Video: 2026 Nissan Leaf Up Close: Third Time’s a Charm

But for 2026, charging a little bit too slow? This sucker's got NACS as standard. Yeah, it really does look like Nissan is turning over a new leaf with the new generation. I know that is a terrible joke. But let's hop into Nissan's latest and greatest. (upbeat music) The biggest news I would say with the New Leaf is that CHAdeMO, Nissan's longstanding favorite DC fast charge format is dead. Instead, we now have NACS, which means that you can plug your New Leaf into any Tesla Supercharging station, up to 150 kilowatts of charge speed. That's a really big deal, but what is also a big deal is the Leaf's second charge port located on the opposite side of the NSES port. That is the familiar and also widely used J1772 port that'll let you plug in everywhere else. Not having to rely on one type of charger or having to lug around a bulky charge adapter is lovely and should make the 2026 Leaf one of the least stressful EVs to own and operate. Well, anyways, you're gonna be charging less than before, given the New Leaf maxes out at a pretty solid 303 miles of range. That is of course for an optimally outfitted S Plus trim, with the heavier and more complex SVN Platinum offering 288 miles and 256 miles respectively. All Leafs, save the base S trim, drink from a 75 kilowatt hour battery, up from the base trim's 53 kilowatt hour pack. With only a single motor powering the front wheels, this is not your next hot rod, dual motor, electric stoplight smoker, but power is a decent 214 horsepower and 262 pounds feet of torque. Now, Nissan isn't talking about how this translates to performance, but we can talk about the new, well, everything else inside and out. And we'll start with the out, the biggest news here being, well, now it's a crossover and I think that's a good thing. Well, mostly a crossover. I think this is definitely one of those more sleek, you know, sedanish, kind of fast backy, lift backy things, as you can see here from the rear deck lid area. You know, overall I think this change was definitely a good one. See, crossover cell hatches, well, they don't, well, at least not in real numbers. I'm happy to report that the interior is significantly improved over on both previous generations of the Nissan Leaf. But I do hope that you like modernism. I only say that because this is exactly as anodyne and screen heavy as you'd expect a mass market EV to be in 2026. That being said, there are more physical controls on the center console than I expected, given that this does take much of its inspiration from the Nissan Ariya EV as well. And that includes a haptic touch panel here on the center console for climate control functions, and while there are quite a few embedded controls in the center display. Yeah, these are some big screens, huh? Yeah, that is a set of twin 14.3 inch displays that starts standard with the mid grade SV Plus trim. But below that, you're gonna get a set of standard 12.3 inch screens. And at least on this loaded platinum trim, materials and presentation is definitely elevated a bit beyond what you might expect. I really like the textile-esque accents here and there, and the frosted texture present on some of these dash controls. Now, we're not quite yet privy to the Leaf's nitty gritty, you know, trims, options and features, but check this out. Oh, heck yeah. The Leaf has Nissan's first electro chromatic dimming panoramic roof. That's pretty cool. Sometimes a radical departure is just the thing needed to shake a slump, and I gotta say, I think the 2026 Nissan Leaf is one heck of a third act. Now I say think because I dunno how it drives, we don't know how much it costs, and we don't know about availability beyond sometime later this fall. Now, we are gonna learn more all about that, all those topics later this year. I'm gonna keep an ear to the ground, and when we do know more, you can read all about it at cars.com/news.