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An EV Decade On, Nissan's 2020 Leaf Sadly Doesn't Matter As Much As It Used To

Just before everyone refocuses their attention on Black Friday deals and the official start of the 2020/2021 holiday season, Nissan enhanced its second-generation Leaf EV in European specification for the 2020 model year (that's technically 2021MY given the launch timing but Nissan insists on calling it that). Maybe because it’s a bit late, the Leaf went by almost unnoticed.
2020 Nissan Leaf details for Europe 22 photos
Photo: Nissan Motor Co Ltd
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Remember, this is a car that once held the absolute sales crown on a global level in the electric vehicle segment. So, what happened? Well, the short and simple answer would be Tesla and the affordable Chinese EV models.

If you want the longer explanation, we could factor in any number of elements. For example, Volkswagen is finally kickstarting that much-promised electric revolution with its ID.3 and ID.4 models. Tesla is now comfortably ruling the quickly expanding worldwide electrified sales, which had an excellent pace in September, growing by no less than 91% compared to the same month in 2019.

Europe was in pole position, with an incredible 166% surge, followed by China with a substantial 66% growth. According to seekingalpha.com, the top five automakers to rule the electrified market in September were Tesla, followed by Volkswagen, BYD, BMW, and Renault.

2020 Nissan Leaf details for Europe
Photo: Nissan
Note that we’re dealing with all types of electrified vehicles (including light commercial vehicles, BEVs, hybrids, and PHEV), so Nissan dropped in the charts from 2019’s seventh position to being 14th. That’s what happens when all their eggs are in just one basket – that e-NV200 is barely selling enough for us to remember its existence.

Of course, there’s hope for Nissan – especially since the company finally unveiled its first-ever crossover electric vehicle, the oddly named Ariya. We’re not going to make any Game of Thrones jokes here, at least not on this chilly occasion, since the Night King has already been slain. Yeah, we couldn’t help it.

But we should get back to the 2020 Nissan Leaf and its fortunes. On its own, the Japanese automaker is not exactly to blame for the model’s market share drop. Sure, they could have decided to go with liquid battery pack cooling, but that’s also a different story.

The company does care for the Leaf, at least enough to introduce new specifications and a raft of upgraded technologies for the 2020 model year, with In-Car Wi-Fi, Intelligent Blind Spot Intervention (IBSI) and Intelligent Rear View Mirror (IRVM) chief among them.

2020 Nissan Leaf details for Europe
Photo: Nissan
The optional In-Car Wi-Fi Hotspot services are being provided by Orange, with no less than four plans available to make sure even the most “data-hungry passengers” will remain connected at all times. The IBSI and IRVM systems are being introduced on both the 40 kWh and 62 kWh versions, with the former being a standard feature and the latter coming along with the Tekna trim.

There’s also a new Ceramic Grey paint option, which is also available in combination with a contrasting Pearl Black Metallic hue for that fashionable dual-tone look, while (surprise!) the Leaf will have a telescopic steering wheel column from now on for increased adjustability. The last time we checked, this was a feature that became common in, well, I don’t really remember when because it’s been so long since!

Interestingly, the company says production is already under way, but it’s not exactly willing to give us a precise date when the 2021 Leaf will arrive in showrooms, let alone discuss an updated pricing quotation.

2020 Nissan Leaf details for Europe
Photo: Nissan
Nissan has more than one reason to discuss the Leaf this year as the Japanese carmaker is also celebrating a decade since the compact EV made its debut. And it really needs to seize the day, because European Union battery electric vehicle sales (BEV) clearly blossomed over the summer, according to ACEA.

According to the organization, BEVs jumped 132% during the July to September period, so interest in the electric revolution has clearly gone up. Meanwhile, ICE models are slowly, but steadily, continuing to lose more ground (diesel fell by 13.7%, gasoline dropped 24.3% during that time).

While it’s not on top of the charts anymore, the Nissan Leaf did help with electric vehicle adoption, which is probably why the brand decided to highlight some of its most important achievements. We’ve added the insights in PDF form down below if you want to spend a bit of time checking them up one by one.

Our interest, on the other hand, was caught by one important element from the chart. The second insight labeled by the company has to do with the Leaf’s battery capacity and range jumping 120% and 160%, respectively, since its introduction. That’s based on the direct comparison between the 24-kWh Leaf of 2011 to a 2019 Leaf e+ 62 kWh, a mighty impressive achievement over the course of just a few years.

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 Download: Nissan Leaf a decade chart (PDF)

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About the author: Aurel Niculescu
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Aurel has aimed high all his life (literally, at 16 he was flying gliders all by himself) so in 2006 he switched careers and got hired as a writer at his favorite magazine. Since then, his work has been published both by print and online outlets, most recently right here, on autoevolution.
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