THE GROUND-BREAKING NISSAN LEAF, the car that pioneered the EV charge into the Australian market, has now been on sale for 10 years.
Rather than riding the electric-vehicle wave, the Nissan LEAF helped create it, with more than 2000 examples of the electric hatchback sold across Australia — contributing to the more than 600,000 sales worldwide — since its launch here 10 years ago.
Guillaume Cartier, Chairperson, Nissan AMIEO Region, said “For the past 10 years in Australia – and 12 years globally – the Nissan LEAF has pioneered the transition towards zero-emission mobility. When the Nissan LEAF arrived in 2010 there were many sceptics; fast forward to today and almost every automaker around the world has followed suit.”
“I would personally like to congratulate the Nissan Australia team on 10 years at the forefront of electric vehicle adoption Down Under. This is only the beginning and I’m excited to see where the next 10 years takes us.”
Together, Australian-delivered vehicles have travelled approximately 58.5 million kilometres, or far enough to have lapped the Earth more than 1400 times, all while producing zero tailpipe emissions.
“The Nissan LEAF was, and is, a pioneer in the electric vehicle space, and we’re proud both of its legacy, and of everything it has done to pave the way for EV acceptance and take-up in Australia,” says Nissan Australia Managing Director, Adam Paterson.
“Of all the interesting facts and figures the LEAF’s 10-year history in Australia has produced, my favourite is that, parked end-to-end, the vehicles sold here would reach the very top of Mount Everest.
“It’s particularly fitting because the LEAF didn’t just climb Everest, it chose the path and set the guide ropes for others to follow. And we’re not done climbing yet, with a new-look LEAF arriving later this year, along with the ongoing work with vehicle-to-grid technology.”
One person who has been on the EV journey with Nissan from its earliest days is Australian presenter and Nissan ambassador Osher Günsberg, who owned a first-generation LEAF in Los Angeles, and who still drives a LEAF in Australia today.
“I have always loved the Nissan LEAF,” he says. “I had one of the earliest models when I was living in Los Angeles, and I used to love zipping past all those big, gas-guzzling cars and trucks.
“They were all keeping a close eye on their fuel gauges and stressing about petrol prices, while I was having fun trying to grow new digital trees on my dashboard by driving more efficiently.”
“I loved the game-ified nature of it, I loved feeling good about driving, and I loved never having to visit a petrol station.
“The LEAF has come a long way since then, but it still delivers everything I loved about my first car, only with more power, more technology, and even more range.”
The Nissan LEAF story will soon continue in Australia, with a new-look LEAF launching in August, having received key styling and technology updates designed to make zero-emission motoring even more appealing.
10 things you (probably) didn’t know about the Nissan LEAF
- Australian-delivered Nissan LEAFs have saved approximately 4,096,344 litres of fuel.
- Australian Nissan LEAF owners have saved a combined $3.9m in fuel costs.
- The combined batteries of all Nissan LEAFs sold in Australia total 74,000kWh – that’s more than 3.9 million AAA batteries.
- That’s enough to power 4,800 Australian homes for a day.
- Australian Nissan LEAFs have saved approximately 93 million kilograms of tailpipe C02 emissions.
- It would take in excess of 422,000 trees roughly 10 years to store that amount of CO2.
- Australian-delivered LEAFs have collectively driven the same distance as travelling to the moon and back 76 times.
- Parked end-to-end, Australian-delivered Nissan LEAFs would measure 8.94km – that’s all the way to the summit of Mount Everest.
- Australia’s fleet of LEAF vehicles could carry 9,990 people at the same time.
- The Nissan LEAF story has only just begun. Having already changed the way we drive, the introduction of V2G technology will help change the way we live, too.