Nissan Leaf
It's from 2010, when you were 4.
- Iconic generation
- Leaf (2010, first generation)
- Origin
- Japan (sold globally)
- Powertrain
- 80 kW front electric motor, 24 kWh battery
- Power
- 107 hp
- EPA range
- 73 mi
- Charging
- ~8 hrs at 240V
- Price when new
- $32,780 (2011, before incentives)
- Honors
- 2011 World Car of the Year
About
As of 2026, it's 16 years old.
Long before every automaker had an electric crossover, the humble Nissan Leaf showed up in 2010 and quietly did the impossible: it made the mass-market EV real. Affordable, practical, and shaped like a slightly startled hatchback, it was the first electric car ordinary people could actually buy and live with.
Nobody will pretend it was glamorous. The early Leaf's roughly 73-mile EPA range meant careful trip planning and a healthy relationship with public chargers, and its froggy styling launched a thousand jokes. But it charged from a normal home outlet and ran on zero gas, which in 2010 felt like the future arriving in a sensible cardigan.
It went on to become the best-selling EV in the world for years and won 2011 World Car of the Year, proving there was a real appetite for electric cars beyond eco-zealots and early adopters. The Leaf did the unglamorous work of normalizing the whole idea.
It's the unsung hero of the EV revolution: not the fastest, not the flashiest, but the one that got there first and brought the masses along. Every Tesla driver owes the dorky little Leaf a quiet nod of thanks.
Nissan Leaf through the years
Leaf launches
Nissan releases the world's first mass-market EV in Japan and the U.S.
World Car of the Year
The Leaf takes the global crown, validating affordable electric cars.
Best-selling EV
It becomes the world's best-selling electric car, a title it held for years.
Range grows
A bigger 30 kWh battery pushes range past 100 miles.
Second generation
A redesign sheds the froggy look and roughly doubles the original range.
