Nissan Exec: Long-Range Successor To LEAF Arriving “Relatively Quickly”
Not that it actually is an issue for most LEAF owners — despite popular myths about electric vehicles (EVs) — but it looks as though “range anxiety” will soon be a thing of the past for Nissan’s potential EV buyers, based on recent statements from one of the company’s executives.
Nissan will apparently be releasing a long-range EV “relatively quickly,” as per the company’s Chief Planning Officer Philippe Klein in an interview with Automotive News.
As per Klein’s comments, the LEAF’s current EPA-rated 84-mile range was already pretty close to what most drivers need — so it’s not entirely clear what kind of range Klein is saying the company will be providing in the long-range EV.
Presumably, the EV would be on similar footing to its potential future competitors — the just-revealed Chevrolet Bolt concept (200 miles range), and the Tesla Model 3 (a similar range is expected). That’s not certain, though, of course — perhaps Nissan will take a slightly different approach. Perhaps aiming for a notably lower cost than these competitors?
Who knows. But it should be a very interesting next couple of years for the EV industry.
As per the recent interview, Klein implied (to some degree) that the long-range EV could simply be the next-gen LEAF — released perhaps in 2016 (2017 model), which would put the release date near the predicted release dates of the Chevy Bolt and the Tesla Model 3.
While all three models certainly, as of right now, seem to have enough in common to be considered competitors, further news could change things — until the release dates get closer, this is all speculation after all.
Image Credit: Nissan Motors
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