Nissan Director Says Leaf Can Get to 140 Miles, Despite EPA Estimates

The Nissan Leaf’s battery performance has been evaluated by the EPA at 73 miles, but company officials say that the driving range will depend on the user’s driving habits and will usually get over 100 miles.

“The car still goes 100 miles in a single charge,” says Mark Perry, Nissan’s director of product planning and strategy, in an interview to allcarselectric.com.

Because the EPA used one of the five or six possible driving cycles and the FTC (Federal Trade Commision) used another, California’s LA4’s results differed from the first two, so the end results can vary widely.

At the same time LA4 used the confusing miles per gallon equivalent (referring to the energy price vs distance), which is even more confusing for the user, who would have to convert that mpg to a totally different measuring unit.

“If you drive it in an aggressive manner, no, you’re not going to see a hundred miles. But Perry says that most will do better than the EPA numbers. “It’s biased toward freeway driving, and it’s biased with all your air conditioning, climate control running all the time. We’ve said 60 to 140 is what a consumer can do,” said Perry. “So somewhere in there is what your experience will be.”

Maybe experienced hypermilers will get 140 miles or more, but it’s the new battery technologies and their flexibility of standard that will eventually save the driving range and will propel the electric car’s image towards the hearts of the many.