Nissan Leaf: Making the World Happier

Imagine a country where quality of life is measured not in gross domestic product (GDP) but in gross national happiness (GNH). Sounds like a fantasy? Nope, it is the tiny Asian country of Bhutan.

2013 Nissan LEAF

As a primarily Buddhist country, part of its GNH policy is environmental sustainability – creating a balance between technology and the environment. Because of this Bhutan is very conscious of the environment and pollution, being one of the only countries in the world that is a carbon sink – this means that Bhutan absorbs more CO2 than it produces – and generates the majority of its power from renewable sources such as hydroelectric plants and solar power. In fact, it is a net exporter of energy to India.

Considering Bhutan’s eco-friendly attitude and its abundance of electricity, it only makes sense that their vehicles should all be electric. That is why Bhutan is planning on importing over 2000 Nissan Leafs for its capital Thimphu. At the moment most people in the capital only make very short trips in cars and frequently use taxis for inner city travel. Considering that the capital only has 120 000 people and and at present only 3500 taxis, this could be start of the world’s first completely electric vehicle capital city.

Currently it costs taxi drivers around $13 a day for fuel, but the introduction of Nissan Leafs could see this drop down to less than a half a dollar a day as they switch from fossil fuels to recharging with electricity.

With over 80 000 Nissan Leafs sold worldwide already and other major cities such as New York beginning to adopt them as taxis and London planning to adopt them by 2016, Nissan Leafs could soon be the standard worldwide inner city transport solution – increasing gross national happiness everywhere.


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