April 20: Nissan EV - back to the beginning

2018 Nissan Leaf

Before Tesla cornered everyone's mind and made us think that they were the only electric car company game in town, there was another EV that beat them to market. A car that has sold more EV's worldwide since being introduced in 2010, than any other company. How does 300,000 cars sound? Everyone's catching up, but to date that is still an impressive number. The car? Nissan's Leaf.



Tracing ancestry is all the rage these days. We see ads on TV showing someone, who thought they were originally from somewhere in Africa, but after an ancestry check, they find that they were actually Inuit (eskimo to be less than politically correct). So let's turn over a new Leaf and go deep into its background.

Way back in the late '40's the Tokyo Electric Automobile Company produced Japan's first electric car, actually a mini pick-up, the Tama..........

This industrious little hauler (1100 lb capacity), sported 4.5 HP and could deliver the goods at a top speed of 21 MPH (34 KPH for us Canucks). Range? Not really, but if you insist, it would go 40 miles or 64 kms before running out of juice.

Quickly followed by a little sedan, the Tama Junior, that could top out at a dizzying 22 MPH.........

Spartan in a post Second World War kind of way, but at least it was transportation and that country needed anything it could get. Batteries? Sure, but nothing quite like what would be coming down the pike years into the future. Placed under the floor, an idea that didn't get utilized again until Tesla came along.

These two EV's were followed by a larger and more contemporarily designed Tama Senior.......

But how do we go from the Tama to the Leaf? Acquisitions. The Toyko Electric Automobile Company joined the more upscale Prince Motor Company, which in turn joined Nissan in 1966. Of course, along the way, the EV's got dropped, since the price of gas was dirt cheap and we all know the price of dirt.

Full circle back to our quest to save the planet and Nissan brings the Leaf to market in 2010. A little faster than the original, a bit more range, a tad pricier and an up to date design...........

Anyone interested in Tesla's ancestry?

Until next time........