Monthly Archives: February 2020

Nissan Announces 62kWh LEAF e+ N-TEC. With Free V2G Charger!

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A Nissan press release has just landed in my in box, and I’m now so excited I’m going to reproduce it in reverse order! The final bullet point reads as follows:

Earlier in the release the following points are also mentioned:

Nissan has confirmed the all-electric LEAF range will benefit from a new N-TEC limited edition, joining the cross car line N-TEC versions of Micra, Qashqai and X-Trail, which were launched in January.LEAF e+ N-TEC 2020

Priced at £32,795 OTR (including the £3,500 Government Grant) the LEAF e+ N-TEC creates a new accessible price point for the higher 62kWh capacity battery drivetrain. Launched in summer 2019, the e+ version of LEAF delivers 217PS of power, 340Nm of torque and up to 239 miles of range (WLTP combined) on a single charge.

The LEAF e+ was previously available as a range-topping Tekna version. The new N-TEC edition, limited to just 1,000 examples, is based on the N-Connecta grade of the 40kWh line-up, but with added technology and styling, complementing the higher capacity 62kWh battery.

The N-TEC specification adds:

  • LED Pack and LED fog lights with cornering function (usually £495 option)
  • ProPILOT with Lane Keep Assist & Traffic Jam Pilot (usually £595 option)
  • Electronic Parking Brake
  • Metallic Blue Front Splitter
  • Revised e+ suspension set-up

It seems as though the “free” OVO vehicle-to-grid wallbox comes as part of Nissan’s finance campaign, available until 31st March 2020 as part of Nissan’s Red Tag Event.

I have endeavoured to contact both Nissan UK and OVO for comment, but they have yet to get back to me.

P.S. Nissan UK have been in touch. They assure me that the 62 kWh LEAF N-TEC is already in production, and if the 1000 special edition vehicles haven’t all been sold by March 31st a new finance offer will be made available. Based on that conversation it sounds as though the “free” V2G wallbox is available as part of OVO Energy’s continuing V2G trial, and is not dependent on Nissan’s finance. Full details can be seen at:

https://www.ovoenergy.com/electric-cars/vehicle-to-grid-charger

Our V2G Charger stores electricity in your Nissan electric vehicle battery when it’s cheaper and more likely to have been produced by renewable sources, then sells energy back to the grid when it’s in demand.

Sign up to OVO Energy, join the trial and you’ll get a groundbreaking charger for free. You will also get a £75 credit on your OVO Energy bill and a payment of up to 30p per kWh of energy exported back to the grid.

Watch this space for more news as and when we receive it.

Autonomous Nissan LEAF Drives 230 Miles

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A press release from Cranfield University reveals that:

A car developed with advanced vehicle engineering research and testing facilities at Cranfield University has successfully completed the UK’s longest and most complex self-navigated journey. Travelling 230 miles on UK roads from the Nissan European Technical Centre in Cranfield up to its factory in Sunderland, the autonomous car journey was alongside regular road users and marks a significant milestone in the development of autonomous cars.

Here’s a video of the autonomous Nissan LEAF’s “Grand Drive” road trip:

The Cranfield press release continues:

The HumanDrive project – jointly funded by the UK Government through the Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CCAV) and Innovate UK, and nine other consortium partners – includes:

  • Nissan – Lead partner and leading the autonomous vehicle (AV) development
  • Hitachi – Artificial Intelligence (AI) to provide human-like control and perception
  • University of Leeds – Understanding humanistic driving and its application to AVs whilst also developing a driver risk model
  • Connected Places Catapult (CPC) – Project management, communications and marketing activity, dissemination and safety case elements of the project
  • HORIBA MIRA – Provider of test facilities, supported safety aspects of the project
  • SBD Automotive – Cyber security support and AV Human machine Interface (HMI) studies
  • Atkins Ltd – Provision of a Cyber Security Framework
  • Aimsun Ltd – Studying the impact of AVs on the transport system
  • Highways England – Understanding the infrastructure needs for AV deployment

The Grand Drive journey was successfully completed on 28 November 2019, with two engineers on board and monitoring the vehicle’s actions at all times. Both were fully trained to conduct autonomous vehicle testing, with one behind the wheel and ready to take control if required, and the second supervising the car’s control and monitoring systems.