Vehicle manufacturer Nissan will start selling the new Nissan Leaf 2 electric vehicle (EV) in Japan on October 2 at the same price point as the original Leaf while offering a 40% increase in range and an improved driving experience. 

At this point Nissan is looking to introduce the Leaf 2 to the Southern African market in the last quarter of the 2018 calendar year, however, this has yet to be confirmed.

The new dynamically stylish 40 kWh Leaf, which comprises a 100 kW motor, offers a real alternative to a conventional car, said Nissan global EV division GM Hughes Desmarchelier at the launch of the Leaf 2 on Wednesday.

Compared with its predecessor's seven hours, it takes eight hours to charge the Leaf 2 battery, which has a greater range of 400 km, compared with the original Leaf's 280 km.

Nissan premiered the next-generation Leaf to the world in Makuhari, Japan.

"We are confident that we will at least double or even triple sales volumes in Japan," said Nissan senior Japanese marketing and sales division VP Asoko Hoshino.

Hoshino stated that Japan was the right market in which to start selling the 100% electric, zero-emmissions vehicle as Japanese customers are accepting of products encompassing new technologies, adding that customer response to such products, such as the Nissan Xtrail with forward emergency breaking and cross traffic alert, is very strong.

Japan boasts 7 200 EV quick charging stations and 28 000 charging points, and the country continued to grow the charging network in line with customer demand, said Hoshino.

With about 300 000 Leaf vehicles sold worldwide in 49 markets, the company claims 45-billion kilometres without critical battery incidents.

In South Africa, 96 Leaf vehicles have been sold since the car's launch onto the local market in 2013.

Nissan CEO and president Hiroto Saikawa said Nissan would start launching the Leaf 2 globally in the latter half of the year and a higher powered version in 2018.

From January 2018, the vehicle will be launched in the US, Canada and Europe, but the company was unable to discuss the release date for South Africa as of yet.

Nissan is aware of the need to develop the charging network in South Africa.

In August, Nissan South Africa introduced it's partnership with the city of Tshwane, in Gauteng, to encourage the development of charging stations throughout the municipality by adding ten zero-emissions vehicles to its fleet.

Considered an icon of the company's Intelligent Mobility philosophy, Nissan emphasises that the Leaf 2 is more than an EV, owing to the technologies the vehicle includes: an e-Pedal, ProPilot autonomous driving technology and ProPilot Park.

The e-Pedal covers 90% of a driver's driving needs, while autonomous driving "gives you time back", enthused Nissan global design senior VP Alfonso Albaisa.

Intelligent Technology is divided into three core areas: intelligent driving, intelligent power and intelligent integration, which looks at how drivers can power up their homes using power generated by a Leaf or disused batteries, as well as feed the national grid.

In line with intelligent integration, which has already been rolled out in Japan, in 2012, Nissan supports the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University's e-Mobility Technology Innovation Programme, uYilo. This involves the use of the Leaf in a field test programme to demonstrate and develop Nissan's charger technology in South Africa.

*Tracy Hancock attended the launch of the Leaf 2 in Japan as a guest of Nissan.