Auto NSider Review | 2020 Nissan Leaf SL “Plus”Coupe

If you’ve never even considered an electric car, maybe you’re missing out.

Yes…Electric is fast becoming mainstream…and for good reason.

Range is one of those reasons.   Early Leafs were good for around 74 miles before needing a recharge.   Today that’s up to well over 200 miles.

And then there was the question of “Where can I charge it?

Today there are over 20,000 different places to charge across the US…with 70,000 actual charging units.  Just as gas stations have more than one pump per station, that’s an average of three or four charging “pumps” per charging station.

But if you’re thinking gas, think FREE…as almost half of those charging stations are offering free charges.   Why?   To lure you to shop / eat / stay there.   Not a bad trade-off, no?

And then you can always charge at home in affordable off-peak times if you can park close to an outlet.  Your Leaf will come with a roughly 15’ recharging cord, Extension cords are not recommended, however.

So besides the occasional free “fill-up”, what else do you get with today’s Nissan Leaf?

Well, for starters, you can still drive in many states’ High-Occupancy Vehicle / HOT lanes for free.   Just get an Alternative Vehicle Plate.

So now you’re saving both money AND time.   What else do you get?

How ‘bout reliability, too?   J.D.Power has ranked Nissan’s Leaf as the most reliable compact sold in America…the first time a pure electric vehicle has ever won that award.

And then you get some interesting technology, too.   Nissan’s “Safety Shield 360” is standard on all Leafs…from the low $30’s “S” to our test  “SL Plus”…which had a mid-$40’s window sticker.   Safety Shield includes auto emergency braking with pedestrian detection, rear auto braking, rear cross-traffic alert, blind spot warning, lane departure alerts, intelligent forward collision warning, lane intervention and automatic high beams.

Add four-door plus hatchback utility, room for five, surprisingly eager performance, and an 8-year / 100,000 mile warranty on the battery…and you’ve got quite a few good reasons to put a Leaf in your garage.

Recent political commercials keep telling us: “Change is coming to America”.   Well, change is definitely coming to the world of wheels.   General Motors says 40% of their vehicles will be electric by 2025.   I don’t know how many fingers you have on your hand, but to my way of counting, that’s around 5 years from now.

And were you to live in Europe, many countries have said that they’ll completely stop selling gasoline-engined vehicles in the next ten years.

So electric, indeed, seems to be the future…and Nissan’s Leaf can give you a  provenpeek into the future right now.