Nissan Leaf sweeps the way

NISSAN’S pioneering, 100 per cent electric Leaf EV has reached a decade on the market in Australia, a couple of years behind the same milestone in Japan.

To date, the Leaf has been the only EV sold here by Nissan despite a number of electric powered vehicles being available in the company’s global line-up.

The Leaf was the “advance guard” of mainstream EVs in Australia in 2012 that has since spawned a groundswell of sales activity in the EV space with new offerings from many manufacturers.

Nissan says the Leaf helped create this “electric wave” with more than 2000 unit sales of the model in Australia, contributing to 600,000 plus Leaf sales worldwide, many of which include components made at Nissan’s casting plant in Dandenong South, Victoria. 

This year, the local sales rate is running at 200 units to the end of May 2022, according to VFACTS data.

Nissan Australia has tabulated statistics on local Leaf usage and found that Australian-delivered vehicles have travelled approximately 58.5 million kilometres – far enough to have lapped the Earth more than 1400 times, all while producing zero tailpipe emissions.

“The Nissan Leaf was, and is, a pioneer in the EV market, and we’re proud both of its legacy, and of everything it has done to pave the way for EV acceptance and take-up in Australia,” said Nissan Australia managing director, Adam Paterson.

“Leaf chose the path and set the guide ropes for others to follow.”

The model has evolved since the first version with more power, more technology, and ever greater range.

A first-generation Leaf had a single electric motor producing 80kW of power and 280Nm of torque, fed by a 24kWh lithium-ion battery pack at first with a claimed 170km of range, later upgraded to 30kWh.

The current Leaf, which arrived here in 2019, was also powered by a single electric motor but with outputs upgraded to 110kW and 320Nm plus a larger 40kWh battery pack with a claimed range of 270km.

Nissan introduced the longer-range Leaf e+ in 2021 with a more powerful 160kW/340Nm electric motor and a larger 62kWh battery pack for a claimed range of 385km.

According to Nissan Australia, owners of Australian-delivered Nissan Leafs have saved approximately 4,096,344 litres of fuel – offsetting a combined $3.9m in fuel costs.

The combined batteries of all Nissan Leafs sold in Australia total 74,000kWh – more than 3.9 million AAA batteries – enough to power 4800 Australian homes for a day.

Australian-delivered Leafs have saved approximately 93 million kilograms of tailpipe CO2 emissions that would take in excess of 422,000 trees roughly 10 years to store.

Collectively, locally delivered Leafs have driven a distance equating to travelling to the moon and back 76 times.

Guillaume Cartier, chair of Nissan’s Africa, Middle East, India, Europe and Oceania region, said: “I would personally like to congratulate the Nissan Australia team on 10 years at the forefront of electric vehicle adoption in Australia.  This is only the beginning and I’m excited to see where the next 10 years takes us.”

The Leaf story will soon continue in Australia, with a new-look Leaf launching in August, having received key styling and technology updates designed to make zero-emission motoring even more appealing.

“We’re not done yet, with a new-look Leaf arriving later this year, along with the ongoing work with vehicle-to-grid technology,” said Mr Paterson.

Having contributed to changing the way Australians drive, the introduction of V2G technology will likely change the way we live too.

The updated Leaf model due in August will be priced from $50,990 before on-road costs for the base model. The longer-range Leaf e+ starts at $61,490 before on-roads.