Spirited new Leaf on Islay 07 | 10 | 2011
ANY CAR MANUFACTURER would be delighted to increase its presence by 400%, but that’s exactly what Nissan has done with its new electric car, the Leaf. What’s even more quirky to this story is that it happened on the island of Islay, better known for its unique collection of eight distilleries.
Back to reality though, because the increase from only one Leaf on Islay to a total of four was only for a few days as part of a publicity exercise by the Japanese manufacturer.
They wanted to show that an island community like Islay is just the place to have a car like the Leaf with a limited range of under 100 miles on a 12 hour mains charge.
Islay was chosen because the man behind reopening one of the distilleries, Bruichladdich, was one of the first in Scotland to buy a Leaf – and run it on his own electricity produced from the waste in the distillation process.
Managing Director Mark Reynier liked the idea of the Leaf when it was first announced so he asked Nissan for more details. They were happy to oblige and sent him one to try out as a demonstrator. He was so impressed, he bought it and now uses it every day, mostly to run his son to the local school a few miles away in Bowmore.
Nissan's whisky-powered Leaf
He’s even happier at the zero road tax and the cheap power which comes from an overnight charge from the distillery’s own generator, powered by methane given off by the waste from the whisky making process.
Nissan wanted to capitalise on the success story so shipped another three Leafs to Islay; a black, a white and a blue one, identical to the one already there and invited the media to try them out for themselves.
Scotcars’ Alan Douglas was there too and overcame some initial scepticism about the electric car concept, although still felt a little nervous about running out of juice. He toured the island and made it back to base – and a recharge – with only a handful of miles’ range left on the onboard computer.
The cars attracted a lot of attention from the locals, so there may be a few more Leafs making their way over the sea to Islay – on a more permanent basis.
Watch our video of the NIssan Leaf in Islay
Keep up-to-date with all the latest news by following us on twitter.com/scotcars
Alan Douglas