Nissan will deliver its 200,000th LEAF in January, shortly after celebrating its fifth anniversary. The US, Japan and Europe have accounted for 90% of total LEAF sales, with the US leading the way with nearly 90,000 units, followed by Japan (50,000) and Europe (40,000).
Nissan’s heritage with electric vehicles dates back 68 years to the Tama Electric Vehicle. Nissan, which has dedicated itself to in-house research and development of the EV battery, has taken it from zinc and nickel hydride to lithium-ion. The company successfully marketed the world’s first lithium-ion battery EV in 1996 with the Prairie Joy EV. The knowledge and experienced gained from this gave Nissan a big advantage over its competitors and resulted in the first mass-produced EV in history, the Nissan LEAF.
Nissan has invested more than ¥500 billion (US$4.1 billion) in EV projects, with plans to expand further as demand continues to grow.
Nissan also has reported that there are nearly 10,000 CHAdeMO Quick Chargers (QC) available worldwide. These QC can charge a LEAF from low battery alert to 80-percent capacity in 30 minutes. Japan is taking the lead in developing this infrastructure with 6,000 chargers throughout the country, making it the biggest QC network in the world.
The 2016 Nissan LEAF went on sale equipped with a new 30 kWh battery in the US in November that extends the miles per charge by more than 20%, followed by Japan (December 2015) and Europe (January 2016).
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