Currently reading: Nissan Leaf long-term test review: final report

Popular battery electric car bows out with its head held high

Plenty of water has flowed under the bridge since we took delivery of our Nissan Leaf Tekna about 15 months and 7200 miles ago.

We’ve seen the arrival of half a dozen new electric models – notably from Volkswagen, Ford and Tesla – and we’ve watched Renault extend the driving range of its Renault Zoe supermini to a realistic 150 miles. 

All the way, the Leaf has deservedly kept its position as the world’s best-known battery electric car, a practical, Volkswagen Golf-sized five-door with worldwide sales reaching 250,000 at the end of last year and now nearing 75,000 in Europe. That hardly makes it a mainstreamer, but the fact that most people know a Leaf when they see one shows Nissan’s success at publicising its pioneering model. 

Our motivation for acquiring
 a latest-spec 30kWh Leaf (earlier models, going back to 2010, had 24kWh batteries) was to investigate what we saw as an emerging trend in electric cars, a tendency for them to be acquired as second family cars and soon – because of their convenience, economy and easy driving – to take the lead role. And so it proved. Our Leaf became a short-haul specialist, constantly taking people to the airport, home from work, on errands and generally proving useful. Its total mileage wasn’t impressive, but its number of journeys was dizzying. 

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The art of making a Leaf work 
is never seriously to test the range, claimed at 150-odd miles on the NEDC cycle but closer to 100-110 in sensible everyday driving. Depend on the Leaf for round trips of 70-80 miles and it is a smooth, quiet, convenient joy – complete with a decent ride, solid brakes (enhanced by its regeneration system) and light, enjoyable steering. But challenge
it to go beyond 100 miles and you’d forget all the advantages (including silence, a decent boot and practical rear accommodation) as the sweat of range anxiety pops out on your brow. You don’t even count the meagre fuelling cost – somewhere between a fifth and a tenth of what you’d pay for petrol – as an advantage when you just don’t have enough of the stuff. 

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Read our review

Car review

The electric Nissan Leaf has its work cut out competing with cheaper mainstream cars - but it does make a case for itself

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Early on, in a fit of enthusiasm, we tried to use the Leaf as transport for
a 24-hour Three Peaks Challenge but failed miserably because convenient charging points, although theoretically available, were not. Our lesson was learned: the car came back to London and assumed duties that made sense. If we needed to dash to Edinburgh, we selected a convenient long-legged diesel motor, as Leaf-owning two-car families tend to do. 

Leaf hello ac 206 0

Such is the speed of electric car progress that, for all our Leaf’s endearing qualities, it did strike us as nearing the end of its time. Companies with electric models in the pipeline now talk of a 200- mile range as an emerging owner’s requirement. The Leaf’s performance isn’t exactly brilliant against
others, and the cost — we’d have 
paid £28,380 after deducting the government’s £4500 incentive — is pretty solid for what you get, even if for your 8000 annual miles you’re saving the thick end of £1200 on fuel. 

Our Leaf and its peers have made important points about the practicality of electric cars. But now it’s time for a new Nissan to take the matter further. Luckily, there’s one in the pipeline. 

LIKE IT

Response - clean, quick step-off from rest is one of the Leaf’s driving delights. Refinement - you won’t find greater smoothness or silence this side of a Rolls-RoyceEconomy - power costs far less than it does in a petrol car, even at full tariff. 

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LOATHE IT

Range anxiety - this Leaf’s range is shorter than that of the most modern EVs. Charging - charging time tends to make owners impatient. Home charging is best. 

Price £27,230 (after £4500 gov't grant) Price as tested £28,380 Economy 3.6 miles/kWh Faults None Expenses None 

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As our Nissan Leaf rolls on, impressing everyone who drives it with its comfort and refinement, I feel I’m becoming integrated into polite Leaf society.

In the course of our time with the car, I’ve spoken to more than a dozen owners (interestingly, the ones I’ve met have almost always been travelling at least two-up), all of them at charging points in the south of England, and started to learn the habits of the common or garden electric Nissan buyer. 

