Nissan Australia is celebrating the tenth anniversary of the all-electric Leaf hatchback which officially began sales here in June 2012.
More than 2000 examples of the electric hatchback have sold across Australia — contributing to the more than 600,000 sales worldwide — since its launch here 10 years ago.
“When the Nissan Leaf first appeared in 2010 there were many sceptics; fast forward to today and almost every automotive manufacturer around the world has followed suit,” Nissan AMIEO region chairperson Guillaume Cartier says.
“I would personally like to congratulate the Nissan Australia team on 10 years at the forefront of electric vehicle adoption Down Under. This is only the beginning and I’m excited to see where the next 10 years takes us,” he says.
Together, Australian-delivered vehicles have travelled approximately 58.5 million kilometres, or far enough to have lapped the Earth more than 1400 times, all while producing zero tailpipe emissions.
“The Nissan Leaf was, and is, a pioneer in the electric vehicle space, and we’re proud both of its legacy, and of everything it has done to pave the way for EV acceptance and take-up in Australia,” says Nissan Australia managing director Adam Paterson.
“Of all the interesting facts and figures the LEAF’s 10-year history in Australia has produced, my favourite is that – parked end-to-end – the vehicles sold here would reach the very top of Mount Everest.
“It’s particularly fitting because the LEAF didn’t just climb Everest, it chose the path and set the guide ropes for others to follow. And we’re not done climbing yet, with a new-look LEAF arriving later this year, along with the ongoing work with vehicle-to-grid technology.”
One person who has been on the EV journey with Nissan from its earliest days is Australian presenter and Nissan ambassador Osher Günsberg, who owned a first-generation Leaf in Los Angeles, and who still drives a Leaf in Australia today.
“I have always loved the Leaf,” he says. “I had one of the earliest models when I was living in Los Angeles, and I used to love zipping past all those big, gas-guzzling cars and trucks.
“They were all keeping a close eye on their fuel gauges and stressing about petrol prices, while I was having fun trying to grow new digital trees on my dashboard by driving more efficiently.
“I loved it, I loved feeling good about driving, and I loved never having to visit a petrol station.
“The Leaf has come a long way since then, but it still delivers everything I loved about my first car, only with more power, more technology, and even more range,” he says.
The Nissan Leaf story will soon continue in Australia, with a new-look Leaf launching in August, having received key styling and technology updates.
Nissan says Australian-delivered Nissan Leaf EVs have saved approximately 4,096,344 litres of fuel, saving owners more than $3.9m combined in fuel costs. The combined batteries of all Leafs sold in Australia totals 74,000kWh which is enough to power more 4,800 Australian homes for a day.
In Australia the Leaf Car Parc have saved approximately 93 million kilograms of tailpipe C02 emissions. It would take in excess of 422,000 trees roughly 10 years to store that amount of CO2.
Collectively, Australia’s Leaf Car Parc have driven the same distance as travelling to the moon and back 76 times and parked end-to-end, it would measure 8.94km – that’s all the way to the summit of Mount Everest.
The Australian fleet of Leaf vehicles could carry 9,990 people at the same time.
