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The Nissan LEAF electricity powered car – 105science

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About the technology behind the world’s best selling electric vehicle. Called the Nissan LEAF, it’s a car to drive across town with the thought that you’re not pumping out pollution, or adding to the traffic noise as you do. We speak with Nissan’s Vehicle Evaluation Manager Steve Groves to hear about the science of its battery and of the innovative technology in this car. Thanks to the Cambridge Institution of Engineering and Technology for running the event at Cambridge University Engineering Department. Contact the IET mailing list. Listen to the show below. Or hear the interview with Steve Groves here.

Car info for the curious

  • The Nissan LEAF is a production car, selling now, that has a top speed of ninety miles per hour. It  won a World Car of the Year Award
  • LEAF stands for Leading, Environmentally friendly, Affordable, Family car. The models sold across Europe are made in the UK, in Sunderland .
  • Little or no road tax or London ‘congestion charge’. A regular petrol fuelled car costs 20p a mile in fuel, the Nissan LEAF can cost just 2p of electricity a mile.
  • The 24kWh battery charges from a regular 13a socket or at  public places such as the Grafton Shopping Centre car park or the park and ride car parks.

What’s on in Cambridge

  • The Cambridge Science Festival celebrates its 20th anniversary from 10th to 23rd March. Check their website at www.cam.ac.uk/SCIENCE-FESTIVAL
  • On Thursday 06 March at 7pm – a guided tour of the Herbarium at Cambridge University Botanic Garden. Run by Cambridge Natural History Society. Booking is essential. http://talks.cam.ac.uk/talk/index/50379
  • On Tuesday 04 March at 7pm there’s ‘A Trail of Research from Opium to Vitamin B12’ with Professor Sir Alan Battersby FRS talking on ‘biosynthesis’ and telling how chemists can discover the reactions by which living systems construct molecules. He will explain how chemical research has changed over the last 60 years. This is at St Catharine’s College. Open to all. http://talks.cam.ac.uk/talk/index/48029
  • On March weekends The Cambridge Science Centre run a special weekend exhibition called Perception. It’s described as an extraordinary sensory experience. The exhibition will use illusions to uncover how our senses work and tricks your brain uses to make sense of the world. From 10:00am – 5:00pm. See www.cambridgesciencecentre.org

The Science Show
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