The all-electric Nissan Leaf has turned 10 years old.
Nissan said the car was the world’s first mass-market electric vehicle when it launched, and it was first sold in Japan, Europe, and America from December 2010.
Since then, over 500,000 Nissan Leafs have been sold in 59 markets.
A timeline of the Leaf’s journey from 2010 to today is detailed below.
2010
The Nissan Leaf goes on sale and features a 24 kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery.
Fully charged, it had a range of 200km – and drivers were able to check the car’s battery level or manage air conditioning remotely using their smartphone.
2012
In 2012, Nissan launched a system that let drivers share power between their homes and the Nissan Leaf.
“With the vehicle-to-home system, Leaf owners could store energy in their car battery and feed it back to their homes whenever they wanted,” said Nissan.
“They could charge the car’s battery when demand and rates were low and use it around the house during peak times.”
2012 was also the year that the Leaf received its first powertrain upgrades, giving it more power and increasing its range to 228km.
Nissan was also able to decrease the volume and mass of the powertrain – which allowed it to add heated seats to the car.
2014 and 2015
In 2014, the Leaf hit the 100,000 sales mark.
The following year, more upgrades were added to the electric car.
The Leaf received a 30kWh battery – which gave it a range of 280km – without reducing the space in the cabin or increasing the charging time.
“Even with the added capacity, the new battery could be charged to 80% in the same time it took to charge its predecessor,” said Nissan.
Intelligent emergency braking was also added to the car.
At the end of 2015, the Leaf then hit the 200,000 sales milestone.
2017 and 2018
2017 marked the introduction of the second-generation Leaf.
The new model offered a range of 400km and the e-Pedal for “one-pedal driving”.
“A new electric powertrain increased power output by 38% to 110kW and torque by 26% to 320Nm, providing an exhilarating driving experience,” said Nissan.
Early 2018 then saw the next sales milestone reached – 300,000 car sales – along with the introduction of the second-generation Nissan Leaf Nismo RC (Racing Competition) edition.
“The second-generation Nismo RC was revamped and given twin motors, four-wheel drive, and an aggressively-styled body.”
“The lithium-ion battery and inverter used technologies from the second-generation Leaf, with the motor producing 240kW of power and 640Nm of torque.”
2019 and 2020
2019 and 2020 saw the introduction of the “top-end” Nissan Leaf e+.
The car featured a new electric powertrain which produced more power and provided an extended range.
“Its 62kWh battery had 55% more capacity. This change pushed the car’s range to 458km, again without sacrificing space or design,” said Nissan.
2019 also marked 400,000 sales worldwide for the Leaf.
“When the model arrived in 2010, some didn’t buy this vision. Today, almost every automaker has followed. The Nissan Leaf helped bust the myths and misconceptions around electric cars,” said Nissan.
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