By the LetsLease team
Almost everyone in Britain has a picture of a Nissan Leaf in their head, and it is now the wrong one. The Leaf is on its third generation, it reached showrooms in February 2026, and it is not a hatchback any more. It is a crossover, it charges on a different plug, and it goes 386 miles where the old one managed 239 at its very best.
That matters more than a normal model change, because the Leaf has been on sale in the UK since 2011 and there is fifteen years of advice about it online that no longer applies. Here is what has actually changed, and the one thing in the range that nearly every listing gets wrong.
The Short Version
It is a crossover now, built in Sunderland on the same underpinnings as the Nissan Ariya. Two batteries, 52kWh and 75kWh. Range runs from 260 to 386 miles.
It uses a CCS plug, not CHAdeMO. That single change makes it compatible with the mainstream UK rapid network, and makes every piece of pre-2026 advice about charging a Leaf obsolete.
And the thing to know before you order: the most expensive Leaf has the shortest range of the four 75kWh cars. The 386 mile figure belongs to the cheapest one.
What Has Actually Changed
Four things, and three of them are the complaints people had about the old car.
It is a different shape. The old Leaf was a family hatchback. This one is a crossover, on the CMF-EV platform the Ariya uses, which means a higher driving position, a longer wheelbase and a boot of 437 litres.
The plug changed, and this is the big one. Every previous Leaf used CHAdeMO for rapid charging, a connector that has been steadily disappearing from British charging sites as the network standardised on CCS. The new Leaf uses CCS. If you had written off a Leaf because of charging hassle, that specific objection has gone.
Range roughly doubled. From a best of 239 miles to up to 386.
And the battery is properly cooled. The old Leaf's lack of active battery cooling was its most criticised engineering decision, blamed for degradation and for slowing down on repeated rapid charges. The new platform addresses it.
The Range Table, and the Trap in It
| Version | Usable battery | WLTP range | Power | 0 to 62 | Max DC |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 52kWh Engage | 52.9kWh | 271 miles | 130kW | 8.4s | 105kW |
| 52kWh Advance | 52.9kWh | 260 miles | 130kW | 8.4s | 105kW |
| 75kWh Engage | 75.0kWh | 386 miles | 160kW | 7.8s | 150kW |
| 75kWh Engage+ | 75.0kWh | 374 miles | 160kW | 7.8s | 150kW |
| 75kWh Advance | 75.0kWh | 368 miles | 160kW | 7.8s | 150kW |
| 75kWh Evolve | 75.0kWh | 361 miles | 160kW | 7.8s | 150kW |
Read it from the bottom up. The range topping Evolve manages 361 miles. The entry level 75kWh Engage manages 386. You give away 25 miles as you climb the grades, because the extra equipment adds weight and the Evolve's 19 inch wheels cost efficiency against the Engage's 18s.
That is not unusual in itself. What is unusual is how the 386 mile figure gets advertised, which is against the Leaf as a whole rather than against the one version that achieves it. If range is the reason you are choosing this car, the cheapest 75kWh Leaf is the longest range Leaf, and nothing above it gets closer.
52kWh or 75kWh?
The honest answer is that the deciding factor is not range. 271 miles from the 52kWh car is more than enough for the overwhelming majority of journeys, and if you charge at home you will rarely notice the difference.
It is the charging speed. The 52kWh car peaks at 105kW on a rapid charger. The 75kWh car peaks at 150kW. On a long drive that difference compounds at every stop, and it matters considerably more over a year than the extra miles do.
So: if you rarely use public rapid chargers, the 52kWh is the better value of the two and we would not talk you out of it. If you do motorway miles regularly, the 75kWh earns its premium on charging speed alone. Both take up to 11kW on AC, which is faster than a domestic home charger can supply anyway, so home charging is identical between them.
Practicality and Towing
437 litres with the rear seats up and 1,052 litres with them folded, and the figure is the same with either battery because the pack sits beneath the floor rather than under the boot. That is a genuinely useful boot for this size of car and comfortably more than the old hatchback offered.
Towing is capped at 975kg braked. That covers a small trailer or a very light caravan and not a great deal more. If towing is a regular requirement rather than an occasional one, the Nissan X-Trail is the better Nissan to look at, though note that only its all wheel drive version tows properly. Always check against the vehicle's own plated weights.
The One Gap: There Is No Safety Rating
This is worth being straight about. The new Leaf does not currently have a Euro NCAP rating at all. It has not been tested. The only Leaf result on Euro NCAP's site is the five stars the previous generation hatchback earned in 2018, and that expired on 1 January 2025, so it cannot be applied to this car and nobody should quote it as though it could.
That is an absence of information rather than a bad result, and there is reasonable context: the Leaf shares its CMF-EV platform with the Ariya, which was tested and scored five stars, and it arrives with the current generation of driver assistance systems. But the Ariya's rating is the Ariya's. If a current, published five star rating is something you want to see before you sign, the Leaf cannot show you one today, and a car tested in the last couple of years has cleared a harder set of tests than most ratings you will be comparing against.
How It Compares
At this size and price the Leaf lands among a crowded set of electric crossovers. The Ford Capri and the Smart #1 are the closest on size and price, with the Kia EV3 and the Volkswagen ID.3 the other two most people cross shop. The Jeep Avenger and the Kia EV2 are worth a look if you want something smaller.
On the numbers the Leaf's case is the range, and it is a strong one: 386 miles is at the top of this class rather than in the middle of it. Its weaknesses are the missing safety rating and the modest towing limit. Being built in Sunderland is a point in its favour for some buyers and no doubt none at all for others.
One Thing to Watch on Quotes
Because the new Leaf arrived in stages, with the 75kWh car in February 2026 and the 52kWh in July, some listings still carry the old hatchback's data under the same model name. If a quote shows a range anywhere between 150 and 240 miles, or mentions CHAdeMO charging, it is describing the previous car. Match the battery size and the grade rather than the model name, and send anything that looks inconsistent to us and we will tell you which car it is.
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We are an independent, whole of market broker, so we can price every version of the new Leaf against each other and against its rivals, and tell you which grade actually goes furthest.
New Nissan Leaf FAQs
Up to 386 miles on the WLTP cycle, from the 75kWh Engage. The other 75kWh versions manage 374, 368 and 361 miles, and the 52kWh versions 271 and 260 miles. Real world range is lower, particularly in winter.
The 75kWh Engage, at 386 miles, which is the cheapest of the four 75kWh cars. Range falls as you climb the grades because of added weight and larger wheels, so the range topping Evolve manages 361 miles. The advertised 386 mile figure does not apply to the whole range.
No. The third generation Leaf, which reached UK showrooms in February 2026, is a crossover built on the CMF-EV platform the Nissan Ariya uses. The previous generation hatchback is out of production and no longer available new.
CCS. This is one of the most significant changes to the car. Every previous Leaf used CHAdeMO for rapid charging, a connector that has been disappearing from the UK network, so the switch to CCS makes the new Leaf compatible with mainstream rapid chargers.
The 75kWh version takes up to 150kW on a DC rapid charger and the 52kWh version up to 105kW. Both accept up to 11kW on AC, which is faster than a home charger can supply, so home charging speed is identical between them.
Choose on charging speed rather than range. 271 miles from the 52kWh car suits most people, but it peaks at 105kW on a rapid charger against the 75kWh car's 150kW. If you rarely rapid charge, the 52kWh is better value. If you do regular long trips, the 75kWh earns the difference.
437 litres with the rear seats up and 1,052 litres with them folded. The figure is the same with either battery, because the pack sits beneath the floor rather than under the boot.
Yes, up to 975kg braked, which covers a small trailer or a very light caravan. If you tow regularly, the Nissan X-Trail is a better option, though only its all wheel drive version has a useful towing capacity. Always check against the vehicle's own plated weights.
Not at present. The current Leaf has not been tested by Euro NCAP. The only Leaf result on record is the previous generation's five stars from 2018, and that rating expired on 1 January 2025, so it does not apply to this car.
In Sunderland, at Nissan's UK plant, alongside the Qashqai and the Juke, with the batteries produced nearby.
The 75kWh version has 160kW, around 218PS, and reaches 62mph in 7.8 seconds. The 52kWh version has 130kW, around 177PS, and takes 8.4 seconds. Some published figures are slightly quicker because they are measured in Sport mode.
The previous generation did not have active battery cooling, which was its most criticised engineering decision and was blamed for degradation and for slower repeat rapid charging. The new car's CMF-EV platform addresses this.