In 2010, Nissan launched the first globally-marketed electric vehicle in history. Known as the Leaf, the model offered a paltry 73 miles between charges when it was introduced. But deserves loads of credit for being a useful, friendly runabout that avoided many of the strange design choices other manufacturers leveraged to set their EVs apart. Reviewers frequently praised the Nissan Leaf as a great second car for running errands, noting that it was both comfortable and had enough space to swallow up most items you’d want to snag on a trip into town.
But it arguably came too soon. The EV arrived shortly before the Toyota Prius was to enjoy record-breaking sales and was likely targeting the same kind of customers. Being first also meant that Nissan was running with outdated battery technologies it had to develop itself by the time the rest of the industry joined the all-electric party. The automaker did what it could, and even gradually boosted the Leaf’s range to a more-useful 212 miles with the aid of an optional 60 kWh battery pack. However, it was frequently viewed as lagging behind in terms of technology and is reportedly on deck for discontinuation.
It’s a little tragic to see it go, especially considering Nissan was one of the only automakers putting its money where its mouth was in the early days of electrification. Governments and environmentalists had been clamoring for EVs since the late 1990s (and before), claiming they would help save the world from certain doom. But there weren’t a lot of takers when the Leaf hit the global market. In the United States, Nissan moved just 9,674 examples in 2011 and would find it impossible to break 20,000 deliveries until 2013. Unfortunately, the model peaked early in 2014, seeing 30,200 sales at its all-time high.
Since then, the vehicle has teetered between 18,000 and 7,000 units annually despite seeing meaningful improvements nearly every single year. For the sake of comparison, Toyota’s Prius Hybrid could count on at least 100,000 deliveries in the U.S. between 2005 and 2017, while enjoying a four-year stretch in the middle where it averaged over 200,000 units per year.
We can blame Toyota for having already cornered the eco market or Tesla for introducing the Model S roughly a year after Nissan put the Leaf on sale. But the big issue seems to be that the industry wasn’t quite ready to field mainstream EVs at an affordable price. As the electric car market matured, most of the action was focused on luxury brands. While plenty of those have been colossal flops, they offered powertrains and charging capabilities that the Leaf couldn’t really compete with. This made it a niche vehicle for people who don’t need to cover a lot of ground, like EVs for something other than the image, and can manage the brunt of their charging needs at home. In fact, the Leaf’s charging capabilities are still seen as lacking — as its CHAdeMO connectors aren’t compatible with some of the fast-charging stations that have cropped up in recent years (especially in the West).
Worse still is that when direct competition finally did arrive, more than a few Leaf rivals came with ranges and charging capabilities that made the comfortable and cargo-friendly Nissan less appetizing. While some of these also came with spicier pricing (e.g. Tesla Model 3), others managed to do so without breaking the bank (e.g. Chevrolet Bolt).
According to Automotive News, Nissan is done trying to sell the Leaf and will soon be ending production. It’s long been assumed that the model would never recoup the development expenses required to build it. But the manufacturer isn’t pulling the plug on EVs, it’s viewing the Leaf as an educational endeavor and will only be doubling down on electrification moving forward.
From AN:
But even as Nissan closes the book on its first plunge into mass-market electrification, the company is gearing up for a second act. The Japanese automaker is making a nearly $18 billion bet on electrification, delivering 15 battery-electric models globally by 2030.
The new campaign undoubtedly builds on the lessons learned from the Leaf.
“With EVs projected to be 40 percent of Nissan’s U.S. sales volume by 2030, we will offer a lineup of electric vehicles in a variety of segments to meet the growing demands of American customers,” [Nissan spokesman Brian Brockman] said.
The first of those vehicles — the Ariya compact crossover — arrives stateside in the fall.
Nissan could replace the Leaf with a coupelike crossover, which the automaker teased last year in a sporty concept called the Chill-Out. It uses Nissan’s CMF-EV platform and features a dual-motor all-wheel-drive system called e-4orce.
The outlet goes on to note that Nissan leadership (especially the defamed Carlos Ghosn) had originally envisioned the Leaf as a way to beat the Toyota Prius at its own game. By jumping straight to all-electric propulsion, the company assumed it would gain a massive lead over the rest of the industry. Obviously, that’s not how things played out and many important lessons have been learned since then. Nissan has been cultivating relationships with battery suppliers, rather than continuing to develop its own, and will be working on ways to spread investment spending around in a way that benefits the entire lineup.