The first I met was at Membury services on the M4; he was on a journey with his wife from Malvern to Reading. While we each waited for our 80% charge (this guy knew very well, and I’ve since learned, that pursuing the final 15% isn’t worth the extra time it takes), he explained to me that his other car was a Westfield V8, but this was the one in which he did most of his miles.

The one place you’re most likely to meet other members of Leaf society is at those free charging stations on motorways, at around 6pm. Owners in adjacent towns or suburbs tend to drive a few miles on the motorway to pick up free ‘tickle’, courtesy of Ecotricity, to get them to work every couple of days.

This is where you witness the closest thing to EV road rage, although it never comes to that, because these people tend to be supporters of an orderly society, not the sort who want to tear it down.

But what gets the Leaf owner’s goat (I’ve felt the annoyance myself) is arriving at a charging station and finding it occupied by a plug-in hybrid, already charged to the hilt, with its owner away having a languorous coffee. Here is a car that can proceed anyway, hogging the facilities. We pure battery car owners feel they’re breaching the rules of charging point etiquette. 

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As the EV constituency grows, which it is starting to do at a decent rate, it’ll be interesting to see how things evolve. Especially when Ecotricity starts charging for its facilities, as it surely must, and soon. 

Nissan Leaf Tekna 

Price £27,230 (after £4500 gov't grant) Price as tested £28,380 Economy 3.6 miles/kWh Faults None Expenses None Last seen 18.5.16 

Read our previous reports:

110-mile range isn't such a set-back 

Bigger battery, better car?

Steve Cropley

Steve Cropley Autocar
Title: Editor-in-chief

Steve Cropley is the oldest of Autocar’s editorial team, or the most experienced if you want to be polite about it. He joined over 30 years ago, and has driven many cars and interviewed many people in half a century in the business. 

Cropley, who regards himself as the magazine’s “long stop”, has seen many changes since Autocar was a print-only affair, but claims that in such a fast moving environment he has little appetite for looking back. 

He has been surprised and delighted by the generous reception afforded the My Week In Cars podcast he makes with long suffering colleague Matt Prior, and calls it the most enjoyable part of his working week.

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yvesferrer 22 September 2017

two-car families?

Now call me a cynic but how many families can afford to live in London (central or near-central, given the range of the Leaf) and own/park/run a large diesel tourer and an electric 'shopping trolley' complete with garage or charging point nearby?

Most london dwellers rely on public transport for most of their needs, I believe... could be wrong, mind!

HiPo 289 18 September 2017

fuel cost savings perhaps more meaningful for those paying?

re: "You don’t even count the meagre fuelling cost – somewhere between a fifth and a tenth of what you’d pay for petrol – as an advantage when you just don’t have enough of the stuff. "

do you guys pay for your own fuel? The cost savings would indicate a private owner might be more fosussed on what they save by buying electric.  You also don't mention the lower servicing costs with electric vehicles.

scotty5 18 September 2017

Fairy tales

Just 7200 miles after 15mths in the hands of motoring journalists !  Has there ever been a car thats covered so little miles in the hands of Autocar hacks?

EV is a nice idea in practice but it's going to take at least another 20 years of development to become even remotely viable. Does anyone other than tree huggers really believe no more petrol/diesel powered cars will be produced after 2040?

xxxx 18 September 2017

20 years? really

scotty5 wrote:

Just 7200 miles after 15mths in the hands of motoring journalists !  Has there ever been a car thats covered so little miles in the hands of Autocar hacks?

EV is a nice idea in practice but it's going to take at least another 20 years of development to become even remotely viable. Does anyone other than tree huggers really believe no more petrol/diesel powered cars will be produced after 2040?

Less than 7200 miles in 15 months not sure, perhaps you could research it, doesn't sound that unreal if you've a choice of a a Leaf or latest M3 in morning.

20 years to be "even remotely" viable, really, did you not read the review, or other peoples opinion of EV's (including the one above your very comment). 1 in 4 new car sales in Norway are electric already and it looks like the Model 3 will be out selling the BMW 3 series in America early next year.