Future Classic Friday: Nissan LEAF

The Nissan LEAF is about to celebrate its 10^thanniversary, so its arguably a bit new for Honest John Classics.

Bus as game-changers go, Nissan’s first all-electric model has the credentials of a future classic written all over it. It was, arguably, the first EV to be fully usable, and while its successor is a significantly better, less weird and more practical car with double the electric range, the first LEAF was as mainstream as EVs got at the time of its launch. 

It had an all-electric range of about 80 miles, which meant it was limited to short to mid-distance drives, but within that it also had the capacity to keep up with traffic and handle like a normal car. Given this was just six years after the oddball G-Whizz was the only all-electric car on the market in the UK, it was progress.

It was progress that continued unabated, too, with the battery range increasing by 35% over its life as Lithium-ion technology evolved, making the range anxiety that had thus far stymied electric car sales less of a concern. With every mile of extended range in its cells, the LEAF appealed to more buyers. 

Of course, traditional petrolheads will hate the LEAF, as will spanner-wielders who like nothing more than tinkering with an internal combustion engine. 

But a line must be drawn somewhere and as cars evolve, so will nostalgia. In years to come, the pioneering electric cars will no doubt be remembered as iconic, thanks to the way in which they moved technology along. 

The car industry seems to have set its stall out in the field of electrification as our most likely source of future transport, and with it will come a wave of goodwill towards the cars that made that evolution happen, whether traditionalists like it or not. In years to come, when we have EVs with a range of 500 miles that need charging once a fortnight, it’ll be cars like the LEAF that made such progress possible in the first place.

And while we at HJ Classics love a big V8 as much as the next car enthusiast, we’re also fascinated by the machinations of the car industry itself. 

If EVs are the future they look likely to be, then the LEAF could well be remembered as a modern day Ford Model T. A primitive example of the technology ahead, but one that made it accessible to the masses… 

• Why classic electric vehicles will be the next big thing
• Read our Nissan Leaf review and buyer's guide
• Find a Nissan Leaf for sale