Tag Archives: proPILOT

Nissan Announce Townstar eVan

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In a press release yesterday Nissan announced their replacement for the venerable e-NV200 electric van:

PARIS – Nissan reveals the next generation compact Light Commercial Vehicle (LCV), the all-new Townstar. With a fully electric powertrain in addition to a fuel-powered option, this new LCV range is primed to future-proof business operations and accelerate the transition towards electrification.

Demonstrating Nissan’s most technologically comprehensive LCV offering to date, the all-new Townstar brings a suite of 20+ technologies to the compact van offering, presenting a bold contender within the segment.

Building on the success of the Nissan e-NV200, a pioneer and leader in the electric LCV market, the fully electric version of the all-new Townstar is optimised to meet customer needs. With an enhanced 44kWh battery, advanced technology and low running costs the electric Townstar offers an efficient, sustainable mobility solution.

Here’s the Townstar launch video:

In view of the captions I cannot help but wonder when a right hand drive version will become available! In the meantime the press release tells us that:

The fully electric all-new Townstar will be equipped with a 44kWh battery and advanced technology. It will combine intelligent energy management and effective battery thermal cooling in one optimised package. The new van will replace the range offering of the e-NV200 and offer 245Nm of torque and 285km [range] (pending homologation)…

With a broad range of safety technologies and advanced driver assistance features such as Side Wind Assist and Trailer Sway Assist, the all-new Townstar provides a reassuring and confident experience behind the wheel. Intelligent Emergency Braking featuring Pedestrian and Cyclist Detection and Junction Assist, as well as Hands-Free Parking and Intelligent Cruise Control puts Townstar at the forefront of the category.

Nissan is integrating the Around View Monitor (AVM) for the first time in the compact van segment, democratising this cutting-edge technology. Using a suite of cameras, the system displays a 360-degree overview of the area around the vehicle, providing drivers with full peace of mind when parking in the city.

Customers of the fully electric all-new Townstar will also enjoy the innovative ProPILOT advanced driver assistance system. Supporting motorists with highway driving, the feature allows the vehicle to automatically slow to a full stop and accelerate by following the vehicle ahead, as well as keeping it centred in the lane – even around a gentle curve.

Convenient connectivity features such as E-Call, Apple CarPlay/Android Auto, and wireless phone charging will be available across the range from launch, with further enhanced Connected Services available from the launch of the fully electric version.

These connected services will be presented via an 8-inch touchscreen, which is linked to a 10-inch digital combimeter in front of the driver in the fully electric all-new Townstar.A

Built on the Alliance CMF-C platform, the all-new Townstar has been built from the ground up with quality and functionality in mind. It will bear the new Nissan brand logo, making it the first European model to be produced with it and the latest to be introduced under the Nissan NEXT transformation plan, which prioritizes sustainable growth and profitability across the company’s global operations.

The all-new Townstar van version has been developed to perfectly meet the needs of customers like SMEs who are looking for versatility, convenience, space and cargo on top of a hands-free parking system for complex city parking.

The combi version of the all-new Townstar will support families on the go with vast smart storage options that go up to 775 litres. From refined seat and door trims to a modern centre console and instrument panel finish, the all-new Townstar’s cabin welcomes customers with passenger-car-like comfort.

The fully electric all-new Townstar will reflect aesthetic cues of Ariya, including signature standard LED headlamps and an aerodynamic front shield integrating an intricate Kumiko pattern and a fresh V-motion design with daytime running lamps…

Featuring up to 3.9m3 of cargo space with a swivelling bulkhead, the new compact van can transport two Euro pallets and up to 800kg of cargo with ease, while the powerful powertrains allow the vehicle to offer a 1,500kg towing capacity, adapting to each businesses’ specific requirements.

The cargo area integrates large sliding doors on the side which facilitate unloading the van and the possibility to have 60/40 French doors with 180 degree opening or a tailgate at the rear. It also includes smart storage solutions and a dedicated space for on-board office tools.

