More power and range for Leaf

The newly unveiled Nissan Leaf e+ offers about 363km range from its 62kWh battery and more powerful motor.

These combine to produce 160kW of power and 340Nm of torque, enabling faster acceleration – getting from 80km/h to 120km/h said to be nearly 13% quicker.

The “e+” refers to the increased energy density of the model’s battery pack and the higher output of its powertrain which adds about 40% more to the car’s range, Nissan says.

A new 70kW (100kW peak) Quick Charging system allows more efficient charging.

Based on early testing, Nissan Leaf e+ owners can expect similar charging times when hooked up to a 100kW charger as current 40kWh Nissan Leaf owners do with a 50kW charger, despite a 55% larger battery storage capacity, Nissan says.

The Leaf e+ battery pack is almost the same size and configuration as the Nissan Leaf pack, even with a 25% increase in energy density and the increase in energy storage capacity, the company says.

Other than a five-millimetre increase in overall height (16-inch wheels), the car’s exterior and interior dimensions are unchanged.

“The Leaf e+ is more Leaf, offering customers more choice in terms of power and range,” Nissan executive vice president Daniele Schillaci says.

The Nissan Leaf e+ is due at Nissan dealerships in Japan in late January 2019, with US sales to follow and European sales in mid-2019.

The new Nissan Leaf is due in New Zealand and Australia this year, but at this stage it’s uncertain if or when the e+ will be available too.

New for the Nissan Leaf e+ (on North American and European Union models) is a larger eight-inch display, with an updated navigation system that can be linked to a compatible smartphone.

Applications, maps and firmware are updated over the air with the touch of a button, instead of having to manually update by USB or at a Nissan dealership.

Other new features include Door-to-Door Navigation, which syncs the vehicle’s navigation system with a compatible smartphone for seamless driving and walking directions. The Connections feature allows any of the car’s passengers to quickly and easily connect to a device within the vehicle for North American and EU models.

E+ pricing will be announced closer to on-sale dates.

More than 380,000 Nissan Leafs have sold globally since the 100% electric model first went on sale in 2010.