Nissan Leaf Electric Car in Malaysia

Have you heard about the all-new Nissan Leaf electric car in Malaysia? All this time, I assumed it was a joke or maybe even a prototype car, but then again, I had to visit the Nissan Malaysia website to find out more and guess what?

They had an ambassador program to test drive the car, therefore, I applied to be one of the ambassadors for six weeks and I got selected!

Well, after weeks of waiting, I received a call from one of the representatives of Nissan to inform me that I was shortlisted for the program which is in its third round of public testing.

I was beyond words when they shared the good news with me as I have always wanted to know how it was to drive a fully electric car or EV as it is called. 

Nissan Leaf Electric Car in Malaysia

Looking back in the day and in my early days of school, I used to dream and wonder when vehicles would go electric and now in 2013, the future is here and I finally have the opportunity to experience driving a 100% fully electric car mass-produced by Nissan. 

The team was one of their chief technicians who explained the entire process of the electric car in 60 minutes. Now get this, the car can drive fully charged for 160 kilometers, that means, I cannot take the car outstation on my frequent travels around Malaysia.

But then again, I do travel a lot around the city for meetings or client calls, therefore, this car will be quite interesting to see how it handles in our crazy Malaysian traffic.

Everything else in the Nissan Leaf is almost similar to a common car, just that there is a massive lithium-ion battery that weighs about 300 kilos that powers the entire car. Fast forward, I was given the entire breakdown of the car before I did a test drive around my home area.

Talk about silent. Being accustomed to the engine starting sound, this was so different in all ways. No kick start sound, no engine turning, nothing.

Just a push of the button and a light on the dashboard indicated that the car is ready to move. Apart from the start and the no-noise, I took the car for a spin around my area with no problems at all. In general, it still performs just like a normal car and with power! 

The only set back is that at this moment, I cannot drive the car all the way to Melaka or Ipoh and back unless they have an electric car charger installed there.

I am guessing over the next few years, there will be chargers installed around the country. At this moment, there are a few Electric Car (EV) chargers installed at selected places around Klang Valley.

There have been two rounds of testing so far and I will be involved with the third one for January and February 2013. Chinese New Year 2013 is going to be fun for me.