Confirmed: 2019 Nissan Leaf to go stronger for longer
The long range Nissan Leaf is coming in 2019. It will not only have a bigger battery, possibly 60 kWh, but also more power, confirms Nissan’s head of EV marketing Brian Maragno. The so called Leaf E-Plus may appear this year.
Rumour has had it for months – Nissan will bring a bigger battery for the 2019 model year and it is most likely the Leaf will then feature a 60 kWh power pack reportedly.
While the exact size of the battery remains unconfirmed, Nissan EV marketing boss Maragno told at a Formula E event that the new Nissan Leaf will boast the “E-Plus” badge and get a boost in power from 110 kW to 149 kW. And, he confirmed that this power increase would be made possible by a bigger battery.
“When you have a bigger battery, with more capacity, it just opens up the door to be able to have more output,” he said according to Autoguide.
He did not specify the expected range but estimates revolve around 200 miles or 350 kilometres using the U.S. EPA cycle that is deemed pretty realistic.
Maragno declined to say anything more on the U.S. market and if they could expect the Nismo.
Apart from more power and longer, a bigger battery suggests longer charge times or faster charging as well. Nissan had battled a scandal dubbed #rapidgate on social media as Leaf drivers complained that the fast-charging significantly slows down after repeated uses over short time periods. This issue has been solved with a software update since, Nissan says.
Still, it is expected that the new 2019 Leaf will be able to charge twice as fast and also receive an upgrade for AC charging.
Nothing was said about the new pricing, yet estimates suggest it will linger around the 35,000 dollar or 29,000 euro mark as before.
For Nissan, the Leaf has proven a success over many years, particularly in Europe where they sell one third of the global allocation reportedly. By now, this amounts to over 100,000 Nissan Leaf having been sold on the continent and Nissan says about 37,000 of those were the 2018 model generation that is made at their Sunderland plant in the UK.
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