Leaf II mule images

Middle section looks the same , probably to test new technology with some body tweaks.

Production estimates ?

Late 2017 ?

Will it be a Heavy facelift ? battery size ? no doubt the rumours will be plenty over the next 9 months or so.

http://www.motorauthority.com/news/1050315_2018-nissan-leaf-spy-shots

Interesting to see Michigan plates !

unkel

Better than the current one. But still no looker

Creamy Goodness

unkel wrote: »

Better than the current one. But still no looker

Definitely think the bin liners add to its looks :pac:

Na I doubt it's the final design.

Remember the MK I Leaf mule ?

Scottie99

Looks like the Pulsar..

NIMAN

No reason for it to be ugly.....just make it look generic like the majority of cars that size these days.

n97 mini

Not convinced that's a Leaf. Looks more like a Pulsar. Can't see a filler cap on the rear three quarters so assuming it's an EV.

The pics in this site, you can clearly see no exhaust so definitely an EV.

http://www.motorauthority.com/news/1050315_2018-nissan-leaf-spy-shots#image=100592007

n97 mini

I buy the EV thing. Just not that it's a Leaf!

It's definitely a Leaf, the whole middle section is identical. Look at it from the side.

So either a major facelift or just a pure test mule with some body tweaks to test out new tech.

Or could be Facelift Leaf rebranded and sold as a different model !

KCross

If that's their next Leaf it won't be much more efficient than the existing one from an aerodynamics perspective. A facelift won't cut it for their next play. It needs to be more efficient.

unkel

+1

The Czechs knew this 80 years ago, GM knew it very, very well with the GM1. Tesla picked up on it with the Model S, as did Hyundai. The next Tesla is going to be even better and by far the best aerodynamics mass manufactured car ever made. For some reason Nissan did not cop on to it when they launched the Leaf. Fair enough. But you'd think they would not make that mistake again in the light of the recent success of the competition?

A coefficient of drag of worse than about 0.26 for the new Leaf would be a total failure imho. As long as EVs can only carry a small fraction of the energy a comparable ICE can carry, it will have to be smart elsewhere. Or fail.

Both front and rear lights look similar to the concept. It will be interesting what else has changed compared to the original car. If they can cram 60 kWh in it and better electrical efficiency and somewhat better aerodynamics that the mk1 it will sell.

noelf

greencarreports.com

noelf, what about that?

noelf

noelf wrote: »

greencarreports.com

Yes, the 2015 IDS concept. We have seen that in 2015 and the new "mule" has its lights.

It's rather small though, I'd rather them install a larger battery and have practical cargo space and interior room !

Efficiency is less important to me if it has enough battery Kwh.

Not sure why they call it a mule. Nobody disguises a mule. Mule is the disguise. What we are seeing is the disguised next leaf.

samih

samih wrote: »

Not sure why they call it a mule. Nobody disguises a mule. Mule is the disguise. What we are seeing is the disguised next leaf.

In some form or another, I doubt it's the final design. There's too much of the old car there. Look at the entire middle section.

KCross

Deleted User wrote: »

It's rather small though, I'd rather them install a larger battery and have practical cargo space and interior room !

Efficiency is less important to me if it has enough battery Kwh.

Why would it be one or the other... surely they are inextricably linked?

A larger battery is no good if its dragging its a*se through the air!?

Deleted User

Deleted User wrote: »

samih wrote: »

Not sure why they call it a mule. Nobody disguises a mule. Mule is the disguise. What we are seeing is the disguised next leaf.

In some form or another, I doubt it's the final design. There's too much of the old car there. Look at the entire middle section.

What you say doesn't compute unless they are planning to release a facelift but simultaneously are using the facelift as a mule to the totally new leaf. I reckon the new leaf will use the middle section of the old leaf.

KCross

KCross wrote: »

Why would it be one or the other... surely they are inextricably linked?

A larger battery is no good if its dragging its a*se through the air!?

A smaller more efficient car is no good if it's not a practical car that hasn't enough space.

