In this article…
As the Nissan Leaf’s lifespan comes to an end, we look back on how it’s changed the motoring world with its EV technology.
2023 will be the last year of the Nissan Leaf’s lifespan, its parent company from Yokohama has announced. It leaves the world as the second best-selling electric car of all time and has changed motoring for the greater, more economical good.
At cars2buy, we look at our catalogue of EV leasing and see that none of it would be here without the humble Leaf. It was the bellwether for the era of all-electric vehicles when many were hesitant to look at the future, and eventually won drivers over and became a huge success. We’ll miss the Nissan Leaf, which is why we’ve written an oral history of this battery-powered little renegade.
A Revolutionary Design
When Nissan premiered the Leaf to the world, it was shaped like nothing else. A small 5-door hatchback, it has a slanted and curvy shape that sort of resembles a frog. But underneath, it took what the Toyota Prius was doing with hybrid technology and ran with it to its logical endpoint – the first credible fully-electric car. This was no G-Wiz, but a zero-emissions vehicle that could be used as an everyday family car.
Electric power was nothing new for Nissan, as they have been creating electric concept vehicles for years, and in 1947 built a limited-run vehicle called the Nissan Tama. One model was restored and presented in a working form for the Nissan Leaf’s launch in 2010, illustrating how deeply-entrenched the company had been in electric driving technology.
Nissan was serious about building the right foundations for the Leaf, too. The Japanese company ran initiatives with governments both national and local to install the first networks of electric car charging stations, including in the UK. By 2015, there were just over 2,000 public charging stations in the UK. At the end of 2022, there were 34,000, and none of them would exist without the Nissan Leaf.
Success and Legacy
The Nissan Leaf’s sales figures were a slow brew. In 2010, just 40 cars were sold, though this was because the model launched in December of that year. In 2011, sales exploded to over 22,000 models worldwide, and those sales doubled in 2013 and tripled by 2014. The latter year would be the Leaf’s best-ever sales year, topping out at 61,000 units.
Critically, it won numerous accolades in Europe and its native Japan, culminating in a World Car of the Year award in 2011. The Leaf inspired a loyal fanbase for how it brought a sweeping change to the way we drive. Many discovered what it was like to be able to charge their car like a phone and have a station perched in their driveway. Running costs were cut to essentially zero with the removal of petrol station costs. It completely changed the way people thought about cars, how they would be used and where they could go.
Over its lifetime, the Nissan Leaf has sold over 300,00 units and countless EV leases, making it the best-selling electric car up until 2020 when it was overtaken by the Tesla Model 3, the next generation of EVs. But even today, the Nissan Leaf continues to excel in a field it forged, with the last generation of the model scoring a perfect 5 stars on the Green NCAP test in 2019.
If we were to look at classic cars the way we look at classic albums – that is, a piece of work that changed the world in some way – then in its short 13 years, the Nissan Leaf has already solidified itself as a classic car.
What Lies Ahead for EVs?
Today, the Nissan Leaf leaves a market where virtually every carmaker has at least one EV model on their roster. ‘Zero emissions’ is as big a crowd-pleaser as ‘infotainment system’ or ‘extra legroom’. There is still value in driving the Nissan Leaf according to AM Online, so a Nissan Leaf lease is still a valiant option for anyone wanting a family EV experience that’s been refined for far longer.
Elsewhere, if you’re interested in other EV leases out there, cars2buy is the UK’s number one destination for comparing lease deals from trusted dealers across the country.
With our transparent service, you can save time skimming through tonnes of lease offer sites for a Nissan Leaf lease or other EV lease. We’ve done the hard work already and put the best deals all in one place, allowing you to sift through it all with our advanced search and filter tools. Browse our collections today and you could be several steps closer to driving away in a brand-new electric vehicle of your choice.