A formal announcement about the Leaf’s discontinuation is expected to manifest within the next few weeks. However, Nissan has not confirmed anything about the model’s future at this juncture.
UPDATE: Nissan has reached out and said no formal announcement is planned, providing this quote:
“We are seeing renewed interest in LEAF with the increased demand for EVs and its overall value proposition. Since its launch, LEAF has consistently delivered strong customer satisfaction and new buyers to Nissan. With EVs projected to be 40 percent of Nissan’s U.S. sales volume by 2030, we will offer a lineup of electric vehicles in a variety of segments to meet the growing demands of American customers. This includes an attainable, value-focused model like LEAF, which continues Nissan’s focus for making EV technology available to as many consumers as possible.”
[Images: Nissan]
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I feel a great disturbance in the Force. As if millions of EV bros suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happened.
EV enthusiast here. I really wanted a Leaf but, now that I can easily afford one, it’s obsolete.
Now I’m just waiting on the Model Y I ordered. The Model Y has better range, and enough seats for my whole family.
I’ll mourn the Leaf, but I’ll be too busy driving my Tesla to get too worked up about it.
Tesla beat Nissan fair & square.
I considered buying a used leaf for my daughter who will start driving very soon. Every used leaf I looked at had a cooked battery and replacement easily doubled the cost of the vehicle.
Other EVs cost far too much money.
We gave up on the idea of an EV and bought a Mazda CX-5.
Not an EV enthusiast, but I agree with Luke. At some point in the not to distant future, we need to replace one of our vehicles. Buying a budget oriented EV for commuting is finally an attractive prospect. The Leaf is very high on that list and now it’s going away.
The Nissan Leaf will hold a distinguished place at the root of a new branch in the taxonomy of Humanoid Conveyance.
Given the left’s ability to demonstrate complete inability in science, perhaps this is more appropriate: “Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny.”
EV fan here.
Can you provide a secret decoder ring for your complaint about “the left”?
I get that you dislike people like me but, uh, what on earth are you even talking about?
Are you talking about the myth that building a single battery (and charging it) has a bigger environmental impact than burning thousands of gallons of gasoline? Even on the dirtiest power grid, driving an EV has about the same impact as driving a Prius.
You’re going to have to actually say what you mean, instead of just complaining that people like me exist.
It’s important to remember most people on this site who complain about ‘the left not understanding science’ probably couldn’t pass a high school science (or English, or Social Studies, or Econ) class, let alone actually work in the field.
Think of this site like a place where they can pretend they’re real geniuses of political commentary givin us DA TRUTH in the comments and convince us they’re successful business men with a 96 month loan on a RAM Cummins instead of some broke ass guy driving a Dodge Durango with busted ball-joints between their power washing jobs (or, given this is TTAC, being the 14 year old kid/half-brother of said person.)
They complain people like you exist because deep down they know where the puck is going and they know they can only get there late, so better to throw a tantrum and stuff,
Getting tired of the blame the left on articles on this site. Some articles on this site stir up these political trolls such as rising price of energy and speed limiters in Europe. The Nissan Leaf was one of those pioneer EVs made by a major car company that was available at an affordable price and that is an important milestone. As they say nothing lasts forever but this is just one one step in the evolution of EVs.
Man some people are easily spun up.
Or bored.
CHAdeMO, no battery thermal management, and a segment Americans hate? The Leaf was important when it came out, but there’s no reason for it to exist anymore. The Ariya is the Nissan EV of the future.
I assume Nissan will at some point offer a small EV sedan/hatch. Why not just name its replacement Leaf? Is there no brand equity in the name?
It’s head-smacking to see the people reading into the tea leaves like the death of the Nissan Leaf like it’s an important cultural battleground between the cult of EV bro personality and the fight of car guys against ‘them left.’
In reality, it’s this decade’s Chrysler Pacifica (the 2004 one)- a decent vehicle that should’ve defined the category’s needs on paper but slightly missed the formula by being a bit too early and therefore compromised. Y’all didn’t pour one out when that died, either.
Well, Nissan had to learn how to do EVs somehow. Bring on the Ariya!
It was never even close to an attractive exterior design. Still a shame though.
