Nissan’s leaf has returned and is trying to invent lost land

However, even with only 74 miles away, it was at least semi-accepted, at about $ 40,000. And in the following 15 years, Nissan would have continued to sell over 650,000 leaves globally, with 150,000 of those in the United States. But the low range and the strange appearance did not prove to be a captivating combination, even if convenient, and the elegant lines, the surprising acceleration and the range of over 200 miles of each Tesla model have soon exceeded the modest small leaf.

Worse still, the Achilles heel of the leaf proved to be the saving decision on the costs of the engineers of the engine to give up the active thermal conditioning for its battery, which means that the package had no cooling or liquid heating. This worked adequately in most cases. But a small number of drivers of leaves in places such as Arizona, where the temperature of the flooring only 6.3 inches under the battery can reach 140 degrees Fahrenheit (60 degrees Celsius), found the batteries losing the capacity within months or not being able to fail.

Overall, second Electronic data provided by the owner From the company for the health of the recurring battery, 2011 to 2016 Leafs made significantly worse in holding the battery range compared to the next EV with high volume to hit the market, the Tesla S. model the average leaf of that period, says recurrent, has maintained only 83 percent of 78 %. They have been replaced are not called, nor are the electric vehicles whose batteries have died completely and have therefore been demolished.

For the Nissan leaf of 2026 and the Ariya of 2023 before, Nissan learned the lesson. The battery pack of New Leaf is liquid cooled; Arizona drivers can rest easily.

Losing its advantage

The first generation leaf has had an incredible 15 -year -old model life, even if with a great redesign in 2018 to make it less strange, which has succeeded, since now it mostly remembers any other small Nissan. Over the course of that time, the battery capacity has grown from 24 to 62 kilowattora in various iterations. An EV launched with a 74 mile range was evaluated in EPA up to 212 miles for the Leaf Plus model. US production began in 2013, even if it should end this year.

The former CEO of Nissan Carlos Ghosn was a first sample of electric vehicles. It was also, however, an relentless cost costs and axized several new models of EV proposed, with the intention that the leaf showed that electric vehicles could be profitable. Each leaf sold for many years has probably lost more money for the company; Instant profitability is a high order for any new technology. Toyota recognized that she lost money for almost 10 years in her first two generations of Prius.

Ghosn was arrested and imprisoned in Japan for misconduct financial conduct in 2018, then he fled the country to Lebanon while he was under domestic arrest. Nissan has never regained his foot. Electric vehicles were not frankly his biggest problem. And that’s where we remain today, with Nissan who now intends to close the assembly plants, cut the work and resize for survival following a failed Honda merger.

In those 15 years, Nissan has completely wasted his advantage in move. Could Tesla lessons have taken and launching a more elegant and longer EV to establish a range of electric car options? He could have … but that’s not the case. With almost 100 separated EV models for sale in the United States today, The Leaf faces difficult competitors from all over the world, if not yet China. The new leaf will compete with a smaller front -wheel drive crossover score of Hyundai, Kia, Chevrolet, Volkswagen and others. We will wait for a first trip to see how it accumulates.

Most likely, the Nissan Leaf 2026 will probably be a smaller and efficient EV crossover. But it is difficult not to think about what could have been if Nissan remained the path.