Nissan Leaf e+ arrives in Australia with 62 kWh battery, 160kW and 340Nm from $60,490
Nissan’s Leaf e+. Images: Nissan Australia
Nissan’s Leaf has been on sale since 2010, and has sold over 500,000 vehicles across two generations. Nissan Australia has finally welcomed the Leaf e+ to our shores, and it offers a respectable 62 kWh battery size with 385 kilometres (239 miles) WLTP range, up from the regular Leaf’s 40 kWh battery.
Such is the popularity of the Leaf, some Australians couldn’t wait for Nissan to officially offer the Leaf e+ variant and chose to import their own from Japan.
Nissan states that the Leaf e+ produces a “thrilling” 160kW and 340Nm, achieving a 0-100km/h (0-62 mph) time of 6.9 seconds. According to Nissan Australia Managing Director, Stephen Lester, “The Nissan LEAF is one the world’s most popular electric vehicle, the new Nissan LEAF e+ will only further that appeal by delivering more of what our customers love about their EV,”
“With more power, more range and more performance, as well as full bi-directional charging capability, the e+ is simply more LEAF, and helps ensure there really is an EV to suit every need in Australia.
“From zero-emissions commuting in the city to weekends away and everything in-between, the Nissan LEAF and LEAF e+ have you covered”.
The Leaf’s biggest disadvantage when compared to other EVs has been its range, and the addition of 22 kWh over the standard Leaf is decent. Nissan’s engineers have cleverly increased the battery capacity by improving the cell density with a marginal increase in module size.
Unfortunately, Nissan has stuck with passive cooling for the Leaf’s battery, which is a considerable disadvantage against most of this vehicle’s competition which offer liquid-cooled thermal management systems. Passively cooled batteries are less complex, however they are much more sensitive to ambient temperature, and have a higher annual battery degradation rate against battery EVs with active thermal management.
The Leaf e+ offers 100 kW peak DC charging at 350 volts, providing a 20%-80% charge in 45 minutes. Nissan was also one of the first automakers to offer Vehicle-to-Grid technology, and the Leaf range is capable of bi-directional charging. The automaker is presently engaged in Australian trials to demonstrate the effectiveness of this technology.
Priced from $60,490, $10,500 more than the regular Leaf, the Leaf e+ is priced dangerously close to Tesla’s Model 3 Standard Range Plus at $62,490, and Hyundai’s Kona Electric at $62,000. Both these vehicles offer more range, performance and practicality than the Leaf.
