Nissan Leaf News
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Electric cars are changing the automotive landscape, technologically and culturally. Those factors are what often make things classic, whether it's in music, architecture, or automobiles. Various people have weighed in recently on which of today's green cars will become tomorrow's classics, from Hagerty Insurance selecting the Tesla Model S as the car of the decade to comedian and car collector Jay Leno picking the original, boxy Toyota Prius sedan as the most likely "green" collectible of the future. Last week, we thought we'd let our Twitter followers weigh in with their own opinions...
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2018 Nissan Leaf battery technology, a deep dive
When the first-generation Nissan Leaf debuted in 2011, it quickly became the best-selling electric car in history, with no real competition. By the time the most recent version debuted in 2017, it was nearly outdated before it left dealers’ lots due to a shorter range than rivals from Tesla...
Green Car Reports -
"Leaving" in a hurry? Sporty Nissan Leaf Nismo headed for Japan
Mainstream automakers that have been building electric cars are getting the message that they're on the wrong road. As Nissan, Ford, Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz and others have churned out low-range, and sometimes uninspiring electric hatchbacks, they've seen the success Tesla has had in building...
Eric C. Evarts -
Software fix for 2016-17 Nissan Leafs may improve battery range
In March we told you about a study of a small group of 2016 and 2017 Nissan Leaf models equipped with the larger, 30-kwh battery pack that had abnormal battery degradation. That study concluded that nearly four out of five of the larger battery packs examined lost cell capacity three times faster...
Aaron Cole -
Blown away? Nissan Leaf convertible concept makes debut in Japan
Nissan is famous for zigging when everyone else zags—especially when it comes to making convertibles. Years after its soft-top Murano CrossCabriolet crossover was laughed out of showrooms (and then went on to find a niche following on the used-car market), Nissan is at it again with a...
Eric C. Evarts -
PG&E offers new $3,000 rebate to Nissan Leaf buyers
PG&E announced a new $3,000 purchase incentive for new Nissan Leafs that comes directly off the purchase price and on top of a $7,000 rebate from the state and the $7,500 federal tax credit. With all incentives PG&E customers can buy a new Leaf for $16,500.
Eric C. Evarts -
Airport runs are a regular challenge for electric cars. You need to use less than half the range so you can get home, and leave plenty of margin.
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2018 Nissan Leaf electric car: Is there a fast-charging problem?
Nissan Leaf owners have found that the car's electronic controls dial back charging speeds with each successive fast charge on any given trip.
Eric C. Evarts -
Nissan Leaf refurbished batteries offered for older electric cars, in Japan
With more than 300,000 Nissan Leaf electric cars on the road, some more than six years old, battery degradation is becoming more and more of an issue. The different rates of capacity loss are a topic of much discussion among Leaf owners, but it now seems likely that Nissan's choice of passive air...
John Voelcker -
Nissan Leaf 30-kwh battery decline 3 times that of earlier electric cars: study
The Nissan Leaf, at least for the moment, remains the highest-volume electric car produced in history, with more than 300,000 sold. One of the measures that kept its cost down was the use of passive air cooling for its battery pack, rather than the pricier liquid cooling used by other makers to...
John Voelcker -
Nissan electric crossover utility with AWD will be breakthrough: exec
Could a specific vehicle give electric cars the breakthrough they need to reach the mass market? So far, neither the world's highest-selling battery-electric model—the Nissan Leaf—nor the Tesla Model S, starting at $75,000, has sold in mainstream U.S. volumes. You might ballpark that...
John Voelcker -
Battery life of 2018 Nissan Leaf vs 2017 Chevy Bolt EV electric cars: what manuals suggest
It's one of the major questions for any electric-car buyer: How long will the battery pack last? And what would it cost to replace it if I do need a new one sometime down the road? Now a new video looks at that question, comparing the different thermal-management technologies in the batteries of...
John Voelcker -
Many times our polls deal with weighty issues—climate change, renewable energy, the effects of denying science—or survey expectations for the future. But sometimes we just do a "Pick one!" kind of poll. That's what we did last week, when we asked Twitter followers to name their favorite electric car from among four choices now on the market. DON'T MISS: In what segments will electric cars do best by 2025? Take our (new!) Twitter poll We deliberately kept Teslas off the list, for a couple of reasons. First, we wanted to keep it to affordable vehicles, and the long-promised $35,000...
