New Nissan LEAF range to be extended

Nissan looks set to quickly double-up on its commitment to battery-electric vehicles in Australia by adding the Nissan LEAF e+ to its line-up.

The e+ is the longer-range version of the second-generation LEAF five-door hatch that is being released in Australia this week.

You can check out our first local drive review of the all-new Nissan LEAF from the early hours of this Friday morning (July 12).

While the new LEAF comes with a 40kWh laminated lithium-ion battery pack and a 270km WLTP real-world range, the e+ bumps the battery to 62kWh and the range to 385km.

The downside will undoubtedly be a price rise from the new LEAF’s already substantial $49,990 plus on-road costs.

It’s fair speculation to expect a price heading toward $70,000, although Nissan Australia boss Stephen Lester wasn’t prepared to share that sort of detail despite his obvious enthusiasm for the e+.

“There’s no logic that says it wouldn’t come to us -- we just don’t have a date at this point,” said Lester.

“We are not at that stage where I can officially launch it or say it’s done and committed. As my bosses remind me, they reserve the right to change their minds, which happens on certain things from time to time.

“So you have to be waiting and ready to deal with that. But I don’t see any reason why e+ would not [become available here].”

The Nissan LEAF e+, which debuted at the CES tech show in Las Vegas last January, bumps power and torque to 160kW/340Nm from the standard car’s 110kW and 320Nm. It also has 100kW DC fast-charging capability while the LEAF is limited to 50kW.

While it might be optimistic to expect it to show up in 2019, the Leaf e+ should be here comfortably in time to help Nissan Australia fulfil its commitment of having 30 per cent of its range electrified by 2022.

As well as pure EVs such as the two LEAFs, you can also expect to see e-Power hybrid technology arrive in Australia. At the moment the only model in the frame for potential local launch is the Note e-Power.

As much as he insists he likes it, Lester won’t guarantee the small car will be coming, but he did hint other new models and technologies yet to be unveiled by Nissan were on the list.

He also reiterated an ongoing interest in returning Nissan vans to the Australian market, including the E-NV200 EV that is sold in right-hand driver in the UK.

Nissan has revealed a series of EV and E-Power concepts in recent times and announced it plans to launch three new EVs and five e-POWER models in Japan by April 2022.

A production version of a C-segment electric crossover hinted at by the IMx concept has been confirmed, while Nissan has also made clear it intends to make more important electrified reveals at the Tokyo motor show later this year.