Nissan Leaf's CARWINGS Keeps You Abreast of Your Driving Habit and Puts You in Efficiency Race

There's one feature on the Nissan Leaf that hasn't gotten a lot of press, but when new owner Olivier Chalouhi posted about it on My Nissan Leaf, the gathered eco-auto geeks got pretty excited. The feature? CARWINGS. No, it's not an add-on bit of body work for achieving flight, but rather a telematics system that keeps track of and displays all kinds of information. A version of the system has been available in some Nissans in Japan for years but its implementation in their first mass produced electric has radically changed it.

Now, most Leaf fans know that the car's 7" screen will display its current position and possible range on a map and that it even tells you which charging stations are reachable. It also, however, tracks your energy usage information and allows you to see a daily, monthly and annual reports that show distances traveled, total and average energy consumption among other things.

Perhaps just as interesting, it tracks your efficiency ranking vis-à-vis all the other Leaf drivers. Yup, as a Leafer, you are in competition with all the other Leafers and can pursue the great gold platinum Leaf cup. You can track how you rank against drivers in your area as well as across the planet. Pretty cool, huh? No word on whether Nissan will be handing out prizes from time to time but we sure hope they consider it. Hit us up in the comment section and tell us what they should offer as a prize. We're thinking 100 hectares of rain forest preservation in your name might be appropriate.


Source: Autoblog