The next Nissan Leaf electric car won’t look so weird. And it will go farther.
Nissan officials opened up a bit to Automotive Newsabout how they want to proceed with the next generation of what became a breakthrough modern, mainstream electric car.
Most important will be range. Nissan wants to double it from the current Environmental Protection Agency rating of 84 miles per charge, the News says. That improvement, based on new battery chemistry that Nissan thinks it has in the wings, would dramatically improve the car’s practicality. The improved battery should be ready in 2017.
“The battery chemistry is all about range and energy density. That’s where you see the technology moving very, very fast,” Nissan’s Andy Palmer is quoted as saying last month at the Beijing auto show. “This really is the game-changing technology.”
Then there are its looks. Leaf was designed to look distinctive, much the way Toyota scored by giving the Prius hybrid its own look so that customers can proclaim their environmental consciousness every thing they drive. For the next generation, however, the car will be made to fit more into mainstream of styling out on the streets.