EUROPEAN owners of Nissan’s 100 per cent electric car the LEAF travel more than 50 per cent further per year (10,307 miles) than the European average for a traditional internal combustion-powered vehicle (6,721 miles1), it was revealed today.
Spanish Nissan LEAF drivers come out on top, covering on average more than 228 miles each week, Swedish drivers (211 miles) come second and the UK third with 201 miles.
According to latest figures, drivers of traditional petrol or diesel-powered cars covered an average of 129 miles per week.
Thanks to the CarWings telemetry in the LEAF, which records real-life driver data, Nissan has been able to report that its European drivers amass on average 198 miles a week in their LEAF* all without any exhaust emissions.
Further research from the automaker indicated that 89 per cent of LEAF drivers charge overnight at home, benefiting from a cost per mile of just two pence or less†.
This insight into LEAF driver habits comes just four years since the car’s launch, in 2010, as one of the first mass-market, pure-electric vehicles. It is now the best-selling electric vehicle in history, with over 150,000 LEAF vehicles sold globally, more than 31,000 of which have been sold in Europe. The launch follows on from the success of the Nissan LEAF, its all-electric car, which has collectively clocked up an impressive one billion kilometres worldwide*.
Jean-Pierre Diernaz, Director of Electric Vehicles for Nissan in Europe, said: “Since the beginning we have said that the Nissan LEAF is much more than just a city car or second car and now we can show the data that proves this. Our customers frequently tell us that they buy the Nissan LEAF as a second car but end up using it far more than their other vehicle, and the information we receive from CarWings reinforces that message.
“The customers tell us this is because the car has very low fuel and servicing costs and that, along with the smooth, almost silent ride of the Nissan LEAF, make it difficult to go back to a diesel or petrol car.”
Nissan recently added to its all-electric line-up with the launch of the e-NV200, a zero-emission, compact city van.
1 Average is calculated from 2013 market specific annual average statistics using data from the UK, France, Spain Italy, Sweden and Norway. An even weighting was applied to each country to find a ‘European Average’. A German statistic was not used in the European average as the raw data is not available and all average kilometre figures quoted are estimates.
* Totals based on Nissan’s Global Data Center (GDC) as of 30.09.2014 (UTC). The average is gathered only from Nissan LEAF vehicles registered with CarWings, approximately 54% of total sales. Data used is from 01.04.14 – 30.09.14
† From 2p per mile is based on (i) overnight electricity costs (British Gas standard tariff unit rates for a customer paying by direct debit as at 1 May 2014, assuming seven hours of charging at the night rate and one hour on the day rate), and (ii) a range of up to 124 miles per full charge (assuming 95% efficiency). Actual consumption and range may vary due to driving style, road condition, air conditioning and other factors outside of Nissan’s control.