is obviously too advanced for you…
Have you ever been to Japan? Many people live in apartments and condos, they don’t have many McMansions like we do. This is a country that grows watermelons in small wooden molds so they are square, so they can fit in the smaller Japanese fridges they have in small Japanese kitchens located in small Japanese homes, condos, and apartments.
These “garages” are common garages in these tall buildings where you simply can’t just call up your buddy Bobbie San to do a non-permit install *wink* *wink* of a 220 line when no one is looking and problem solved. Many of these people who have discovered there is no charging station have no viable option beyond…move.
Well, I suppose we can only conclude that the Leaf program is a complete and utter failure.
Well, Leaf buyers are, at any rate. Which also isn’t news.
this proves EV will be a success: buyers don’t think before signing.
But people also buy RWD cars as their daily driver in the snow belt, stupidity isn’t limited to EV buyers.
(just an observation from the last few days in snowy Wisconsin)
But people also buy RWD cars as their daily driver in the snow belt, stupidity isn’t limited to EV buyers.
In hilly areas, a near 50/50 weight distribution RWD drive vehicle is superior to FWD in the snow. Try climbing a steep hill in the snow when the weight shifts away from the drive wheels. In contrast, the weight in a RWD car shifts to the drive wheels and they dig right in. I own both FWD and RWD cars along with a house at the top of a steep hill. so I experience the difference first hand every winter. Those RWD owners may not be as stupid as you think.
You are so right. Why back in 1975 when it snowed in the snowbelt states in New England, people just sat in the corner at home and rocked back and forth. Thousands starved every winter because they were too afraid to climb into their 1972 Chrysler Newport to go to the grocery store. That rear wheel drive sled with bias-ply tires. FEAR! HORRORS! You can’t drive RWD in the snow, everyone knows that!
If you can’t drive a RWD car in the snow, you’re a bad driver. Yes FWD gives you an advantage in SOME situations. AWD and 4WD only give an incremental advantage over FWD because it doesn’t help you stop and it doesn’t help you turn, and if you start to spin in an AWD or 4WD vehicle the system can work against you as you try to recover.
I agree RWD can be improved (electronics, snow tires, weight distribution) to be better and the driver obviously plays a part too. but everything equal, the very same FWD car (same wheel base, same electronics, same tires) will behave better. Back when I lived in the mountains all BMW/Mercedes drivers put some 50 kg weight int heir trunk during winter. Yes in a few situation RWD may be better, but in most situations not. And for the normal driver (who isn’t good at all) RWD doesn’t really works in snow.
Maybe RWD cars are more likely to have snow tires than FWD, this would give them some advantage. But what works against RWD indirectly is that they typically have larger engines with more torque. This in combination with weird AT is above what the normal driver can handle. Most snow days when I see cars stuck I see rear wheels spinning. I know my observation isn’t statistically significant… and most cars being stuck are Chrysler etc. where I expect less sophisticated electronics and tires than in a BMW.
Let me rephrase my original statement: “most RWD drivers don’t even know which type of drive their cars have and can’t handle it in snow. there are a few, that likely have snow tires too, that can handle them even in snow. ”
Another thing that makes a difference is the transmission. With MT I can handle the torque very well. With AT this gets lost. there also seems to be a large number of 15 year old RWD here that are int he hands of people who barely can make the payment (and yes, they need a loan for a 15 year old car), they often have tires that would scare me in summer. This obviously brings me my observations of RWD in winter. I know, subjective…
I’m a strong believer in Audi philosophy to offer FWD for economical reasons, and RWD for performance (and winter). Be it as it is and most likely the driver is the deciding factor… but for some reason the people who can’t drive in winter seem to be in front of me all the time. Like I set up an appointment…
Don’t forget this is Japan. Single family dwellings are rare. Those garages you’re laughing about are in condos and apts. I’m sure there was an expectation of retrofits but the critical mass of EV’s isn’t there. Only one charging station might be installed per building and it won’t be in front of your slot, I’m sure. I can’t wait to see the fist fights over who gets to charge up each night if there’s multiple EV’s per building.
Dimwit, have you been to Japan? Most homes are very small single family dwellings and according to wikipedia 60% of the Japanese population lives in one
This is a bit like the people who buy big screen HDTVs but don’t have a HD signal in their home.
I noticed Costco has a sign over every TV warning people of this.
Couple of years ago invited to watch the Super Bowl on our neighbors new 60 inch plasma.
He thought it was great, but we are all thinking “this blows”.
We didn’t have the heart to tell him until the next day that he should maybe look at an HD upgrade from the cable company.
People are dumb!
……
And RWD v FWD in snow, there are more factors in play than just the drivetrain. A long wheelbase FWD car is not much better than RWD in most cases. However a short wheelbase FWD car will probably be much better.
A 1986 Honda Civic is way better than a current Ford Taurus.
HDTV: this is standard on all large screen TVs, at least i haven’t seen a large screen TV without HDTV. so it is not necessarily stupid to buy one but not buy the (expensive) HDTV cable upgrade. Over time those “upgrades” will be free and it is legit to not pay for it now.
It is not that the content of TV program really got better in the past years because of HDTV :-)
We have a 52″ (and smaller 34″) TV and I don’t pay extra for HDTV. Half of my channels have HDTV for free, but the remaining ones I just watch as is. The downside of HDTV is that it fills the recorder faster. And recording, watching on my own terms, and skipping commercials is the real TV revolution – HDTV or not.
Even some net-books with 10″ screen have HDTV capability… now we are talking about dumb
But people also buy RWD cars as their daily driver in the snow belt, stupidity isn’t limited to EV buyers.
u must think how do people drive before coffee cup holders were not standard equip in the car.
we put such things call weight in the trunk, whether is sand bags or anything u have.
When your FWD or AWD start losing control, God help u please. Just pray there isn’t any hard heavy object coming towards u in a hurry.
Well HK it’s a little off topic, I actually don’t watch lot of TV but if it ain’t HD I am probably not watching it.
This guy I am talking about was using the standard co-ax from the cable company tuned to the SD channel, this was a couple of years ago before the old resolutions were phased out.
Even with the signal scaled and stretched, the Superbowl at 480i on a 60 inch plasma was unwatchable.
Well, I did my own highly unscientific research in where I live at the moment.
Ota-ku, one of Tokyo’s 23 wards. Prime target market for EVs. At our street fair this year they had one on display. The Mitsu dealer down the road has one in the showroom (which is, as per Japanese custom, usually devoid of cars.)
I can’t have one: 6 family dwelling, 3 parking spaces in front of house. No plugs. I couldn’t even charge an electric bicycle.
In multi family dwellings up and down the road: Same situation.
Single family dwellings: They usually have no garage. Waste of precious space. They have a little space carved out. Maybe a carport. No plugs.
The EV is supposed to be a city car. In cities the world over, you park in the street (no plug), in the basement garage (non plug), in the parking garage down the street (no plug).
Once you get further out into the suburban areas where there are garages (with plug potential) you run into range problems.
Did I say “city car?” I many large cities, having one car is enough of a hassle. In Manhattan (and Central Tokyo) the cost of parking one car exceeds monthly car payments. Now I’m supposed to have two cars? And still no plugs …
If you live in Manhattan or Tokyo, why would you ever want a car? Those cities have great mass transit.
Besides the cost of parking, insurance and fees aren’t cheap.
Thanks God we now have faster golf carts — yippee!