The second-generation Nissan Leaf has made its launch debut in Malaysia, several months after the electric vehicle was presented at last year’s Kuala Lumpur International Motor Show (KLIMS).
Arriving as a fully-imported (CBU) model from Japan, the Leaf doesn’t qualify for incentives under the current Energy Efficient Vehicle (EEV) scheme. However, it does get complete import tax exemption, and is only faced with 10% excise tax and SST, so the sole variant that is available to customers is priced at RM188,888 on-the-road without insurance.
Each purchase comes with a three-year/100,000 km warranty and three-year/60,000 km free service maintenance, while the car’s lithium-ion battery gets an eight-year/160,000 km warranty for peace of mind ownership.
If you want an alternative to the conventional method of buying a car, Edaran Tan Chong Motor (ETCM) is also offering a car subscription service for the Leaf, which costs RM3,500 a month for a three-year contract. At the end of the term, customers can choose to buy the car at current market value based on prior negotiations, or opt for a new Leaf altogether.
There’s also an owners privilege programme for Leaf adopters, where they will enjoy complimentary 23 days a year usage of the X-Trail, Serena and Navara for other travelling needs, during the first three years of ownership.
For the money, you’ll get a 40 kWh lithium-ion battery (ETCM is considering bringing in the 62 kWh version), which is a significant improvement from the 24 kWh unit fitted to the first-generation model launched way back in 2013. As such, the claimed operating range is 311 km based on the NEDC test cycle.
Recharging the 350-volt battery is done with a Type 1 port located at the car’s nose (or SAE J1772 if you want get technical about things) and the onboard AC charger that is rated at 6.6 kW. Every Leaf purchased comes as standard with a single-phase home wallbox charger that delivers 6.6 kW of single-phase AC charging power, and it will take approximately seven hours to fully charge the battery.
If you’re away from home, you can also drop by any of the 17 Nissan dealerships operated by ETCM for free usage of the same 6.6 kW wallbox. The company says it plans to install more chargers in other ETCM locations in the future. You can also plug the car to other public charging stations, but keep in mind you will need to use an adapter (not provided with the Leaf) if the stations feature a Type 2 connector. We’ve been told that Nissan is working on a Type 2 to Type 1 adapter, which will be sold as an accessory when it becomes available.
An even faster means of charging is DC charging, and the Leaf is capable of receiving up to 50 kW via a separate CHAdeMO port, which will fully charge the Leaf in about an hour. Several companies in Malaysia have already set up DC charging stations, including ABB Malaysia (Subang Jaya), Nichicon (Bandar Baru Bangi) and PLUS (Ayer Keroh R&R).
The battery pack itself is mounted underneath the vehicle floor, and supplies power to an EM57 electric motor that drives the front wheels. The mill puts out 150 PS (110 kW) and 320 Nm of torque, which results in a zero to 100 km/h time of 7.9 seconds and an electronically-limited top speed of 155 km/h.
Regenerative braking is present, and there are different modes to adjust the aggressiveness of the system, including D and B modes on the gear lever, along with an Eco mode. There’s also an e-Pedal function, which allows you to accelerate and fully decelerate using just one pedal.
Unlike the first-gen car, the new Leaf features a less divisive design that draws inspiration from the IDS Concept and fifth-generation March/Micra. At the front, you’ll find Nissan’s signature V-motion grille flanked by angular LED headlamps, giving the EV a rather aggressive face.
Down the sides, part of the C-pillars is blacked-out to create a “floating roof” look, a cue that is further perpetuated by a “kink” on them. For our market, the Leaf comes with 17-inch ‘Turbine’ wheels, wrapped with 215/50 profile tyres. Meanwhile at the rear, the “boomerang-shaped” taillights mimic the light signature of the daytime running lights up front, and they blend in neatly with the two-tone tailgate.
On that mention, the Leaf is available in six exterior finishes, including four single-tone and two dual-tone options. For the former, there’s Brilliant Silver, Super black, Gunmetal Grey and Deep Blue Pearl. Meanwhile, the first of the themed options sees a Pearl White body and Deep Blue Pearl roof, while the other matches a Magnetic Red body to roof painted Super Black.
Moving inside, the redesigned dashboard is now simpler in appearance, as the two-tier instrument cluster has been replaced with a single seven-inch, full-colour, customisable display instead. Elsewhere, all the air vents have been reshaped, with those in the centre now being much slimmer than in the past. These occupy a centre stack that also holds a five-inch touchscreen infotainment system that is paired with a four-speaker sound system.
In terms of interior equipment, you get automatic air-conditioning with a timer function, a multifunction steering wheel, keyless entry and start, as well as seats trimmed in leather/Alcantara. For the last item, two colours – Graphite Black and Stone Grey – are offered for all exterior finishes.
As for safety and driver assistance systems, the Leaf gets six airbags (front, side, curtain), Vehicle Dynamic Control (VDC), ABS, EBD, brake assist, Hill Start Assist, as well as several Nissan Intelligent Safety Shield systems. These include Forward Collision Warning (FCW) with Forward Emergency Braking (FEB), Around View Monitor (I-AVM) with Moving Object Detection (I-MOD), Driver Alertness (I-DA), Ride Control and Trace Control.
We’ve already had a go in the Leaf during our time in Hong Kong for the Nissan Futures event, if you want to know what the Nissan EV is like to drive. For detailed specifications of the Leaf, head over to CarBase.my.
Looking to sell your car? Sell it with Carro.
i love the leaf’s acceleration but hate the miserable top speed.
