What's the news?
Having been teased in the run-up to the Frankfurt Motor Show, Nissan has finally pulled the covers off the all-new Nissan Leaf, due to hit the streets in 2018. The big headlines here are that Nissan's pioneering EV can go further than ever on one charge, it has significantly more power than previously for better acceleration and driving characteristics, it is packed with cutting-edge technologies and it looks a sight better inside and out than the outgoing model.
Exterior
Although the beaky looks of the original Nissan Leaf didn't put off early adopters - and although there are numerous other chief selling points of the MkII version - its improved aesthetic must be applauded. Taking its inspiration from the IDS Concept Car from the 2015 Tokyo Motor Show and also sharing more than a passing resemblance to the vastly improved fifth-gen Micra, the all-new Leaf has a sleek exterior with a trademark V-motion Nissan grille, wraparound rear light clusters and a contrast-colour roof. Further, look at that front 'grille' a little more closely and you'll note a blue shade to it, Nissan's signature colour for EVs. The bodywork is designed to cleave the air cleanly, with a coefficient of drag of 0.28Cd, while the kerb weight of 1,535kg isn't too bad for a 4.4-metre-long car that's stuffed with lithium-ion batteries and enough cabin space for five people plus luggage (435 litres of the stuff, apparently, up from 370 litres previously).
Interior
Car companies are always going to tell you that the interior of their all-new model is better than the cabin of the vehicle it replaces, but we always like to wait to critically appraise a car itself before accepting that as a gospel truth. Nevertheless, the pictures show the interior is as radically overhauled on the Leaf as the exterior. There's blue stitching running all over the seats, dashboard and steering wheel, while a seven-inch full colour TFT display promises sharper graphics for the infotainment. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto should feature in most markets around the world, including ours.
Mechanicals
So, here is where the big news is at. For a start, the previous e-drivetrain of the Leaf has been replaced, so instead of 109hp and 254Nm, now you get 150hp and 320Nm (increases of 38 and 26 per cent respectively). That should make the Nissan EV much more accelerative and fun to drive in town, with a 0-100km/h time that's significantly shorter than the old car's 11.5 seconds likely to be on the cards. The top spped of 144km/h remains unchanged.
However, power is not what people consider first and foremost when they buy an EV; rather, it's the quoted range of the electric machine they're interested in. And this is where the Leaf excels. It will do 378km on a single charge of its redeveloped lithium-ion batteries, which have increased energy storage capacity over even the 30kWh Leaf that Nissan launched in late 2015. That car was said to do 250km on a charge, so you can see just how huge an improvement the increased range of the Leaf is.
If all that's not enough, already Nissan is talking about doing an even more powerful, even longer-range version of the Leaf in late 2018, which will cost a bit more money but which should provide all the EV driving you could possibly need from a family hatch.
Aside from the range benefits, Nissan says the new Leaf has three new intelligent driving technologies: ProPilot, ProPilot Park and the e-Pedal. The first of these is an advanced Adaptive Cruise Control that can be used on single-carriageway roads, the second is, well... it's an intelligent parking system that automatically slots the car into a space for you (including steering, acceleration, braking and gear selection), and the third is Nissan's take on 'one-pedal driving'.
You can start, accelerate, decelerate, stop and hold the car using nothing but the throttle alone; it'll brake at up to 0.2g and is said to reduce brake-pedal usage in congested areas by a fair margin. Indeed, Nissan thinks most drivers should be able to go more than 90 per cent of their driving time in the Leaf without needing to use the brake pedal, which is only really there for when you need to do a near-emergency stop.
Nissan also says the Leaf MkII has a whole host of advanced safety technologies, like Intelligent Lane Intervention, Lane Departure Warning, Intelligent Emergency Braking, Blind Spot Warning, Traffic Sign Recognition, Rear Cross Traffic Alert, Intelligent Around View Monitor with moving object detection and Emergency Assist for Pedal Misapplication.
What's more, the rear cargo area has been redesigned to provide increased luggage space, offering 435 litres (VDA) of available stowage.
Anything else?
The new Nissan Leaf will be on sale in Europe from January 2018 and more than 283,000 examples of the first-generation EV have found homes worldwide since it launched in 2010. Hiroto Saikawa, president and CEO of Nissan, said: "The new Nissan Leaf drives Nissan Intelligent Mobility, which is the core brand strategy for Nissan's future. The Leaf, with its improved autonomy range, combined with the evolution of autonomous drive technology, such as ProPilot Park and the simple operation of the e-Pedal, strengthens Nissan's EV leadership, as well as the expansion of EVs globally. It also has the core strengths that will be embodied by future Nissan models."