Other than just it sucks? I don’t mean the EV part, but why not an EV Frontier? Or EV 350 or 400Z? Pathfinder? Convertible CUV EV?
Other than the EV part, why am I buying it?
Tesla went right for the dog and donkey show, or something like that.
Nissan made a convertible Murano several years ago not a very successful in the marketplace.
Thank god for Black’s Beach.
I like the exterior styling. If they were glued to the lot and discounted to the mid $20’s all in and 0% APR I’d buy one. But at sticker it’d be hard to choose over a Prius Prime with 25 miles electric range, 5 hour/120 charge time. For me anyway.
I like the exterior styling. If they were glued to the lot and discounted to the mid $20’s all in and 0% APR I’d buy one. But at sticker it’d be hard to choose over a Prius Prime with 25 miles electric range, 5 hour/120 charge time. For me anyway.
If you think you’ve got a ‘difficult’ choice, allow me to narrate this past Monday’s experience:
The wife and I took her two year old Kicks SR in for the 15k oil change and tire rotation. Having lived thru the past year and half of my ownership of my Bolt, she’s definitely convinced she’d made the wrong move going ICE six months earlier and is curious about what it’d cost to trade in for an EV. Seeing we’re at the Nissan dealership with a hour or so to waste, why not give it a look, despite the realization that it’s probably the least desirable EV available in the states at present? And more expensive than a current Bolt.
Of course the dealership doesn’t have any on the floor. They’ve got one Leaf SV Plus (the loaded version with the big battery) coming in “in two weeks”, so I asked for an out the door quote. MSRP on the car is $36,900.00. By the time the ADM, fees, tinting, etc. were added on, the ‘sticker’ price was $43,900.00.
Which is a mere $2100.00 cheaper than ordering a base model Tesla 3 in white.
Trade in offer? Right. Maggie gets a monthly or quarterly (I forget which) email from the dealership with bits of information, attempts at generating further service work, and a periodic estimate of the car’s current trade-in value, courtesy of CarFax. Their initial trade-in offer on her car was $3000.00 under that figure.
All-in-all, the out the door offer was roughly $25,000.00 plus her car in trade.
Not bad for a car that’s on death’s door.
The Leaf has fallen.
(Rimshot)
I cancelled our pre-order on a Leaf when version 2 came out. It drove well but the driving position was awful and the floor in the back was so high that the back seats were too uncomfortable. I think they also raised the price from the figure we saw when we put down a deposit. So a combination of things changed our minds. I didn’t know about the lack of thermal management at the time though.
I blame the dealers. Back in 2021 we looked long and hard at getting a Leaf when we decided to add another electric car to our fleet. Unfortunately the local Nissan dealers had some incredibly aspirational views on pricing and out the door prices were within striking distance of what we ended up buying- a Tesla 3 midrange.
Nissan had managed to sell 500,000 Leafs worldwide by this month two years ago, of which 148,000 were in the USA. Plus the Nissan Renault Alliance has had the Renault Zoe EV city car since 2012, and it’s been the category leader for years in Europe. Since 2018, both have shared some hardware.
In the grand and glorious USA, where nobody pays the slightest attention to what other people overseas think, because not being American, they’re automatically wrong anyway, a Nissan Leaf might be a joke. The urban cowboy bro with an F250 that can tow a house off its foundation and up the side of a sheer cliff can sneer all they like, but it’s highly unlikely that Nissan has lost money globally on the Leaf.
The world is not the USA, and is becoming even less so every day, as Big Daddy Biden rushes around trying to shore up the economic colonies to toe the US line, which is looking a bit bedraggled these days. As these comment pages show, one half of America regards the other half as dolts, and the feeling seems mutual; due to US media reach, the rest of the world knows that USA is in social trouble, spends half its national budget on Deefense, and cannot be bothered to repair its infrastructure or give its citizens basic health care. Every damn thing is monetized like BMW is trying to do with heated seats. And the befuddled masses croak:”The free market solves everything!” Like putting tens of thousands of people into homelessness when sky high rent and groceries are beyond reach for so many.
So I highly doubt Nissan execs are exclusively focused on making the Leaf (or its CUV addition) acceptable for America. They have other fish to fry, other customers to satisfy. Let the Musker sell Teslas to the Poleaxed Twitterati of America, while they concentrate on making a more affordable EV for the remainder of the world, one that doesn’t need constant over the air updates, and just works as designed.