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New Nissan Leaf 2021 detailed: Hyundai Ioniq Electric rival to get longer driving range and more power with e+

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Revealed in January 2019, the e+ will join the Leaf line-up in Australia in the first half of next year.
Justin Hilliard
Head of Editorial
17 Sep 2020
2 min read

Nissan Australia has confirmed it will add the long-awaited e+ variant to its Leaf line-up in the first half of next year, with the new all-electric vehicle to extend the small hatchback’s driving range and increase its power and torque.

Revealed in January 2019, the e+ ups the ante over the regular Leaf with its 160kW/340Nm electric motor (+50kW/20Nm) and 62kWh lithium-ion battery (+22kWh) that provides 385km of WLTP driving range (+115km).

These figures put the e+ well ahead of the rivalling Hyundai Ioniq Electric small hatchback (from $48,970 plus on-road costs), which has a 100kW/295Nm electric motor and a 38.3kWh lithium-ion battery that serves up 311km of WLTP driving range.

Due to its 55 per cent increase in battery size over the regular Leaf, the e+ takes 11.5 hours (+4 hours) to charge from 20 to 80 per cent when using a 7kW AC wallbox, but plugging into a 50kW DC fast charger reduces the charging time to 90 minutes (+30 minutes).

The e+ also serves up a decent bump in performance over the regular Leaf, with it capable of sprinting from a standstill to 100km/h in 7.3 seconds (-0.6s) while on the way to a top speed of its 157km/h (+13km/h).

An update for the Leaf was revealed in Japan last December, so it’s possible the e+ set for a local release will features its upgrades, which include a 9.0-inch touchscreen (up from 8.0 inches), the latest multimedia system, a Wi-Fi hotspot and smartphone connectivity.

Smoother adaptive cruise control, active blind-spot monitoring and quicker park assist are also likely to be part of the update alongside a shark-fin antenna and two new paintwork options: Vivid Blue and Stealth Grey.

Interestingly, the upgrades should also include Canto, which is Nissan’s new signature sound for EVs. It is projected externally at speeds up to 30km/h, increasing pedestrian awareness driving at low speed or reversing.

The regular Leaf is currently priced from $49,990 plus on-road costs and is offered in a single specification, so don’t be surprised if the e+ comfortably breaks the $50,000 barrier. Either way, pricing and full specification details will be released closer to its launch.

Justin Hilliard
Head of Editorial
Justin’s dad chose to miss his birth because he wanted to watch Peter Brock hopefully win Bathurst, so it figures Justin grew up to have a car obsession, too – and don’t worry, his dad did turn up in time after some stern words from his mum. That said, despite loving cars and writing, Justin chose to pursue career paths that didn’t lend themselves to automotive journalism, before eventually ending up working as a computer technician. But that car itch just couldn’t be scratched by his chipped Volkswagen Golf R (Mk7), so he finally decided to give into the inevitable and study a Master of Journalism at the same time. And even with the long odds, Justin was lucky enough to land a full-time job as a motoring journalist soon after graduating and the rest, as they say, is history. These days, Justin happily finds himself working at CarsGuide during the biggest period of change yet for the automotive industry, which is perhaps the most exciting part of all. In case you’re wondering, Justin begrudgingly sold the Golf R (sans chip) and still has plans to buy his dream car, an E46 BMW M3 coupe (manual, of course), but he is in desperate need of a second car space – or maybe a third.
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