Incremental Improvements to Leaf Helpful

SOUTHFIELD, MI – It’s fair to say that since its debut in December 2010 as the world’s first mass-production all-electric vehicle, the Nissan Leaf has underperformed.

Global sales tallied 320,000 through late March, far short of the nearly 1 million deliveries Nissan was hoping for by this point.

U.S. sales from December 2010 through April amounted to 118,543, Wards Intelligence data shows. To put that in perspective, Ford sold 148,000 F-Series pickups in March and April.

Still, the Leaf’s relative lack of success has not dissuaded Nissan from pushing forward with electrification, because regardless of U.S. regulations, the rest of the industrialized world is moving toward zero-emission vehicles.

The Japanese automaker refreshes the Leaf for ’18, giving the hatchback EV a new wider and lower appearance – a definite improvement from the tall, bug-eyed ’11-’17 model-year hatch – plus a significant upgrade in range.

We test a $37,865 Leaf SL grade over two weeks this spring here in our office.

It arrives in our parking garage for Wards 10 Best Interiors testing, and its cabin at first glance leaves many of our editors impressed.

Our SL’s largely ivory interior coupled with low-gloss plastics give the space a light, airy and high-end feel – several WardsAuto editors comment the Leaf’s interior has a luxurious appearance.

Our test car’s mix of creamy leather and suede on seats, accented with periwinkle-blue stitching, wins raves. Overall, the car has better materials than the rival Chevy Bolt EV.

But the amount of hard-plastic trim in places where you expect soft-touch (upper doors, IP), especially at a price pushing $40,000, kept it off the winners list, as did its small, pixelated touchscreen and some diminutive switchgear.

The retro infotainment system, although beautifully framed in a sleek black surround edged in satin metallic trim, is a common gripe among editors. It falls short against the competing Bolt, which has a bigger, brighter screen with clearer resolution and crisper graphics.

The placement of some commonly used hard buttons far away from the driver, such as seek buttons, is another grievance, as is scads of dust-catching piano-black trim on the center console.

Nissan says the center console is a complete rework, with a new storage area able to hold a smartphone and boasting more ergonomically friendly control placement.

Speaking of ergonomics, while the upper center stack has small switchgear, some out of reach, the lower center stack, with its large HVAC buttons, is easy to get at.

Voice recognition works well on addresses, phone calls and electric-vehicle settings, although it gives us some trouble with audio-system commands.

The Leaf’s wheelbase remains 106.3 ins. (2,700 mm), but overall length and width rises slightly.

The car just doesn’t look lower, it is. Overall height and ground clearance drops 0.4 ins. (10.2 mm).

Interior cargo volume remains the same, as do most passenger dimensions save for rear legroom, which sees a slight 0.2-in. (5.1-mm) increase.

Again the Leaf, riding on an older platform, falls short of the Bolt, which has 3 more inches (76.2 mm) of rear-seat legroom and lots more cargo capacity. The Bolt also has creature comforts in back, in the form of vents and USB ports.

Still, the Leaf is roomy for most average-height passengers up front and in the outboard rear seats, and seats are comfortable and supportive.

The automaker’s engineers boost the density in the lithium-ion battery pack’s 192 cells to raise the EV’s output and range. The pack goes from a rating of 30 kWh to 40 kWh and from a range of 107 miles (72 km) to an EPA-rated 150 miles (241 km).

That’s still short of the 200-mile-plus (322-km) ranges of the Chevy Bolt and Tesla Model 3, but more than enough for the majority of daily trips our staff makes with the car this spring.

Yours truly took the Leaf from Southfield to Ann Arbor and back one cold (upper 20s, low 30s) morning, the kind of morning that gives drivers of pure EVs cause for concern as frigid temps are no friend of Li-ion batteries.

I start with an almost-full battery, with a range of 150 miles (our charges did go over 150 – more on that later) and end with 30 miles (48 km) remaining. It was an 85-mile (137-km) roundtrip so essentially our Leaf did a little worse than one mile of range lost for one mile of range traveled.

Truth be told I suffer a bit for the first half of the journey by not using range-sucking climate control, relying only on the heated seats and heated steering wheel.

During our 2-week loan, the Leaf’s range is ever-changing, depending on whether climate control and Eco mode are on. The new, standard e-Pedal feature seems to make no difference in displayed range.

Many judges aren’t fans of e-Pedal, which slows the car to a great or mild degree depending on the speed of travel. Nissan promotes e-Pedal as a way to stay off the brake (so-called ‘one-pedal’ driving) and says an up to 0.2g deceleration rate is possible.

However, in our experience hitting the brake still is necessary to stop the car if traveling at speeds above 40 mph (64 km/h).

Only on city streets, with speeds of 25 mph (40 km/h), does e-Pedal bring the car to a complete stop. Unfortunately, it does so in an abrupt manner, making this editor and some others a tad nauseated.

One of the joys of driving an EV is the instant torque, but with Eco mode turned on the ’18 Leaf is downright pokey. The car is efficient enough, so save both Eco mode and e-Pedal for those moments when range is low and a charging station is nowhere in sight.

Ride and handling is oriented to comfort, not sport, although more suspension damping on winter-battered Michigan roads would be nice.

Our editors are split on their opinion of Nissan’s ProPilot Assist technology, which blends adaptive cruise control and lane-keep assist into one blue button on the steering wheel and is part of an affordable $650 technology package. ProPilot’s “steering assistance” is divisive, with half of the editors enjoying its lane-centering help and the other half finding it intrusive. As with most of these systems, detection is spotty and driver attention is an absolute necessity. About half the time ProPilot is on, our Leaf stops seeing painted lane lines and once is slow to pick up on the car ahead of us.

The ’18 Nissan Leaf begins at $29,990 for an S grade, while the SV is $32,490 and the SL $36,200. Options and destination and handling charges will boost the price of all three.

The Leaf is a good deal compared to the Bolt, which stickers at $37,495 to start, and compared to lower-range EVs such as the Fiat 500e, Honda Clarity, Hyundai Ioniq, Kia Soul and Volkswagen e-Golf priced in the low $30,000-range.

If you can live without a fancy infotainment system, the Leaf is a fine EV for someone who doesn’t need more than 200 miles of range or scads of cargo room, and appreciates a good-looking interior.

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’18 Nissan Leaf SL Specifications

Vehicle type
5-door, 5-passenger front-wheel-drive car
Electric motor
AC synchronous
Power (SAE net)
148 hp/110 kW
Torque
236 lb.-ft. (320 Nm)
Single Charge Range
151 miles (243 km)
Battery
40 kWh lithium-ion
Charging Time
7.5 hrs. @ 220V
Wheelbase
106.3 ins. (2,700 mm)
Overall length
176.4 ins. (4,481 mm)
Overall width
70.5 ins. (1,791 mm)
Overall height
61.4 ins. (1,560 mm)
Curb weight
3,508 lbs. (1,591 kg)
Price as Tested
$37,865, incl. $780 in options, $885 destination and handling charge
Fuel economy
112 MPGe combined
Competition
Chevrolet Bolt, Fiat 500e, Honda Clarity, Hyundai Ioniq EV, Kia Soul, Tesla Model 3, Volkswagen e-Golf
PROS

Longer range than before, luxury look interior, affordable advanced safety tech

CONS

Trails Bolt, Model 3, lots of hard plastic for price, detection not always reliable