I want a larger EV. Naturally it's not going to be more efficient. At least it should have a larger boot.

cros13

Rumor has it the new leaf pack might have some kind of temperature control.

KCross

cros13 wrote: »

Rumor has it the new leaf pack might have some kind of temperature control.

When they say "temp control" is it a two way thing... it will heat a cold pack and cool a hot pack or is it just the cooling side that they focus on?

For instance, I know the Leaf has an optional extra in Scandinavia to heat the pack in very cold conditions so you could say it has temp control already but I think you are suggesting something more comprehensive.

What does temp control mean to you?
What do the i3 and the Tesla's have?
If it also does heating... will it warm the pack when plugged in so that when you drive off you will get the max range/efficiency or is that considered too wasteful?

cros13

KCross wrote: »

When they say "temp control" is it a two way thing... it will heat a cold pack and cool a hot pack or is it just the cooling side that they focus on?

The information I have is non-specific. I would expect at a minimum a resistance heating pad at the bottom of the pack which is cheap to implement. This would allow pre-heat of the pack during preconditioning and heating of the pack on the road keeping it up at the ideal temperature (this offers a net-benefit despite the power consumption of the pad).

Cooling is the complex/expensive part:

In the i3: a bed of flat rubbery hoses with lots of pinholes is laid in the pack before the battery modules are added. A gaseous refrigerant (R134a) is pumped into the pack through the rear and out through the front of the bed. A dedicated cooling loop with a dedicated compressor serves the battery.

In pre-2016 Teslas, four cooling loops pump liquid glycol through cooling tubes that snake through the pack separated by 2/3 cells.

In late-2016+ Teslas (100kWh pack and the new 75/70 packs), the glycol cooling has more cells between the cooling tubes but metal vanes conduct heat from the cells to the cooling tubes.

If I were to bet... I'd say Nissan will use a much simpler variant of Tesla's newer system, with vanes through the pack linked to a cooling plate, possibly linked to the cabin A/C system, not a dedicated system.

Some of the limitation on Nissan's Leaf sales has been poor performance in colder and hotter conditions than we see in Ireland. So I'd expect them to address both issues in some form.

Nissan have a battery heater standard from 2013 (132) Updated models.

It comes on at -17 deg C and off at -10 Deg C

I see 21-22 Kwh of available capacity even at 2-3 deg C battery temps (battery temp) So no need to heat for capacity.

Where it would make a difference is fast charging.

Definitely need for thermal management for some climates though, this is where they made a big mistake with the current model.

KCross

Deleted User wrote: »

Nissan have a battery heater standard from 2013 (132) Updated models.

It comes on at -17 deg C and off at -10 Deg C

Thats not standard according to the manual. Only in selected markets.

Are you sure ? on the current Gen ?

KCross

Deleted User wrote: »

Are you sure ? on the current Gen ?

Unless I start tearing the car apart to physically find it, I'm only going on what the manual says.

It has it listed as optional and I cant see why they would add it to any UK/Ireland cars. How often would we hit -17C! It would be a waste of kit and just increase the cost and weight of the car.

FYI: In the manual it lists it as "Li-ion battery warmer(where fitted)"

KCross

http://pushevs.com/2017/03/31/information-second-generation-nissan-leaf/

cros13

I wouldn't read into it... that car looks like an early mule, and the photo was taken near a Nissan R&D site.

It could be a Japanese or US test car shipped in.

We already know that the Leaf Mk.2 will retain chademo in both of those markets. The real tell would be if you spotted a car with both type 2 mennekes and chademo... because Type 2 will be required on the car side in two EU Leaf markets from January.
I'm still of the opinion that the car will use Type 2 CCS in europe.

BoatMad

We already know that the Leaf Mk.2 will retain chademo in both of those markets. The real tell would be if you spotted a car with both type 2 mennekes and chademo... because Type 2 will be required on the car side in two EU Leaf markets from January.
I'm still of the opinion that the car will use Type 2 CCS in europe.

lots of unhappy Nissan garages installing dual mode DBTs then !!!!!