Nissan presenta la nueva furgoneta Townstar: un cambio de juego dentro del mercado de Vehículos Comerciales Ligeros (LCV)

Unfortunately none of the above tells me what I really want to know, the ins and outs of (dis)charging the Townstar! Since there is no mention of it I can only assume that initial deliveries of the Townstar will not incorporate the vehicle-to-grid technology familiar from the e-NV200. However the Townstar specification sheet at the end of the press release does include some charging information:

Battery Capacity ( Usable )44 kWh
Max. power90kW (122HP)
Max. torque245
Range estimationUp to 285 (pending homologation)
Charging type AC11 kw standard, or 22 kw optional
Charging type DC75  DC in CCS
Charging time DC0 to 80% 42 min
Battery coolingYes (with 22kW AC charger, or opt with 11kW)

If Nissan are working on incorporating V2G technology in the Townstar and/or the Ariya I wonder whether it will be AC or DC?

Last, but not necessarily least, here is a picture of the ICE Combi version of the Nissan Townstar:

Now I cannot help but wonder when we will be able to test drive one here in soggy South West England.

The Results of our Recent “RapidGate” Research

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No sooner had we completed our extended test drive of the new 40 kWh Nissan LEAF than the BBC published an article by Brian Milligan stating that:

Owners of Nissan’s new electric Leaf say they were given misleading information about the car before buying it.

They say charging the Leaf can take three times longer than claimed on Nissan’s website.

Others are unhappy that the range on a single charge is not as good as the 235 miles (378km) they were promised.

Nissan admitted that charging times can vary, but denied there was a problem or that any customers were misled.

The Advertising Standards Authority is now considering whether to launch an investigation into the issue.

We were already aware of “charging can take three times longer” issue, which was originally reported by Jonathan Porterfield of Eco Cars in Orkney:

For our test we weren’t intending to drive from Land’s End to John o’Groats, or even Leicestershire to Aberdeen. However we were planning a trip from Bodmin to Cardiff via Trowbridge, then back via the M4/M5/A30.

Here is what we discovered. After heading up the A30 and then the M5 at a proPILOT controlled 70 mph our first stop to “rapid charge” was at Taunton Deane Services where this transpired:

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By my calculations that’s an average of ~31.5 kW

After driving to Trowbridge via the A303, and hence a fair bit more at speeds of 60 and 70 mph, we spent an hour or so charging at a stately 6.6 kW. Then we headed north to Leigh Delamare services, where this transpired.

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By my calculations that’s a lot less than 31.5 kW. An average of ~21 kW in actual fact. It certainly looks as though there is some truth to those RapidGate rumours.

“Several of the Twitterati debating the issue have been suggesting that the 40 kWh LEAF 2.0 should have employed the same sort of “active battery temperature management” employed in the e-NV200 van. Let’s take a look at what Nissan themselves have to say about that:

The Nissan e-NV200’s motor is powered by a Nissan-developed 48-module compact lithium-ion battery, just like LEAF, but there are significant differences between the two packs.

Like LEAF, the cells are manufactured at Nissan’s new battery plant in Sunderland close to the NMUK facility, but these are then shipped to Barcelona where they are assembled into a pack specially configured for e-NV200 to avoid encroaching into the cargo area.

The battery pack is shorter and narrower than that in LEAF but, for the most part, deeper. Weighing 267.5 kg, it is also 7.5 kg lighter.

It is mounted under the floor of the vehicle within the wheelbase to keep the centre of gravity as low as possible and is contained within in a sturdy metal casing to provide extra protection in the event of a side impact.

As in the LEAF, the battery pack comprises 48 modules with a nominal capacity of 24 kWh, but it incorporates a bespoke cooling pack that operates automatically during quick charging.

Due to more compact packaging and because e-NV200’s duty cycle is likely to be quite different to LEAF – it is anticipated that the vehicle will be operated intensively during the working day and there will be greater use of Quick Chargers to minimise down time – cooled air from the vehicle’s heating and ventilation system is channelled over the battery cells to ensure optimum charging conditions at all times.

Conversely, in cold weather, the vehicle’s HVAC system wafts warm air over the battery, again to ensure it reaches its optimum operating temperature as quickly as possible.

It does rather sound as though Nissan didn’t anticipate that quite so many people would want to operate the new LEAF “intensively during the working day”, and through the night too is some cases. However to be frank it beats me why all those people want to work their new LEAF that hard. For Jonathan driving LEAF’s a long way in a hurry is part of his business. For everybody else though, this seems to sum things up nicely:

Finally, for the moment at least, here is an excellent video from Dr. Euan McTurk on the complexities of electric vehicle battery chemistry:

Note that around the 22 minute mark Euan mentions that there are lithium rich brines here in Cornwall!

