Nissan has announced that it will introduce a LEAF electric car with a more powerful 30kWh battery to give a longer 250km range — up from 170km.
Available alongside the current 24kWh LEAF, the new more powerful 30kWh pure-electric hatch goes on sale in Europe this December.
Weighing in 21kg heavier than the less powerful battery cell version, the new LEAF’s improvement in range is said to come from a new carbon, nitrogen and magnesium electrodes that improve the battery cell's performance. To prove its durability, Nissan will give the more powerful 30kWh battery LEAF an eight-year, 100,000-mile warranty in Europe.
As well as the new option of the 30kWh battery, as part of the 2016 model year updates the mid-range Acenta and Tekna models also now feature Nissan’s latest 7.0-inch infotainment system.
In the UK the long-range LEAF costs £1600 ($3300) more than the base car.
It’s not known when exactly we’ll get the 30kWh LEAF but it’s expected to arrive in early 2016.