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September 12, 2023
No car stays around forever, even if we hope some of them do . From the looks of things, there is another car whose appointment with the gallows pole is drawing near.
When it came to market in the 2011 model year, the Nissan Leaf was the first modern, mass-produced electric vehicle in the U.S. It was inexpensive, had funky styling, and was an exciting look into the future of electric cars.
The issue was that it didn’t sell well. Although the Leaf has been part of Nissan’s U.S. lineup for a dozen years now, fewer than 175,000 units have been sold.
Opinions of the Leaf have varied. Some called the styling cute, while others were more disparaging. No matter where your opinion on the Leaf lies, you would ignore the history by calling it insignificant. Despite lackluster sales numbers, the Leaf really was a venture into the unknown of living with an electric car in the modern age. It came just before the Chevy Volt plug-in-hybrid and a full 18 months before Elon Musk and his Tesla Model S barreled onto the scene.
he dull driving demeanor and modest range have hampered our enthusiasm for the Leaf and likely kept it from reaping the benefits of surging interest in EVs. While high-end EVs are now seeing as much as 400 and even 500 miles of range, the 2022 Leaf offers 226 estimated miles in its larger battery and 149 in the base version.