The 2018 Nissan Leaf offers more power and more range for less money

The Nissan Leaf may have neither the range nor cachet of a Tesla, but that hasn't stopped Nissan selling almost 300,000 Leafs (Leaves?) since the car's introduction in 2010. But seven years is a long time in the car world, to say nothing of the gains in lithium-ion battery technology since then. On Wednesday morning in Tokyo, Nissan unveiled the second-generation Leaf. It has more range and more power than the old car, yet it will cost slightly less when it goes on sale in Japan next month, then in the US, Canada, and Europe in this coming January.

As you might expect (or demand) it has had a range boost. At launch, the Leaf will have a 40kWh pack, good for about 150 miles here in the US once it gets homologated by the EPA. (If you need a vivid reminder of the differences between regulators, Nissan says that the car gets 400km on the Japanese JC08 test and should achieve 380km when Europe's NEDC homologates it.) Charging times are 16 hours at 3kW, 8 hours at 6kW, and you can get an 80 percent charge in 40 minutes on a fast charger.

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