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2014 Nissan Serena offers big flexibility in a tidy package

In America, Nissan attempts to slake our kinschlepping needs with its slow-selling Quest minivan, but in Japan, where consumers seem a lot less reluctant to buy MPVs, there are a lot more models for every size family and budget. Nissan itself offers no fewer than six such minivans, including the popular Serena seen here.
Technically a mid-cycle facelift, this new Serena continues to offer seating for up to eight people with a gas-only or mild hybrid driveline delivering power to either the front or all four wheels. This Tokyo Motor Show reveal takes that familiar package and lends it a freshened look, complete with a revamped front fascia with less chrome frosting, optional LED headlamps, new LED taillamps and new alloy wheel patterns. In addition, the Serena receives new active safety technology, including lane departure warning systems, Around View Monitor with Moving Option Detection, Driver Attention Alert, and so on.
With only a 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine paired with a continuously variable transmission, you might expect the Serena to be smaller than today's American minivans, and you'd be right - it's roughly the size of a short-wheelbase Gen III Dodge Caravan, making its seating capacity particularly impressive. Said another way, the Serena is likely to stay forbidden fruit, but that doesn't mean you can't enjoy it in our gallery.

Is 120 miles just about perfect for EV range?

When it comes to battery-electric vehicles, our friend Brad Berman over at Plug In Cars says 40 miles makes all the difference in the world. That's the approximate difference in single-charge range between the battery-electric version of the Toyota RAV4 and the Nissan Leaf. It's also the difference between the appearance or disappearance of range anxiety. The 50-percent battery increase has zapped any lingering range anxiety, Berman writes. The RAV4 EV possesses a 40-kilowatt-hour pack, compared to the 24-kWh pack in the Leaf. After factoring in differences in size, weight and other issues, that means the compact SUV gets about 120 miles on a single charge in realistic driving conditions, compared to about 80 miles in the Leaf. "The 50 percent increase in battery size from Leaf to RAV has zapped any lingering range anxiety," Berman writes. His observations further feed the notion that drivers need substantial backup juice in order to feel comfortable driving EVs. Late last year, the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), along with the Consumers Union estimated that about 42 percent of US households could drive plug-in vehicles with "little or no change" in their driving habits, and that almost 70 percent of US commuters drive fewer than 60 miles per weekday. That would imply that a substantial swath of the country should be comfortable using a car like the Leaf as their daily driver - with first-quarter Leaf sales jumping 46 percent from a year before, more Americans certainly are. Still, the implication here is that EV sales will continue to be on the margins until an automaker steps up battery capabilities to 120 or so miles while keeping the price in the $30,000 range. Think that's a reasonable goal to shoot for?

Infiniti puts EV plans on hold again

Think of it as the green-automotive industry's version of Groundhog Day. Nissan's Infiniti division is putting plans for its first mass-production electric vehicle on hold. Again. The Infiniti LE, whose concept version was unveiled 2012's New York Auto Show, is again being put up on the proverbial blocks, USA Today says, citing a presentation by Infiniti executive Michael Bartsch at a recent company event in Detroit. Essentially, the Nissan division has bigger fish to fry, in the form of boosting overall Infiniti sales, and doesn't yet want to put the effort into introducing the Infiniti LE. The Infiniti EV plans were first postponed by then-Infiniti President Johan de Nysschen during the summer of 2013, as de Nysschen wasn't quite buying into Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn's ambitious electric vehicle sales projections. De Nysschen resigned last summer to join General Motors' Cadillac division. One issue may be the fact that the Infiniti wouldn't be all that different from the Nissan Leaf. Despite the fact that US sales of that EV surged 34 percent last year compared to 2013, to 30,200 vehicles, an Infiniti version was apparently not enough of a selling point within the company. While the Infiniti is sportier looking than the Leaf and would boast inductive, wireless charging, it would have a similar power output and single-charge range as the Leaf.