The latest Nissan Leaf? Never this close to autonomous driving: press a button and it steers, brakes, sets off again and parks by itself. In our test, what it is like and how Europe's most popular electric car performs.
All it takes is pressing a button on the steering wheel. And the car, on its own (albeit only for a few moments), drives. The latest Nissan Leaf, among the best-selling electric cars in Europe and certainly the most widespread after nearly eight years since the launch of the first generation, surprises. Not so much for its range, which is certainly more adequate with those 378 kilometres that allow it to be used in an almost "normal" way. But for that driving experience which, at least on the motorway, makes autonomous driving feel closer and more tangible.
An electric car already surprises you with its silence. With the absence of vibrations. The Nissan Leaf adds another element: a "taste" of the autonomous driving that within twenty years will transform mobility as we know it, reshape entire cities and give rise to new economic models. All you have to do is get onto the motorway (it works in other situations too, but the motorway is certainly the best "test area"), press a button on the steering wheel, and enjoy the magic.
The Leaf brakes, accelerates and turns the steering wheel by itself to stay in the correct lane. And if you try to change lane without signalling with the indicator, the steering wheel offers firm resistance. All the while maintaining the correct trajectory and a safe distance from other cars. And if there is traffic and speed stays within 30 km/h, the Leaf does everything by itself: it stops, sets off again, brakes, staying in the flow of traffic. Goodbye stress.
No illusions, though. The moment you take your hands off the steering wheel, the Leaf first emits a faint acoustic signal that grows increasingly intense until it sounds like the alarm for an imminent nuclear attack; today the law does not allow cars to drive "by themselves" and, even when the technology would almost be ready to do so — as on the Leaf — cars equipped with these technologies also feature a system that, the moment it detects the driver has taken their hands off the wheel, disengages every automated function. And the magic is gone!
The latest Leaf does this too. It parks by itself. First it monitors the available spaces, then at the press of a button (which must be held down, so that the driver remains alert throughout any manoeuvre), the Leaf moves forwards, reverses, steers, brakes. And finally parks, as well as — or better than — many drivers. To the astonished looks of passers-by and passengers watching the steering wheel turn on its own. Keeping watch over the whole operation is an array of sensors and cameras that monitor the surrounding space and give warning of the presence of cars or pedestrians in the manoeuvring zone.
Another area in which the Nissan Leaf has improved greatly is range. With the previous model, doing Milan–Parma (just over 100 kilometres) was already a gamble. Now, with a declared range of 378 kilometres — 270 in reality (almost 400 in the city, thanks to efficient energy regeneration) — you can tackle the same journey with peace of mind. And then perhaps set off the following day (after an overnight charge) for Liguria via the Cisa pass. That does not exempt you from planning your journey carefully (in Parma, for instance, there are no A2A charging points as there are in the Lombard capital, but if needed the Nissan dealership makes its charging point available free of charge, 24 hours a day).
And here we come to perhaps the most critical point — not for the Leaf specifically, but for all electric cars. Where to charge and how long it takes depends on where you live and what equipment you have. In under an hour the Nissan Leaf charges to 80 per cent, provided you have a 50 kW charging point with a CHAdeMO fast-charge socket. That time already rises to nearly 6 hours if you install a 7 kW wallbox in your garage. And if you use a domestic socket… 20 hours won't be enough.
It is no joke. Nor, to be honest, a novelty (Bmw was the first to launch this system on the i3). But it was not available on the Nissan Leaf. It is called e-Pedal and is, in effect, a system that allows you to drive with just one pedal: the accelerator. Always included as standard and activated by pressing a button, it is a very useful system in the city where, once you get used to it, you almost avoid using the brake altogether.
In 2010, with the first version of the Leaf, the capacity was 24 kWh and the range was 175 km (which was, however, much less in real life). Since then, the lithium-ion battery has grown progressively to today's 40 kWh. Add an electric motor producing 150 horsepower and you get a range and performance that are finally interesting (a top speed of over 140 km/h). An inevitable — and welcome — evolution of the species, given the growth of rivals such as the Renault Zoe, the electric Golf, the Jaguar e-Pace, and, soon, the first Audi e-tron electric SUV as well.
As for the interior, the latest Leaf offers plenty of space and a 7-inch touchscreen system that can be integrated with a smartphone via CarPlay and Android Auto. The steering wheel is not adjustable for reach, and the central tunnel at the rear seats takes up space for the fifth passenger. Practicality is good, however, and the materials are of good quality. Comfort is also notable. The low centre of gravity and the batteries tucked into the "floor" make the Leaf enjoyable on bends too. As for the price, it starts at €33,070 and goes up to €42,160 for the top-of-the-range Tekna.