It pioneered the world of electric vehicles when it was introduced more than a decade ago. That’s right, it beat the great Tesla to the market and provided Americans with an affordable means of electrified transportation for years. This means there are no frills here, just charge up the paper and get on with your day. If you were wondering, here’s how long it takes to charge the Nissan Leaf with a generic charger.
Charging the 2023 Nissan Leaf in the wild doesn’t take long
When you think of charging an electric car, how long is it? Two hours? One hour? In our experience with electric vehicles so far, anything that takes an hour (or less) to charge is fast. After all, this is a car we’re talking about, not a cell phone.
The Leaf, like the SV Plus model we recently tested, will be happy to know that it only takes about an hour to charge. To be clear, we started charging the car when the battery life was at 24%, with 60 miles of range remaining, up to 95%.
It should be noted that with the battery almost fully charged, the reading showed we had 241 miles, which is more than Nissan says it can get.
Plus, the CHAdeMO fast charger we plugged in charges the car at a rate of 40 kW – which is less than the 100 kW fast charging rate that Nissan represents. At that rate, the automaker says it should only take 45 minutes to charge the car up to 80%. In this case, spending an hour charging from 24-95% is not bad.
As always, mileage and charge times can vary depending on where you live.
Nissan Leaf is powerful enough to get you where you need to go
When it comes to power, the 2023 Nissan Leaf has more than enough for your daily commute. Our top-of-the-line test car came with a larger 160-kW engine that makes 214 horsepower and 250 lb-ft of torque. With that rating, the Leaf can get to 60 mph from a standstill in about 5.5 seconds.
In fact, it’s very fast, and there’s plenty of instant torque to put a smile on your face when you hit the pedal. Of course, the Leaf isn’t as fast as the Tesla Model 3, which covers the same distance in 3.1 seconds, but it’s fast enough to get the car onto the highway and pass slower cars with ease.
Is the Nissan Leaf SV Plus worth the extra money?
For 2023, there are two Nissan Leaf flavor variants – S and. The difference between the two is the size of the electric motors and about $8,000. If you don’t want to worry about having enough wattage or range, we’d suggest going for the upgrade. They cost a bit more, but the current potential federal tax credit you may qualify for lowers the price by $7,500—which makes up for the cost difference.
Ultimately, charging the 2023 Nissan Leaf SV Plus won’t take long, provided you don’t mind waiting an hour or so. It may not be as fast as a Tesla, but the Leaf is all you really need in an EV.
