Why Does the Leaf's Engine Look So Familiar?

Have you looked inside the engine compartment of the Nissan Leaf? My good friend Paul Richards asked me, among other things, to show everyone what the engine looks like.  I have a theory that some marketing guru in some ivory tower somewhere has postulated that the American consumer doesn't like change.

Click the image to enlarge

The brilliant minds at Nissan who developed the Leaf must have heard. Look inside the engine compartment and you will find a familiar sight. It looks like a fucking internal combustion engine - with overhead cam and everything.


From a design perspective they could have gone in any direction. The Nissan designers could have chosen to make the electric motor and controller look like something new, never before seen. Instead it looks like your typical front wheel drive piston pounding gas consuming Japanese four cylinder car. Who did they think would buy these cars?

An E Source study http://www.esource.com/esource/getpub/public/pdf/press_releases/ES-PR-EVData-4-11.pdf claims that younger consumers and those who describe themselves as liberals are more inclined to purchase an electric car over people classified as conservative. I could have told you that.

Why wouldn't conservatives buy electric cars? Is it because they don't care about the environment? What's the point of trying to save the planet when it's all going to end in the apocalypse anyway? I wonder if that marketing guru sitting in his ivory tower ever gave any thought to the apocalypse?

I don't know if it's true that most conservatives are Christians or if their belief in the second coming of Christ is the reason for being anti-environmentalist.

I read somewhere that religion is in decline all over the world. Faith Communities Today (FACT) claims the number of religious people in the United States is in steady decline. If it's true maybe Nissan will sell more Leafs.

Still I wonder who would be scared if they lifted the hood of their brand new electric car and couldn't recognize what was inside?