Nonetheless, even with solely 74 miles of vary, it was at the least semi-affordable, at round $40,000. And within the following 15 years, Nissan would go on to promote greater than 650,000 Leafs globally, with 150,000 of these within the US. However low vary and bizarre seems proved to not be an interesting mixture, even when inexpensive—and the smooth traces, startling acceleration, and 200-plus-mile vary of each Tesla Model S quickly outgunned the modest little Leaf.
Worse, the Leaf’s Achilles Heel turned out to be the cost-saving choice by powertrain engineers to forego energetic thermal conditioning for its battery—which means the pack had no liquid cooling or heating. That labored adequately in most circumstances. However a small variety of Leaf drivers in locations like Arizona, the place pavement temperature simply 6.3 inches under the battery can attain 140 levels Fahrenheit (60 levels Celsius), discovered their batteries shedding capability inside months, or failing outright.
Total, in line with owner-provided telematics data from battery-health agency Recurrent, 2011 to 2016 Leafs did considerably worse in retaining battery vary than the following high-volume EV to hit the market, the Tesla Mannequin S. The typical Leaf from that interval, says Recurrent, retained solely 83 % of its battery vary—versus virtually 93 % for the typical Mannequin S. (For what it’s price, the Leaf nonetheless bested the BMW i3, which had an excellent worse 78 %.) Recurrent notes any EVs whose batteries had been changed should not referred to as out, nor are any EVs whose batteries died utterly and had been then scrapped.
For the 2026 Nissan Leaf and the 2023 Ariya earlier than it, Nissan realized its lesson. The brand new Leaf’s battery pack is liquid cooled; Arizona EV drivers can relaxation simple.
Dropping Its Lead
The primary-generation Leaf has had a staggering 15-year mannequin life, albeit with one main redesign in 2018 to make it much less odd-looking—which succeeded, because it now largely resembles each different small Nissan. Over that point, battery capability grew from 24 to 62 kilowatt-hours in varied iterations. An EV launched with a 74-mile vary was EPA-rated as excessive as 212 miles for the Leaf Plus mannequin. US manufacturing started in 2013, although it’s anticipated to wind down this 12 months.
Former Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn was an early champion of EVs. He was additionally, nonetheless, a relentless cost-cutter, and he axed a number of proposed new EV fashions, intending that the Leaf first present that EVs could possibly be worthwhile. Each Leaf offered for a few years doubtless misplaced extra money for the corporate; immediate profitability is a tall order for any new know-how. Toyota has acknowledged it misplaced cash for nearly 10 years on its first two generations of Prius.
Ghosn was arrested and jailed in Japan for monetary misconduct in 2018, then fled the nation to Lebanon whereas on home arrest. Nissan has by no means regained its footing. EVs weren’t, frankly, its greatest downside. And that’s the place we stay immediately, with Nissan now planning to shut meeting crops, slash jobs, and retrench for survival following a failed Honda merger.
Over these 15 years, Nissan totally squandered its first-mover benefit. Might it have taken classes from Tesla, and launched a extra fashionable, longer-range EV to ascertain a spread of electric-car choices? It might have … nevertheless it didn’t. With near 100 separate EV fashions on sale within the US immediately, the Leaf faces robust opponents from across the globe—if not but China. The brand new Leaf will compete with a rating of smaller, front-wheel-drive crossovers from Hyundai, Kia, Chevrolet, Volkswagen, and others. We’ll await a primary drive to see the way it stacks up.
Very doubtless, the 2026 Nissan Leaf will doubtless be a reliable, environment friendly smaller EV crossover. Nevertheless it’s onerous to not suppose what might need been if Nissan had stayed the course.
