The Nissan Leaf has always been one of those Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs) that offer green motoring without making you feel like you’re driving a spaceship. But alas, for all that it serves up, it still has one glaring flaw: range. Or lack thereof, which in fairness to the Japanese carmaker, is common to this type of vehicle. Yet Nissan is about to fix all this with the launch of the LEAF e+ (LEAF Plus Series).
Unveiled at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada, the LEAF e+ now packs a more potent 62kWh battery, which is way better that what was expected. Compared to the standard model’s 40kWh lithium-ion cells, this one can offer more power and range yet still be packaged at roughly the same size.
Moreover, charging can be done at about 70kw or even at a rate of 100kw. And it would take the same time to top up as its standard counterpart.
As for the all-important range, Nisan claims that the LEAF e+ can travel up to 364kms on a single charge. Putting this into perspective, that’s double the range of the standard model’s, which is pegged at 151kms. And yes, power is also up from 110kw to 160kw with torque at 350Nm.
With these new improvements, expect to see more Nissan LEAFs on the road when it debuts beginning this January in Japan, followed by other markets later this year.
