Nissan Leaf 40kWh (2021)
2018 onwards
In November 2021, just two weeks after getting my 2012 Leaf, I was rear ended on the A303. I was driving my girlfriend to work and was following another car to join the dual carriageway. I had a decent gap between myself and the car I was following and I was comfortably able to join the flowing traffic.
The car I was following didn't. Rather than getting up to speed and joining the carriageway in a gap, they slowed and then slowed more.
The traffic on the dual carriageway was very accommodating, slowing to try and provide room for the other car to join the road, but the driver just slowed more. All of a sudden, the traffic came to a complete standstill.
I managed to comfortably stop, as did the small van behind him. Sadly, the much larger van based truck behind him did not stop. The smaller van was pushed into me, but thankfully I was not pushed into the car in front of me. Within seconds, the traffic was flowing again, and the car whose driver caused the issue that led to the crash was on his way.
I moved my car back out of the way of the traffic, as did the van driver behind me. The van driver got out of his car and was full of apologies, explaining that he had himself been shunted. The driver of the larger truck also came over and apologised. He accepted full responsibility and, after swapping insurance and contact details, we were soon on our way.
When, a few weeks later, my car went in for the damage to be fixed, the insurance company provided a more modern Leaf as my hire car.
On the Road
The original Leaf was, in its day, groundbreaking. When I drove the latest Leaf in 2021, helping a friend decide upon a new car, I found it to be rather disappointing. The newer EVs from manufacturers like Hyundai, Kia and Tesla had really moved the game on and they were making the Leaf look old.
But, when I was given a 2021 car as a hire vehicle I had to look on it as an opportunity, as it was definitely a better car than the 2012 car in the workshop.
The Leaf was spritely and enjoyed the instant torque that you get from almost every electric vehicle, but it isn't super fast. That said, super fast isn't what most people need or even want. It handles as well as it needs for most users and offers a good amount of comfort.
Range and Charging
The 2021 Leaf with a 40kWh obviously had a far greater range than my 2012 Leaf with its 24kWh battery, especially given my car had a battery health rating of 8 out of 12. Nissan claimed a range of 168 miles and this would appear to have been achievable if driving sensibly.
We took a drive into Central London in the car, with the aim of attending Winter Wonderland at Hyde Park, which was about a 75 mile journey. We aimed for the Q-Park as it was close to our destination and had EV charging points. This meant we weren't too concerned about the range, and therefore didn't drive with a focus on economy. We had a bit of a job trying to get to the car park, as the Sat Nav kept guiding us to roads that were inaccessible, but we got there eventually.
Q-Park isn't a cheap parking option, but we had decided to go there purely because of the fact they were listed as having EV charging. Having arrived and located the chargers, we found that they were pretty much all faulty. There were a couple that were working, but they were being used. There were quite a few that weren't being used and we assumed it would be quick and easy to get a charge started. We were wrong. None of the chargers would show up on the App and they weren't possible to get started using a credit or debit card; you needed either a membership card for that provider (which I'd left in my own Leaf) or the App.
The charger provider obviously knew that there were issues, as there was an engineer parked up working on them. I sought his assistance, but he failed to get me started. He even moved his van so that I could use the charger he was blocking, which he said should be working according to his records, but that failed too. He suggested we try the chargers o the other side of the parking garage and we did... but they were just three pin sockets for use with 'granny chargers' and we hadn't brought such a cable with us. Eventually, after an hour in the garage (time we should have been spending in Winter Wonderland) we left and drove to the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain Car Park. We parked there and walked back to our destination.
After an enjoyable time at the park, we headed home again. However, having failed to get a charge in London we needed to stop on the way home. I decided to try and get to Fleet services on the M3, just because it didn't involve any diversions, and we got there with just a few miles range left.
More calamities however, as it took many attempts to get the charging started. I tried the phone number listed on the unit, but there was no answer. I tried the App downloaded using the QR code on the machine, but that simply pushed me to switch my home energy supply to them! Finally, after searching around the charger further, I found a different, well hidden, number. I called this number and they did get my charge started.
With CHAdeMO charging at a maximum rate of 46kW, we went into the services and got some food and drink. We were on our way home again about half an hour later.
Interior
The Leaf's cabin is a comfortable place to be, with seats that were more supportive than those in the ageing predecessor that I had been driving. The infotainment and other equipment had been improved too. So the interior is very different from the old one; it isn't as quirky and perhaps is more acceptable to those users who don't like too much change. The quality of the plastics and the general feel of the car is a big improvement.
The Mk 2 Leaf has Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and the screen is an improvement on the original version, but it's not as sharp as many other cars and is a bit laggy at times.
Verdict
The original Nissan Leaf was already a capable electric vehicle and there's no doubt that the Mk 2 was an improvement on it. However, so many other manufactures have now entered the EV market and, quite frankly, they offer better solutions in almost every way. They are more spacious, have better equipment and are more efficient,
On top of that, the Leaf is the only car that still retains the CHAdeMO charging method as its sole means of topping the battery up at a DC rapid charger. There are less CHAdeMO chargers than CCS, although most (non Tesla) locations do still have both, and they charge at slower speeds.
Personally, I'd recommend looking at the alternatives.
The ranges stated in the above table are approximations based upon the combined cycles (city and main roads) in the cold and in warmer weather. These are not guarantees and they are not based upon the experience from my test drive.
You can find lots of information about electric vehicles, past and current, at http://www.ev-database.org
We need your consent to load the translations
We use a third-party service to translate the website content that may collect data about your activity. Please review the details in the privacy policy and accept the service to view the translations.