So, what's under the Hood???

As shown below, the Leaf has the batteries hidden under the floor of the car, and in particular in two packs under the front and rear seats. Also shown is, what I'm guessing, the electric motor to run the car. Except that electric motors traditionally, don't need to be that big. So, I'm wondering what's under the hood?






We know that the front of the car will contain AT LEAST two charging ports, one for standard 110v A/C house current and another for 220v for faster charging. But Nissan is also part of a consortium that seems to be standardizing on a 480 volt / 50kW three-phase power system that can "quick charge" the car to 80% full in under 30 minutes -- enough time to get a burger at a rest-stop. So now it's looking as though the 110/220 volt connection will be "combined" and, instead of just plugging the car into an outlet anywhere, you'll now need a charge adapter with a special plug.



This could be a deal-killer for me, as I was hoping I could just drive around with a large electrical cable in the back and plug in anywhere when I reached my destination. Now it looks like I will need another piece of hardware. I'm going to try and get Nissan to provide some more info for me there.

Part of the whole charging scheme is communications between the car itself and the charging station -- not just so that the car can tell the charger when the battery is full, but, so that billing information can be carried along.

Imagine this: You pull up to a charging station that can be located anyplace (sorta like gas stations), plug in, and have a smoke while your car charges. However the charging station is fully automated, no attendant. But your car has passed on your credit card number to the charging station vendor, so you can be billed for the electricity.

So what's under the hood? DRM, computers, no privacy, and your car maybe giving out too much info that you don't want it to.

Careful Nissan, I'm not liking the way this is going. I still want to be able to drive to my brother's house, plug in there, and then be able to drive home without needing custom hardware everywhere I drive. If this thing can't be recharged with just an extension cord, it's going to be too much hassle to justify this solution.