Nissan confirms next-gen Leaf will have over 200-mile range

8 years, 5 months ago - 21 June 2016

Nissan has been hinting that it will offer an all-electric Leaf with a 60-kWh battery since at least last November. That's when the automaker showed off the IDS concept with just that size battery pack. The IDS wasn't exactly a new Leaf preview vehicle, but we know a hint when we see one.

Today, we finally got confirmation that the next-gen Leaf will indeed have a 60-kWh pack. Kazuo Yajima, Nissan's global director of EV and HEV engineering, told AutoblogGreen that "It's coming," referring to a 60-kWh Leaf. "I'm sorry I cannot say when," he said. We spoke with Yajima at EVS29, a large electric vehicle symposium happening this week in Montreal, Canada.

Yajima said that Nissan is proud to be showing off its latest battery technology at EVS29, as pictured above. He said that with more than double the capacity of the 24-kWh battery in the current Leaf, the 60-kWh pack in the next Leaf will be able to have more than twice the driving range of today's model, or something like 210-220 miles, depending on conditions and which test you're using. Whatever the exact number ends up being, the important part is that Nissan is not standing still when it comes to challenging the upcoming Chevy Bolt EV or Tesla Model 3. "In the near future, I believe, we can produce an electric vehicle that doesn't have any driving range problem," he said.

Watch the video below and scroll to about three minutes in to hear Yajima talk about Nissan's new 60-kWh battery pack.