Home New Zealand – August 01, 2019

A decadeorsoago,Nissanreleased

theLeaf– thefirstseriousattemptat

anall-electriccar.Laudable,butkindof

ignoredhereuntiltheystartedtorollinas

Japaneseimports.AlthoughNissanhas

solda fewhundrednewcarshere,there

arenowaround10,000onourroads.

Tenyearson,Nissanis uptoitsfourth

generationLeaf.The 2019 versionhas

a diff erentlook– lessanonymous,more

conceptcar– witha fewupgrades

includinga biggerbattery,enoughtodo

about270km.It’spitchedatthesuburban

commuter,ratherthanthosedoing

regularlongdrives,soit’ssmoothand

undemandingtodrive.Thisis especially

thecasewhenusingthe‘ePedal’,a one-

pedaldrivingmodeforbothaccelerating

andbraking,whichchargesthebattery

andslowsthecarwheneveryoutake

your footoffthe,er,gas.

But– andhere’stheexcitingbit–

it’sthefirstelectriccartocomewith

bi-directionalcharging.Thisis what

proponentsofelectriccarshavebeen

sayingwouldbedoneforyears:charge

upthecarwhenpoweris cheap,thensell

it backtothegridwhenit’sexpensive.

Theoretically,youcouldevenchargeup

yourcarusingsolarpanelsduringtheday,

thenpoweryourhousewithit atnight.

Thatit comesinatsomethinglikea

thirdofthepriceofmany,moreluxurious,

electriccarsis also remarkable.

NissanLeaf

nissan.co.nz

Battery packed

Anewelectriccarcapable

of feeding the grid.

Aboveandleft—

Designedforthe

suburbancommuter,

thenewNissanLeaf

hasa sleekerlookand

one-pedal driving.

D:13 IN TRANSIT

Text

Simon-Farrell Green

Photography

Sam Hartnett

42 HOME NEW ZEALAND