Evergreen Leafs: Celebrating 10 years of Nissan's pioneering EV

A decade ago, with the then-powerful Carlos Ghosn standing in the foreground for praise, Nissan revealed its revolutionary Leaf, a Ford Focus-sized hatchback and the world's first modern mainstream electric car .

Nissan insiders boast that it cost around £4bn to design and develop, which is around double what they would spend on a conventional car of the same size.But, they say, their view of the future makes the fee worthwhile, and it does -- so it turns out.

Leaf reception is mixed.Futurists, early adopters and environmentalists alike have praised Ghosn and company for their confidence in determining the direction of automotive engineering, but industry pragmatists are less sure.Where are the customers for this car, or where are the market forces that make car buyers always take it seriously? People rarely change their habits without strong incentives, and there are no incentives here.

This has helped motivated journalists around the world.Many people don't drive a decent EV until they first get into the Leaf, and so work so hard under the illusion thatEVsare as sluggish and unresponsive as the proverbial milk floats or golf carts.(The illusion took longer to transfer between prospects and still lingers to this day.)

They liked the Leaf's simplicity, refinement and responsiveness, so it was voted the 2011 European Car of the Year and Car of the Year - better than Ghosn and his most optimistic colleagues had expected.

To underline the Leaf's decade of achievement, and to be proud of the fact that global sales of this British-built car have now surpassed 500,000 in 59 countries (one third of which are in Europe), we decided to start with the following countries Borrow original and latest models: Nissan will see and drive them - and most importantly, compare them to ensure the concept's stability.After all, back in the 2000s when Nissan was deciding what EV owners wanted, many of those decisions were essentially filmed in the dark.

We found that the early Leaf was a 30 kWh 'little car', almost in perfect order due to its low mileage and discerning owner.The current car, an example of the recently introduced Leaf e+, has more than twice the power and range of the original, and its 0-62 mph acceleration is more than 3.0 seconds off the 2011 model's perfect 9.9 seconds.

This advancement over a decade paints an interesting picture of the speed and direction of all electric vehicle development: the latest Leaf may be more powerful, but despite its small increase in external dimensions, it still easily fits into the original car's cabin. and luggage space to increase space.