Video: 2018 Nissan Leaf Redesigned All Electric Hatchback

A little more of a normal hatchback shape here for this second generation and some interesting things going on on this two-tone vehicle here at the auto show. You see a floating roof design, that's something a lot of automakers do these days, but Nissan kind of has these eight pillars that snake up along the side of you and just sort of abruptly end before these wraparound C-pillars that are blacked out, kind of gives it an interesting design. You come up around front and the two-tone appearance continues going forward here. This is Nissan's V-Motion grille, definitely offsets from the white bumpers here on this car at the auto show, more of an interesting look than last year's Leaf, which had more of a monochrome appearance. Now, as any electric car owner knows, the numbers are important and these numbers have been improved a lot over the outgoing Leaf. The motor here, the electric motor, makes 147 horsepower, 236 pounds feet of torque, that's 38% more horsepower, 26% more torque than the outgoing Leaf. You can charge it all on a level two charger in as little as eight hours. And that battery pack, it's up to 40 kilowatt hours instead of 30 even though it takes up the same space, Nissan says, that's good for a 150 mile estimated electric range before you got to recharge. Now, the cabin is fairly basic as you'd expect for an electric car. It's a little bit narrowed too, in terms of just how much you can spread out your knees and we do wish there was a telescoping steering wheel. This is tilt only. A couple of things to point out, there's a five inch screen that's standard. This is an optional seven inch display. Nissan says Apple CarPlay and Android Auto will be available. Down from the display, there's this little button here for an e-Pedal. And what that makes for is one pedal driving, where, as soon as you get off the gas, the Leaf aggressively uses it's regenerative breaking just to kind of slow down all the way to a stop. Now, overall, despite the dimensions, there's actually lots of headroom overhead. I have the seat adjusted as high as it goes here. And as you can see, there's lots of room left over. The backseat actually sits on top of the battery pack, Nissan says, and that makes for a nice high seating position so adult passengers' knees won't be kind of dangling up in the air and there's still plenty of headroom leftover. We've had a chance to get behind the wheel of the Leaf and you can check that out in our Quick Spin review on Cars.com or see one for yourself when it hits dealerships in early 2018. Prices start around $31,000, but that's before a tax credit for EVs that may or may not stick around, depending on what Congress decides to do with its upcoming tax plan. It's a little bit of an elephant in the showroom right now for the Leaf so stay tuned for more.