Nissan LEAF: £23,350
May 17th, 2010 by Richard Aucock
NISSAN has announced its LEAF electric car will cost £23,350 when it goes on sale here in February 2011.
The headline-grabbing price confirms Nissan’s aim to make it a mainstream offer.
‘There is not a premium for EVs,’ said Nissan’s Simon Thomas.
It is way lower than the Hyundai i-MiEV (around £10k less), and comes with a Government grant of £5000 factored in. To be built in Sunderland, the electric Ford Focus rival will be the most significant electric car yet launched.
Nissan claims a 90 percent reduction in CO2 – which when you include all fuel generation issues, represents a 60 percent CO2 reduction over today’s combustion engine cars.
EVs are much more efficient. 82 percent of petrol power is lost – yet in an EV, more than 90 percent of the power is used to propel it! That’s better even than fuel cell cars, says Nissan.
And range anxiety? Well, Nissan reckons 10 percent of the new car market by 2010 – meaning 9 out of 10 cars sold will still be high-range internal combustion motors. When you consdier 80 percent of vehicle weekday usage is less than 100km a day, Nissan reckons, in time, it won’t be an issue.
Prices are set only to drop in time, too. With volume come efficiencies of scale – backing up Nissan’s claim of this being the first mainstream EV.
Nissan dealers, what’s your reaction to the radical new car you’ll soon be selling?
May 22nd, 2010 at 2:02 am
Can’t wait, Nissan are not pussy footing around with this car, they are going straight in with the first volume fully electric family car. We will have the car of the future now!
May 22nd, 2010 at 2:09 am
You sure do, Ron! I drove it last year in prototype form – believe me, it’s really very impressive indeed. It’s a superb move by Nissan that the firm should be praised for.
Before that, mind, Juke and new Micra… coupled with Qashqai success, I bet it’s a good time to be a Nissan car dealer?
Richard.