Tag Archives: Nissan Leaf
Western Europe:Expensive Electric Car Sales Up But From Miniscule Base
Nissan Leaf Covers 400 Miles at No Cost
Tesla’sCross-Country Trip Aims For Guinness World Records
Nissan’s Self-Driving Cars Will Rely on 3D Laser Scanners
Nissan NSC-2015 self-driving car with LTE and smartphone connectivity (test-ride with video)
NCC-1701 is the machine that took the world's imaginations to strange new worlds in the '60s. If Nissan has its way, NSC-2015 will be the machine that keeps us out of strange new parking lots. It's a concept car from Nissan, part of the CEATEC 2012 Smart Mobility Zero exhibit that has half the show floor covered by crazy electric-powered cars of all shapes and sizes. Nissan's Leaf is one of the more conventional looking ones, but the technology that lets it drive itself down the road is far from standard. We just took it for a spin, so please cruise down past the break to read how it went.
Filed under: Transportation, Software
Nissan NSC-2015 self-driving car with LTE and smartphone connectivity (test-ride with video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 03 Oct 2012 09:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | | Email this | CommentsNissan pins Leaf’s WattStation charging woes on a software bug, works on a fix
GE and Nissan had previously ruled out GE's WattStation as the cause of a few Leaf charging failures, and that story of EV tragedy looks to be winding to a close with a more definitive explanation. As the two tell us, a bug in the Leaf's on-board charging software can damage the relevant hardware under a perfect storm of conditions: if a drivers uses a specific (but not necessarily GE) charger, an undervoltage or similar power crisis can bring the Leaf to its knees. Nissan says it's hurrying towards a remedy, although we're working to confirm just what that entails. In the meantime, the automaker is asking owners to be cautious and avoid plugging in when there's lightning or brownouts in the making.
Filed under: Transportation
Nissan pins Leaf's WattStation charging woes on a software bug, works on a fix originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Jul 2012 18:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | | Email this | CommentsGE says its WattStations aren’t behind fried Nissan Leafs, green drivers can relax
GE is eager to reassure Nissan Leaf drivers that its WattStation isn't about to kill their car's charging ability: it just held a media scrum where it declared, after some study, that its EV charger isn't the culprit that knocked 11 cars off the power grid. While the electrical pioneer hasn't narrowed down the cause, it's confident enough in its innocence that it's having Nissan dealers retract their original claims of compatibility woes. Nissan spokeswoman Katherine Zachary had previously suggested the fault might lie in a "utility" issue with the power supply itself, although GE notes that it hasn't gone to people's homes; it's testing the affected WattStations in the lab, which could change the results. Whatever's responsible, we now know that the failure hit diodes in the car's charging equipment and that the incidents aren't specific to any one region. It's safe to say that Leaf owners with WattStations can once more plug in at home and expect to wake up to a full charge.
Filed under: Transportation
GE says its WattStations aren't behind fried Nissan Leafs, green drivers can relax originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 Jul 2012 14:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | | Email this | CommentsNissan Leaf, GE WattStation embroiled in charging damage shocker, invite other EV puns (update: full GE statement)
Hopefully, you haven't paired up your Nissan Leaf with a GE WattStation for charging; if you have, you might want to power up with Ye Olde Wall Outlet for a short while. GE has confirmed to the New York Times that some Leaf drivers have encountered "problems" after charging up their EVs from WattStations. What problems? GE isn't going into detail, but a Nissan regional manager claims that the the charging systems of 11 Leafs have been damaged after plugging into a WattStation. Whether or not there's a crisis or a coincidence is still up in the air at this stage. Nissan isn't issuing any warnings or recalls, and GE will only say that it's "actively working" with the automaker to find the root cause. All the same, we'll be cautious until the companies turn a new... you guessed it.
Update: GE reached out to us with the full statement, which you'll find in the comments below. The company is mostly touching on what it mentioned earlier, but it's adding that the WattStation meets the needed SAE and UL standards. Other EVs haven't encountered problems to date.
Filed under: Transportation
Nissan Leaf, GE WattStation embroiled in charging damage shocker, invite other EV puns (update: full GE statement) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 18 Jul 2012 05:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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