To be continued……

In Which Kasia Falls in Love with the 2018 Nissan LEAF

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A lot of people are afraid or even horror-struck with the idea of driving in an autonomous car. But I belong to the opposite group – I dream about an autonomous car, I long for it and I long to have one. An ideal one would be able to float over the roads and country lanes. For these longings and dreams about floating self driving vehicles I should probably blame SF writers.

To make it clear I am not a professional test driver, I don’t work for Nissan, I am a woman, 62 years old, an artist and writer but also a huge fan of electric cars.

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A few days ago (Today is June, 30th 2018) we had the pleasure to go on an alas not many days journey in a new Nissan Leaf with the proPILOT “autonomous” mode, from the North Cornish town of Bodmin, through Devon (A30 and M5), Somerset, across country lanes and carriageways into Wiltshire, then Gloucestershire to sunny Cardiff and then back. The sun was shining, the air-conditioning was working, the temperature outside was rising above 30C and the quality of the audio was flawless and using the Amazon Music app we could listen to the newly released 50 legendary albums.

To start with I felt a kind of uneasiness and unreal-ness when using the cruise control – could I really trust the car to control things in all the busy traffic on the M5 and to take the decision about slowing down behind other cars and then accelerating again? Could I just start a series of yoga legs and feet exercises without causing an accident? I have to tell you that I could. The car is intelligent enough to keep us in a lane, to anticipate the bends in the road, to read all the traffic around it, to spot the car in front of it, even a car which cuts us up. I was trying to drive without keeping my hands on the steering wheel, the car was driving totally autonomously but not for long. After a while it started piping and blushing at me. I had to put my hands back on the steering wheel otherwise according to the manual the car will start to slow down and finally will make a stop. Not a good idea on a motorway.

The Leaf in the cruise control (ACC for short – adaptive cruise control) mode performs marvellously on the motorway, it also does a spot-on job on partly B-roads, partly A-single and dual roads and even those roads in the towns and villages, something none of these systems is really made for but is a good indication of how well they read lane markings. The Leaf stays within its lane at the speed limit, reads all the diverse speeds limits between 70, 60, 50,40, 30 and 20 miles/h and even drives itself around corners sharper than those on the average highway.

Several times on those roads we encountered stop-and-go traffic and the ACC was able to track the vehicle ahead of it stationary at the line for a stop sign or just for busy traffic and after waiting it started to move forward when a gap opened to the car in front. Just marvellous. On the last day I tested the e-pedal – one pedal system and it worked fabulously too. I totally forgot to say that I drove all the time in eco-mode. And even in the eco mode the acceleration of the Leaf was pretty good, in my opinion. A few times I speeded to over 70 mph to overtake a few annoying cars on highways/motorways and it happened pretty fast only the car did complain about my behaviour ;-).
It is an intelligent car – perfect for me, an undisciplined car driver, to correct me and teach me how to behave as a civil and polite person and citizen on the roads.

We did have issues with charging. Every time we left the Leaf at a charging point to become fully charged, it never happened. The Ecotricity chargers stopped every time after charging for 45 minutes. It is a pity.

The only concern for me is the seat, more specifically the headrest. It is pushed forward too much for my taste, and it is impossible to adjust it. It only moves up and down. Maybe it is my problem because I am short, 5’2 inch.

It is fair to say we were simply amazed by the proPILOT autonomous functionality. I love this car, just love it:

To be continued……

Road Testing the 2018 Nissan LEAF and “RapidGate” Rumours

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Here at V2G UK we’ve finally managed to complete an extended test drive of the 2018 model Nissan LEAF 2.0! We’d booked a 2 day test a couple of months ago, but had to cry off thanks to yours truly suffering a dose of the “man flu”. This time around my health held up and we picked up our two tone LEAF from West End Motors just down the A30 from here in Bodmin:

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Our test drive was timed to coincide with the Welsh Government’s Connected and Autonomous Vehicles briefing in Cardiff. More on that in due course, but amongst many other things we wanted to discover if there was any truth to the so called “#RapidGate” rumours flying around on Twitter and elsewhere. If that is double Dutch to you then please watch this explanation of the term from the inimitable Bobby Llewellyn:

