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• Nissan just hit the 1 million mark for electric vehicles sold worldwide, and for that it can thank the venerable LEAF.
The first Nissan LEAFs arrived on the market more than 12 years ago, and the model was for many years the top-selling electric vehicle in the world. It had nowhere near the competition new EVs today face when entering the market, but still, the little LEAF has proved remarkably hardy and popular. Nissan has sold over 650,000 units of the EV worldwide since its introduction.
In other words, it accounts for nearly two-thirds of the 1 million EVs the automaker announced this week it has sold worldwide.
The global automotive market has changed drastically in the past dozen years, of course, and now the LEAF found at dealers is, if not a relic, fairly outdated compared to newer, more advanced EVs, for instance the Tesla Model 3 but also the model that sits next to it at dealers, the new Nissan Ariya.
While it focused its efforts on developing the Ariya, Nissan chose not to modernize the LEAF, in terms of design but especially in terms of its technologies. One flagrant example is that the EV still uses the CHAdeMO charging system, which is likely to get crowded out of charging infrastructures in North America as Tesla’s NACS connectors and the widely used CCS plugs get set to co-habitate at most if not all stations on the continent.
Also, while the range of the model – 342 km, officially – was quite impressive just five years ago, it now lags behind all of its main rivals. The Nissan Ariya can deliver up to 490 km, depending on configuration. The Chevrolet Bolt EV, another affordable EV, offers 417 km.
It’s safe to say, then, that barring a major overhaul of the model, the next million EVs sold by Nissan will NOT consist mainly of LEAFs. The new Ariya, despite suffering delays that saw it launch months later than originally planned, has slightly outsold the LEAF in the U.S. in 2023 to date. Here in Canada, through the end of June 2023, the LEAF still outpaces the Ariya for sales, with 1,128 units sold compared to 829 for the Ariya. Supply issues surely played a role in that and we expect a different scenario by year’s end and especially next year.
Nissan intends to introduce several new EVs worldwide between now and 2028, for a total of 19 by 2030 (as per its Nissan Ambition 2030 plan).
And what about the LEAF? There is a 2024 model being marketed by Nissan, so it’s not going anywhere just yet. But don’t expect any big updates either - the company plans to phase the compact hatchback out and eventually have a newer BEV ready to take its place in its segment by 2026. It’s also possible that Nissan could retain the nameplate, but affix it to a different model in future, perhaps a larger crossover.