Nissan’s Leaf Electric Car may make “Blade Runner” sounds

October 17, 2009 by hutchpine Leave a Comment

The Nissan Leaf may make "Blade Runner" sounds

The Nissan Leaf may make "Blade Runner" sounds

How do you keep vision impaired pedestrians from being run over by silent electric cars? An electric vehicle traveling under 12 miles per hour makes virtually no noise, and advocates for the hearing impaired are concerned.  A blind pedestrian may not notice an approaching electric car, and the results could be serious.

What do you do to fix this problem? If you’re Nissan, your car artificially produces the sound of the vehicles from the movie “Blade Runner.”  Toshiyuki Tabata, a Nissan engineer, and his team selected the high-pitched sound of flying cars from “Blade Runner,” after enlisting the help of Japanese film composers. ”We decided that if we’re going to do this, if we have to make sound, then we’re going to make it beautiful and futuristic,” Tabata said. The sound system would turn on automatically when the car starts and shut off when the vehicle hits 12 mph. At speeds over 12 mph the sound of the tires and air traveling over the car would make it audible to pedestrians.

Nissan may equip the all-new Leaf plug-in electric vehicle with the system, pending approval from US and Japanese regulators. Tabata believes the “beautiful” sound may help sales. “We don’t want to destroy the brand of the electric car,” he said. “We want to have something that will enhance its image.” 

The Nissan Leaf will be available in select US markets late next year, and may be available in Texas in 2011. If you are interested in the Leaf, let me know by emailing me at hpine@victorianissan.com, and put ”Keep Me in the Leaf Loop” in the message header.  I’ll keep you updated on all the latest Leaf info. www.victorianissan.com

Source: Bloomberg.com

Filed under Leaf

NYPD Green? – New York City puts American made Altima Hybrids into service

October 17, 2009 by hutchpine Leave a Comment

New York City purchased 40 new American made Altima Hybrids

New York City purchased 40 new American made Altima Hybrids

The New York City Police Department (NYPD) has added 40 new Nissan Altima Hybrids to their fleet.

The hybrids will be divvied amongst precincts with large coverage areas and smaller precincts prone to heavy stop-n-go traffic: essentially where their fuel efficiency provides the greatest economic and environmental impact.

Of the forty cars, 18 of them are marked and 22 are unmarked. And while the Altimas are the first alternative-fuel vehicles used for police cars, they account for only 40 out of the 100 or more hybrids the Department plans to deploy this year.

“The NYPD embraces innovation when it doesn’t compromise performance or safety to our personnel and the public,” said Commissioner Kelly. “We want to get the most mileage out of technology where it makes sense – with the addition of these hybrids, we’re doing that literally.”

The Alitmas cost $25,391 per vehicle.  Where an Impala is $23,967 and it’s $24,875 for the Crown Victorias. But for city driving, the Altima gets double the gas mileage of the others.

Also the Altimas has greater acceleration – zero to 60 mph in 7.6 seconds!

“Through savings in fuel, these Altimas can quickly cover their additional cost, from then they will save taxpayers money – another example of how going green is good for our environment and our pocketbooks,” Bloomberg said.

Nissan Altima hybrids are American-made unlike the Canadian-produced Crown Victorias and Chevy Impalas that comprise most of the fleet. In fact every Altima ever build has been made in Tennessee.

“It is an added benefit that buying these cars helps create jobs in America,” Bloomberg said.

The NYPD will monitor their performance over the coming year to determine if they should be further expanded into the fleet.  The Altima Hybrid is not yet certified for sale in Texas, but Victoria Nissan has a pre-owned 2007 Altima available for purchase.

Source: New York City, Redgreenblue.com

Filed under altima