Thanks to InsideEVs we now have an official date for the second generation Nissan Leaf’s presentation. Below we can see the confirmation tweets from Nissan.
https://twitter.com/NissanEVnewsUS/status/839876074326519808
https://twitter.com/NissanEVnewsUS/status/839876193293758464
From the already public spyshots we can confirm that the second generation Nissan Leaf is basically a facelifted Leaf with aerodynamic and aesthetics tweaks. It has more similarities with the Nissan Pulsar than with the sleek IDS Concept. The big difference from the older generation is in the inside. The second generation Leaf will have single-lane autonomous driving – powered by Nissan ProPILOT system – and many new safety features, such as Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) or lane-keeping function, which are essential to achieve a Euro NCAP 5-Star safety rating.
While it’s not clear why Nissan delayed the release of the second generation Leaf – which was initially scheduled for late last year – the extension of the ProPILOT tests may be one explanation and another could be that finally LG Chem convinced Nissan to use their battery cells in the Leaf. Remember that the LG Chem battery cell factory in Europe (Poland) will start production later this year. Whether the delay was due to more ProPILOT tests, new battery cell supplier or further efficiency tweaks – motivated by the surprisingly efficient Hyundai IONIQ Electric -, I think that the new Leaf will be a good surprise. However we’ll have to wait a little more to know for sure.
While GM is happy to sell the Chevrolet Bolt EV in limited quantities, the Tesla Model 3 is set to start production in July. For this reason September seems a bit too late if Nissan had plans to tempt some of the Tesla Model 3 reservation holders. What do you think?
