With the 100% electric LEAF, Nissan has plenty of reasons to celebrate their five years at the forefront of the EV market.
Nissan prides itself on the fact that no other car manufacturer has produced as many electric vehicles or covered as much distance without any harmful emissions. LEAF customers recently surpassed the two billion kilometer mark (1.2 billion miles), which just to make it more interesting, is equivalent to 2,600 round trips from the Earth to the moon.
While you might think that’s nothing more than a “cute” statistic, Nissan estimates that 328,482 tons of CO has been prevented from entering the air, according to their 5-year sales-volume based math skills.
The Japanese manufacturer will also deliver its 200,000th LEAF vehicle in January, which is a fabulous number for a car that not many would describe as being particularly attractive. On paper though, the LEAF has been named Car of the Year in Europe and Japan, and has also won the prestigious World Car of the Year award.
Nissan has invested more than 500 billion JPY (over €3.7 billion) in EV projects as their plans for further expansion within this industry/segment continue to grow. The company has reported that there are now nearly 10,000 CHAdeMO Quick Chargers available worldwide, which can charge your LEAF from the “low battery alert” to about 80% capacity in just 30 minutes.
The first in line to develop this infrastructure is of course Japan, with 6,000 chargers throughout the country – resulting in the biggest QC network in the world.
Nissan say they owe the LEAF’s success to their EV heritage which dates back 68 years to the Tama Electric Vehicle. They also successfully marketed the world’s first lithium-ion battery EV back in 1996 with the Prairie Joy EV, which subsequently resulted in the first mass-produced EV in history, this here’s birthday boy.
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