Nissan's Next-Gen Leaf Prototype Recharges EV Dynamics
Built on Nissan’s CMF-EV platform, the next-generation Leaf prototype represents a significant engineering leap over its predecessor. With a lower center of gravity, stiffer chassis, and refined suspension geometry, the vehicle delivers noticeably improved handling and ride quality. Engineers have optimized weight distribution and electric powertrain integration to enhance both performance and efficiency. This prototype isn’t just a design refresh—it’s a showcase of how platform engineering and EV-specific architecture can redefine mainstream electric mobility.
Transcript
00:00:00 Here is the 2026 Nissan Leaf EV. This is the third generation of the Leaf, and at one point, this EV was the number one selling electric vehicle in the world until it was overtaken by the Tesla Model 3. Now, today, we're going to do a quick walk around of this third generation vehicle.
00:00:31 One of the more intriguing aspects of this vehicle is the fact that it has two charge ports. It has the 1772. This is the AC charge port. This is for charging at home or maybe you have charging at your work. But on the other side, like every other automaker and selling an EV in the United States, Nissan has been transitioning over to NX SapJ3400. That means you'll be able to charge this
00:00:55 at Tesla stations. In fact, Nissan says that this vehicle will be plug and charge compatible with Tesla supercharging stations, which means is that when you pull up to a Tesla supercharging station, you can just plug in your vehicle. You don't have to worry about pulling out the Tesla app. Um, which is really nice. Uh, because, you know, essentially when you get gas, you
00:01:15 don't have to pull out an app in order to get gas. The new Nissan Leaf is based on a 400vt architecture, which means that DC fast charging peaks out at 150 kW. The AC charging starts at 7.2 kW. So, charging at home, no problem. Charging on the go, a little bit slower than some other vehicles on the market, but more than adequate for most people in their daily driving experience. Here
00:01:37 in the interior of the Nissan Leaf, you're seeing a lot of updates over the second generation of this vehicle. Uh, one of the more important ones is that they have their uh, updated uh, infotainment system, which is nice. And if you get the mid or higher trim levels, it comes with uh, Google builtin, which is essentially Google Maps that allows you to do uh, route
00:01:59 planning via Google Maps. So, you know, if I need to go to say uh, San Francisco, I'm here in LA right now. It'll tell me where I need to stop, how long I need to stop, what my state of charge will be when I stop, and what my state of charge will be when I get to my final destination. With the built Google builtin on the mid and higher trim levels, uh it will precondition the
00:02:19 battery as you get to a charging station so that you have optimal charging capabilities. But what is nice, there is actually a battery heater, so you can actually manually precondition your battery. So when you get to a charging station, you know, maybe 10, 15, 20 m out, you can precondition the battery, you can tell
00:02:42 it to get ready for charging, and that will mean that your charging session will be quicker. Now, there are buttons in this vehicle in addition to the touch screens. Um, you have capacitive touch buttons for the climate controls, but what's really nice is you have a knob for the volume control. So you have a knob for the cam or a button for the camera. So when
00:03:04 you're parking, if you're always trying to see where you need to be within the parking lines or uh parallel parking, there is a button very quickly, you can turn that on. The gear selector is a series of four buttons, just park, reverse, neutral, and drive. Um you also have the EV mode right here, which is nice. Whenever they put modes behind the uh touchcreen, it's always you're more
00:03:27 likely than not to not even change the modes. What's nice is the the drive mode is actually here as a button. And of course, they have their ESEP. They no longer have uh one pedal driving on either the Arya or the this generation uh Nissan Leaf, which is a bit disappointing for people who have been driving the Nissan Leaf for years. It's sort of invented one one pedal driving.
00:03:50 That's no longer available. Uh so that's sort of a mar for some people. For others who've never used it, you probably won't notice. Uh you have nice capacitive touch buttons here on the steering wheel uh which are really, you know, relatively easy to get. Um you get some pretty good uh headroom. You do have this sunroof which uh you can photoelectrically charged. Uh open it
00:04:13 up, close it, be able to see the outside world, not see the outside world. Uh if you get the lower trim levels or the entry uh level trim, um it just has a regular metal roof. So if you're just interested in that, you have that. But mid-trim and higher trims, you do get this pretty impressive uh uh sort of sunroof. Overall, I find the seats to be comfortable. Um at 6'3, there's, you
00:04:38 know, there's enough headroom for me. Um your average person is probably going to be fine with that. Um you have lots of leg room in the front. In the back, it will be a little bit tight. If you have tall people in front, you know, um you're going to have to put someone shorter or children in the back. Four doors. The design of this vehicle is actually a huge improvement to me
00:04:59 personally over the former generation Leaf. It feels more modern. It feels more fun. Um, it has a drag coefficient of 0.26, so it's quite aerodynamic. And you're going to get up to over 300 miles. That is the EPA target in this vehicle with the larger battery pack. I also had a chance to drive an early prototype of the Nissan Leaf in Japan earlier this year. During my very
00:05:25 limited time behind the wheel at Nissan's Grand Drive test trike at the Opama facility in Yokosuka City, Japan, I found the vehicle to be an improvement over the two previous generations of Leaf vehicles. We'll have more information about the driving dynamics of the vehicle closer to its release in the United States. One of my favorite things about the brand new Nissan Leaf
00:05:48 is its design. Nissan say is it is Katana inspired. I do prefer this design over the first and second generation Nissan Leaf. It's a bit of a crossover. It's a bit of a sedan. It's a bit of a hatchback. It's a bit of everything, but it still comes off as a very nice looking vehicle compared to those previous generations. Now, we don't have pricing information just yet, but we
00:06:10 will get that closer to launch this fall. For more coverage of EV sustainability and battery technology, be sure to subscribe to SAPE International.