The 2020 Nissan LEAF SL PLUS EV Electric Vehicle
You Are What You Drive — A Bottom Line Review
The Bottom Line: I think it’s safe to say that electric vehicles are here to stay. The market for new and improved electric cars, SUV’S, and soon to be electric trucks, are now available from over a dozen manufactures, with more on the way. As always with a new market segment, not everybody will survive in the long run. Between mergers, bankruptcies, acquisitions and consumer sales, the car buyer will determine who the long term players will be.
Until then we have several electric cars to choose from. The first one to market an electric vehicle on a large scale was Nissan with the LEAF. Going for the green leaf as the symbol of an environmentally correct vehicle, Nissan named their first electric car as the LEAF. They developed a compact 4 door hatchback BEV battery electric vehicle, and introduced it to Japan and the United States in December 2010, and 10 years later it is now in its second generation.
The LEAF comes in several models, including an S, S PLUS, SL PLUS, SV, and a SV PLUS, all as a 4 door hatchback sedan. All 2020 Nissan LEAF electric cars are front wheel drive, with the electric motor mounted under the hood. This week Nissan sent me a new 2020 LEAF SL PLUS to test drive and review. The PLUS models have an EPA rating of up to 215 miles of driving range on a full charge. That is a significant upgrade from the first EV cars that got about 75 miles on a full charge.
Nissan is one of the first mass produced electric car builders, and with 10 years of research and development under their belt, it really pays off in the long run. Today’s electric cars can go an entire week without needing a charge. The average person still drives less than 30 miles a day, so a week’s worth of driving equals 210 miles, and the EPA says you can get up to 215 miles on a full charge in a LEAF PLUS. That higher number is because of battery efficiency, and they did it to remove what’s called Range Anxiety, the fear of running out of battery power to make it home safely.
That was the biggest hurdle in the electric car’s race to being acceptable. Today that bridge has been crossed, and most, but not all, electric cars can go over 150 miles on a full charge. Some can go over 200 plus, as the PLUS name implies, and up to 300 miles to date.
New technology is being developed every day, but the formula stays the same. More battery power means more miles per charge. More efficient electric motors can add a few percentage points, but the true breakthrough in electric vehicles is getting more power from higher efficient batteries that are more powerful, lighter, cheaper to make, and produce less heat. These are the manufacturing parameters for all electric cars, trucks, crossovers and SUVS, from yesterday, to today, and into the future.
So what’s it going to cost to drive an electric car about 200 miles on a full charge? About $12 bucks a week. The EPA says that the LEAF’S annual fuel costs are about $650. And that’s for a full year’s worth of driving. Not a penny spent on gasoline, but on electrical power from your home charging station. Charging an electric car is best at night, between Midnight and 6 AM, when electric power is cheaper, and the grid has lots of extra energy to charge all the electric cars.
The power companies know that they will have to add to the daytime power grid as more electric cars and trucks enter the market. We are going to need EV fuel, electric power, all day, every day, and at more charging stations. The brain trusts are all working on this, and soon local charging stations will be in every neighborhood. Your new corner gas station will be an electric car charging station.
This new 2020 Nissan LEAF SL PLUS 4 door hatchback, with up to 215 miles of driving range, has a base price of $43,900. The options on the test car are: Splash Guards for $200, the Two Toned Paint job costs $395, the Carpeted Floor Mats and the Cargo Mat cost $195, and the Kick Plates add $130. The total MSRP manufacturer’s suggested retail price, including the $925 destination charge, came to: $45,745. A Federal Tax Credit is still available for qualified buyers too.
The new for 2020 Nissan LEAF looks like a normal 4 door sedan. Gone are the weird looking aero body styles that were supposed to make you look at a car and say; What the heck is that? Today’s EV electric vehicles want to blend in as any normal, good looking car, that gets the job done, with ZERO EMISSIONS, and lower operating costs.
The new LEAF PLUS edition takes that to a whole new level, with clean and crisp styling, in a perfectly sized hatchback, and it’s loaded with comfort and convenience options that today’s buyer wants, and expects. The SL PLUS edition checks all the right boxes, and then adds fuel economy numbers of 94 MPGE highway, 114
MPGE city, and gets a fantastic 104 MPGE overall in combined driving.
The Greenhouse Gas Rating is a 10 out of a 10 best, perfect, and a Smog Rating of 10 out a 10 best, perfect again! Since the car burns ZERO gasoline, it has ZERO harmful emissions. That’s why Nissan can promote and sell it as a ZERO EMISSION vehicle, which is proudly spelled out on the rear deck lid in shiny chrome letters.
The electric car market today has several makes and models to choose from. But only one manufacturer, Nissan, has been selling electric cars, on a large scale worldwide, for the last 10 years. If you’re going to buy an EV, you HAVE to test drive a brand new 2020 Nissan LEAF before you make that final buying decision. You will be very impressed with the quality, performance and price of a new 2020 Nissan LEAF, compared to all of the EV competition. It’s a simply amazing 100% electric car. A word to the wise is sufficient. Stay Smart, Stay Safe, and Just Breathe. And remember “You Are What You Drive ©”
And maybe, just for those reasons alone, you should “Drive one, Buy one, Today ©”.
This Bottom Line Review is provided by: Tony Leopardo © Autowire.net.
“Tony the Car Guy” is an automotive writer, editor and publisher in the San Francisco Bay Area. If you have a question, or comment for Tony, send it to tonyleo@pacbell.net or visit Autowire.net at www.autowire.net