2019 Nissan LEAF vs 2020

What's the difference?

If I had told you even just a few years ago that one of Nissan’s most promising vehicles, and one the brand partially hangs its future on, was an all-electric hatchback, you probably wouldn’t have believed me.

But here we are, and after already having been on sale for years in Europe, the second-generation Leaf has arrived in Australia.

In Europe it has even been remarkably successful, counting itself as a best-seller in Norway, where Nissan has managed to sell more than 50,000 of them.

By now, I already know what your questions are: What’s the range? How long does it take to charge? How much does it cost?

For all those answers and more, read on.

It’s so interesting to watch the growth of electric cars and how they are expanding into every category.

This Nissan Leaf is a five-seater hatchback. It looks pretty good from the outside and you wouldn’t guess it had an electric motor if it wasn’t for the big 'Zero Emissions' stamped on the outside. 

This is a fairly pricey hatchback though, at $49,990 it’s around $10 - $15,000 more than a petrol hatchback, and it’s $5000 more than its nearest competitor, the Hyundai Ioniq.

But it only costs around $700 a year to run. And then there’s the dreamy situation of never going to a petrol station again because you charge up at home. 

Is all that enough to warrant the high price? I did a family review where I test drove the Nissan Leaf over seven days with my family of four to find out.