Driven: How Long Does It Take to Charge a 2023 Nissan Leaf?
The Nissan Leaf was a pioneer in the EV world when it came out over a decade ago. That’s right, it beat the almighty Tesla to market and has provided Americans with a sensible means of electrified transportation for years. That means there are no frills here, just charge the Leaf up and go about your day. In case you’re wondering, here is how long it takes to charge a Nissan Leaf with a public charger.
Charging a 2023 Nissan Leaf in the wild doesn’t take too long
When you think of charging up an electric vehicle, how long is “too long?” Two hours? One hour? In our experience with EVs thus far, anything that takes an hour (or less) to charge is fast. After all, this is a car that we’re talking about, not a cell phone.
Fortunately, anyone interested in a 2023 Nissan Leaf, like the SV Plus model that we recently tested, will be glad to know it only takes around an hour to charge it up. To clarify, we started charging the car when it was at 24% battery life, with 60 miles of range left, up to 95%.
It’s worth noting that with the battery almost completely charged, the readout showed that we had 241 miles, which is more than the estimated 212 miles of range that Nissan says it can get.
Additionally, the CHAdeMO fast charger that we hooked the car up to charge at a rate of 40 kW – which is lower than the 100kW fast charge rate that Nissan accounts for. At that rate, the automaker says it should take only 45 mins to charge the car up to 80%. In that case, spending an hour to charge from 24-95% isn’t bad.
As always, your mileage and charge times can vary depending on where you live.
The Nissan Leaf has enough power to get you where you need to go
When it comes to power, the 2023 Nissan Leaf has more than enough for daily commuting. Our top-trim test car came with the larger 160-kW motor, which produces 214 hp and 250 lb-ft of torque. With that rating, the Leaf is able to get up to 60 mph from a standstill in around 5.5 seconds.
In reality, that’s pretty quick, and there’s plenty of instantaneous torque to put a smile on your face when you mash the pedal. Of course, the Leaf isn’t Tesla Model 3 quick, which covers the same distance in 3.1 seconds, but it’s quick enough to get the car onto the freeway and pass slow cars easily.
Is the Nissan Leaf SV Plus worth the extra money?
For 2023, there are two different Nissan Leaf flavors – S and SV Plus. The difference between the two is the size of the electric motors and around $8,000. If you don’t want to have to worry about having enough electric range or power, we suggest going for the upgrade. It costs a good bit more, but the current potential federal tax credit that you may qualify for drops the price by $7,500 – which makes up for the cost differential.
Ultimately, it doesn’t take long to charge a 2023 Nissan Leaf SV Plus, provided you don’t mind waiting for an hour or so. It may not be as quick as a Tesla, but the Leaf is all you really need in an EV.