When the “kerfuffle” started Nissan issued the following “news release” on Twitter:

During our trip we intended to do a lot of motorway driving at 70 mph, including a cross country trip to visit Platinum Nissan in Trowbridge. Much more on proPILOT in due course as well, but we set off up the A30 from Bodmin and engaged Nissan’s by now somewhat autonomous version of “cruise control” with a target speed of 70 mph:

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We still had some juice left in “the tank” by the time we reached Taunton Deane Services. According to the LEAF’s clock a distance of 90 miles:

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Before heading cross country we plugged in to the Ecotricity charging station:

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Having set things in motion we grabbed some lunch, then returned to discover this:

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We certainly weren’t “fully charged”, and 25.2 kWh over 48 minutes is rather less than the advertised 50 kW rapid charging. We called Platinum to inform them we’d be arriving late, and enquired whether they had a “rapid” charger. They haven’t!

The LEAF’s satellite navigation system directed us to Trowbridge via the A303, and we followed its instructions. Certainly not the shortest route, but arguably the quickest? Once at Platinum we plugged in quickly and topped up “slowly”. Discretion being the better part of valour we departed an hour or so later and headed for Leigh Delamere Services for what we hoped would be a “rapid” charge. We were sadly disappointed:

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Our own experience suggests that the #RapidGate rumours are not without foundation, and what is more the issue is not confined to the third “rapid” charging session of the day and beyond.

To be continued……

Next Generation Nissan LEAF to Include “Autonomous” Technology

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Nissan Europe exhibited at the CeBIT exhibition in Hannover, Germany for the first time last week. According to their press release:

Just weeks after demonstrating its advanced autonomous drive technology on public roads in Europe, Nissan today makes its debut at CeBIT, Europe’s largest digital expo, showcasing innovations set to revolutionise the future of motoring.

At the heart of its display at CeBIT, Nissan will showcase another autonomous innovation – Seamless Autonomous Mobility (SAM) system which was demonstrated earlier this year at CES.

Developed from NASA technology, SAM partners in-vehicle artificial intelligence with human support to help autonomous vehicles make decisions in unpredictable situations such as accidents, road construction, or other obstacles. With SAM, the autonomous vehicle becomes aware of when it should attempt to negotiate the situation by itself, and when it should seek human assistance. Knowing how to manoeuvre these situations will be key to realising a fully autonomous driving future.

Nissan has also confirmed that phase one of its innovative ProPILOT autonomous drive technology will be made available in the new Nissan Qashqai launching in FY17 and the second-generation model of the Nissan LEAF coming soon. This technology enables single lane autonomous driving on motorways and is already available on the Nissan Serena which was launched in Japan last year.

What should we expect from Nissan’s assorted “autonomous” technologies? The answer is provided by Robert Llewellyn in his latest “Fully Charged” video! As Bobby puts it:

Our first ride in a fully autonomous car on public roads in the UK.

What this car can do already, now, is drive itself anywhere on the roads. Obviously this is not available now. You can’t buy one of these Nissan LEAFs yet. This is still a development vehicle.

The idea with this, according to Nissan, is that this will be part of standard cars in around 2020

The next question is obviously “when should we expect the second-generation model of the Nissan LEAF to become available in the UK?”. A partial answer has just been “Tweeted” by Nissan UK:

Meanwhile, and perhaps not entirely coincidentally, the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy has announced:

The first competition to access funding supporting the creation of test facilities for connected and autonomous vehicles.

Business Secretary Greg Clark launched the first competition to access funding from the government’s £100 investment programme supporting the creation of test facilities for connected and autonomous vehicles today (30 March 2017) at the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders Connected Conference in London.

In his speech to an international audience of over 400 industry leaders from the automotive and technology sectors he outlined plans to create a cluster of excellence in CAV testing along the M40 corridor between Birmingham and London.

Time for me to call our local Nissan dealer to try to arrange a “test driven”! Perhaps there’s one small fly in the BEIS ointment though? South West England isn’t “along the M40 corridor between Birmingham and London”.

P.S. Nissan have released a “teaser” video in the build up to the launch of the “next generation” 2018 LEAF: