Nissan Leaf 2.0 is best selling electric car in Europe

It’s interesting. As the very happy owner of a used Nissan Leaf, I expected to see many more of them on the road once the longer range 2.0 model was revealed. After all, 150 miles of range (compared to 83 miles for my 2013 model) is a considerable improvement on what is already—for me—an extremely practical second car.

Yet since the reveal, I’ve seen precisely one of these cars out on the roads of North Carolina. And that’s compared to the several Tesla Model 3s and Chevy Bolts I see jetting around town.

My impressions would seem to be backed up by US sales data. Yet it’s important to note that the Leaf is very far from being a flop—it just might not be the right car for the American market, where longer distance travel is more commonplace. Indeed, we reported before that the Leaf 2.0 was selling like crazy in Europe, yet only modestly here in the US, and Electrek tells us that this trend continues—with Nissan reporting 18,000 deliveries and 37,000 orders between January and June.

That would, as Electrek notes, make it the best selling electric car in Europe. And puts it firmly in the category of “supply constrained” rather than “demand constrained”—meaning there are plenty of consumers wanting to purchase a model, if only they can get their hands on one.

I continue to believe that shorter range, lower priced electric cars make an awful lot of sense for many drivers. And European drivers would seem to agree. Even in America, I suspect that many of us would be surprised at just how practical 150 miles of range turns out to be. But given the dominance of the road trip as a cultural phenomenon, it might take a little more persuasion.