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Which electric car is your favorite? Take our Twitter poll
This week's Geneva auto show has seen lots of news about new electric cars, but almost all of them come from luxury brands. The 2019 Jaguar I-Pace has made its debut, Aston Martin announced its Lagonda brand would be dedicated to all-electric vehicles, and so forth. That's all very nice, but what...
John Voelcker -
2018 Nissan Leaf electric car: four-day winter road-trip review
The first generation of mass-priced electric cars with ranges of 60 to 90 miles simply didn't have enough range to be used outside predictable daily commute duties and local errands around town. Sure, four-fifths of vehicles in the U.S. cover less than 40 miles a day—but that other fifth...
John Voelcker -
Nissan and partners have now sold 540,000 plug-in electric vehicles
Of the 90 million or so new vehicles sold globally last year, plug-in electric cars made up only a tiny proportion, roughly 1 percent. But the auto industry works on long product cycles and buyers tend to be conservative, only changing the types of cars they buy if life circumstances change or...
John Voelcker -
Looking at leases on 2018 Nissan Leaf electric car: how do they stack up?
This past Tuesday, the 2018 Nissan Leaf—an entirely redesigned second generation of the pioneering electric car—officially went on sale in the U.S. It's quicker and has more features than its predecessors, not to mention a significantly longer range: 151 miles combined, according to the...
John Voelcker -
2018 Nissan Leaf electric car gets 151-mile EPA range rating
When the 2018 Nissan Leaf electric car was unveiled last fall, the company said it would have a range of "140 miles or more." That had risen to "150 miles or more" by the end of last year, and now we have the final confirmed figure. The EPA combined range rating for the second-generation Leaf is...
John Voelcker -
Nissan, the first automaker in the world to launch a mass-priced electric car, has a reason to celebrate this week. The automaker said on Monday it delivered the 300,000th example of its electric hatchback, the Nissan Leaf—though it did not detail whether it was one of the new second-generation cars or a remaining first-generation model. The achievement solidifies the Leaf's position as the world's best-selling electric vehicle globally. DON'T MISS: Five Years After Launch, 200,000th Nissan Leaf Electric Car Sale Coming Up "These numbers prove that the Nissan Leaf remains the most...
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2018 Nissan Leaf: an early Leaf driver's impressions (he has a Tesla too)
First sales of the 2018 Nissan Leaf, the second generation of the pioneering electric car, should come this month. But Nissan has quietly been showing the 2018 Leaf to electric-car shoppers for several months now, hosting drives at dealerships and other venues. Several of our readers and...
John Voelcker -
Could Tennessee top Michigan in U.S. electric-car production (if not California)?
Today, battery-electric cars are built in volume at only three locations across the entire United States. Tesla builds its three different electric models in Fremont, California; the new 2018 Nissan Leaf has just gone into production in Smyrna, Tennessee; and the Chevrolet Bolt EV is built at the...
John Voelcker -
2018 Nissan Leaf electric car now rolling off lines in Tennessee
The 2018 Nissan Leaf electric car will start to appear at Nissan dealers in January, the company said Monday. That availability came in an announcement that the second-generation electric car officially went into production the same day at Nissan's sprawling assembly plant in Smyrna, Tennessee...
John Voelcker -
2018 Nissan Leaf preview
The 2018 Nissan Leaf electric car represents the second generation and a thorough redesign and update of the highest-selling electric car in the world. Although we still await the last details of pricing, features, and options, we know largely what to expect from Nissan's new electric car when it...
Sean Szymkowski -
Finalist for Green Car Reports Best Car To Buy 2018: Nissan Leaf
If any electric car aside from the Tesla Model 3 can be called "long-awaited," it would be the redesigned 2018 Nissan Leaf. First thought to arrive as a 2016 model, it was widely assumed to be a 2017 to go head-to-head with the 238-mile Chevrolet Bolt EV launched last December. In the event, the...
John Voelcker