The frog-faced Nissan Leaf is starting to feel like the Toyota Prius when it came around in 1997, namely an ecologic new way of transportation. Unlike the path opener Prius, the Leaf ditches gasoline power and makes more room for electricity, thus trying to reduce its carbon footprint even more, while still retaining all the characteristics a normal car has.
Of course, it doesn’t emit anything at the back since all the power comes from a battery you charge at home or other specially designed places, but this doesn’t mean the car is 100% green. Its manufacturing process can affect the environment as well and Nissan is constantly searching for ways to improve the process.
Building the lithium ion batteries is probably the most polluting stage so the automaker has had to rely on recycled materials to build more of the car, not to further build up the carbon emissions during the making of a Leaf.
Yep, your Leaf contains 25 percent of recycled materials, counting in for 375 kg (827 lb) of the total 1,460 kg (3,218 lb). Those seats for example are made out of plastic fibers obtained from recycled PET bottles. Insulating materials are also obtained from old clothes while those smooth plastic surfaces on the doors and dashboard are in fact recycled home appliances.
Just like Antoine Lavoisier said more than two centuries ago, “nothing is lost, nothing is created, everything is transformed.” You only have to find an efficient way to do it.
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