TOKYO — An upgraded version of the Nissan Leaf electric car can travel farther without recharging and tells drivers how much battery life is left.
The changes in the revamped model, shown last week in Tokyo, were based on feedback from owners whose chief worry was running out of power while driving, Nissan officials said.
The scarcity of recharging stations on the roads has limited electric-vehicle use to short commutes and kept them confined to a market niche.
Nissan says the new model can travel 142 miles on a single charge, up from 124 miles, as long as air conditioning isn’t used. The increase comes from improvements such as streamlining the battery system and making the car weigh less.
Nissan did not detail overseas-sales plans but said similar upgrades were in the works.
The Leaf is the world’s most popular electric vehicle, constituting more than half of all electric-car sales. Leaf global sales since late 2010 total 43,000 vehicles, about half of them in Japan.
More than 17,000 Leaf cars have been sold in the U.S., and recent monthly sales were about 1,500 vehicles, according to Nissan.
Senior Vice President Masaaki Nishizawa told reporters the Leaf does away with the hassles of going to gas stations and allows drivers a cleaner conscience.
“People who try out the Leaf are moved,” he said. “But they are worried about cruise range.”
Among other changes to the Leaf are: more luggage space, a dashboard battery charge display, a navigation system that calculates the best energy-saving route to a destination, and a smaller, lighter recharging nozzle.
Business, Pages 22 on 11/26/2012