I am waiting for the game changing article “2019 Proton Iriz EV launched in Malaysia – from RM60k
Been wondering. What service maintainence involve in electric car?. No engine oil, no air filter,no gear oil, no spark plug. Or maybe just cabin filter.
1) brake fluid
2) brake pad
3) car battery
4) alignment and balancing
5) car aircon service
Better wait Rm115k Nissan Sentra 1.6t 188HP.
When?
If its from Tan Chong, expected; never.
(Like) Nissan Leaf
(Dislike) Hyundai Santa Fe
You are comparing 2 different things sohai….
Then nobody buy his used total dead battery car.Honda insight hybrid lost Rm35-50k after 5year,I saw broke guy bought this shit from used car at cheap price and driving without battery replacement just end up pay extra fuel because he use 100%petrol carry heavy dead battery under seat.
For this price, I rather get zero emission Nissan Leaf than Diesel Hyundai Santa Fe
As with organic food, going green is only for the rich.
Why it not qualify under EEV scheme?
No EV scheme from government?
Isn’t EEV for CKD cars only???
Gone liao. Thanks to PeroTiga Flying car project.
Tak boleh. Nanti Nobita minister complain Malaysia hilang RM4.89Billion+++ lagi sekali.
300km…very practical distance.
As I scroll down (and read) the article, I wonder
why must the interior look so small and so dull with such a small screen
and 2, Nissan just import more damn cars
Most Nissan&Subaru consumer move on to Toyota,Hyundai,Honda,service&spare part also choke customer like pay for luxury Germany brand.interior just worse than cheap Perodua car.
saw them shipping the truckloads on these last sunday
but 190k for this?
jezz
Cheaper than new Accord & Camry but size is one segment smaller. Versus a Rm110k Civic, that 79k price difference isn’t worth the EV power system and the 311km range just barely gets it over Causeway border before needing a long recharge. Better than the last gen car but still not a viable alternative to petrol cars.
Do you even read the article…
For long range trips, you can borrow other nissan models. And for everyday use, you can just charge everytime you got back from work and leave it until full for the next day. Some workplaces also got charging ports so you don’t worry about range.
Of course EVs are 1 segment more expensive, it’s a fairly new technology and it will get cheaper when everyone gets on board. But the maintenance cost will be cheaper since there are much less moving mechanical parts.
Subscribe/rent plan aka Rm3.5k/month to TCM only,aiyo bos2 got choose alphard/Camry/7series and never look into this crappy car for his rich butt,of course ‘just a bit rich’ people choose HP bank loan for fully ownership this car later.There’s no way Tan Chong reserved thousand free car because you pay only Rm188k.
Woi Tan Chong… Qashqai mana… When to bring in la dey… 10 years already still no Qashqai selling here
Tan Chong staff are sleeping mah!
Emmm… why should purchase this car for RM190K with 3 years warranty???
why bother buy this nissan at 190K, when you can buy two X70 at the same exact price?
If only it’s cheaper than the X-Trail… :(
Again Nissan did not listen to consumers and brought in a ill-equiped Nissan Leaf ( even the base model in UK – Acenta has larger 8 inch toughscreen) with a heafty price…. Too bad TCM, u again made the wrong sales decision….
No Pro-Pilot
No Around view monitor
Shame TCM
Look at the pictures lah, it is equipped with Around View Monitor.
No ProPilot is just a big L from Tan Chong at this price point. Will probably still replace the runaround 2012 Prius with this BUT no PP is making the decision less clear cut.
Leaf vs C-HR
RM188k vs RM150k
148HP vs 138HP
320Nm vs 171Nm
RM0 fuel cost vs RM33k fuel cost (10 years, 50km go to work, 50km go back home, weekend 100km, 7L/100km @ RM2.08/L)
Chg battery rm66k, u missing this important thing
and your electric bill
Leaf Vs chr price diff just cover fuel cost for 10:years as per your calculations…so both vehicles running costs similar.
Expensive AF!!
Mahal betoi.beli second hand jer
It’s not a terrible looking car, but for RM188k you do expect a nicer interior. Especially the media unit looks very dated.
The main problem IMHO, besides the not-really-ideal price, is that potential buyers living in condominiums will find locating a power point to charge the car in the carpark a rather difficult endeavour…but then, I suppose this applies to all EVs.
I’ve asked actual Proton ppl abt their EVs sometime ago. His comment was, they cannot build it at an acceptable Malaysian public punya price point. It would have to be priced higher that Malaysian can accept. Most already reluctant to buy Proton if its just cheaper by 10k or less than other brands.
That’s not even accounting for the haters of everything local yet.
So ni Protong EV unless probably if Geely has one for re-badging.
But Geely have so many pure electric car right.
If not, I think China also have so many electric cars. I think our government is the one that don’t want to sell electric, not proton.
You need big balls to buy this car
Really big balls. U basically need to use this vehicle until it’s 100% condemned before selling it to the scrap yard before purchasing your new vehicle. If you decide to change your mind after 1 year ownership you will be pratically giving this car away for free to the used car dealer.
Where is Perodua hybrid? Perodua shown us the Kenari Hybrid in 2003, claiming production was feasible. For 16 years, we are still waiting for a Perodua Hybrid.
everyone: we need updated almera, sylphy, etc.
Nissan: you want nissan leaf? I got you.
For that price you can buy Toyota Camry, over priced.
Poda loosu koo
The government is just killing any support for EV growth in Malaysia. I won’t be paying 189k for such a cheapo interior because let’s be honest here, the interior level is at the same level as a Honda City. For 189k I can get a new Camry or a the new Mazda 3 top spec with spare change and let’s just throw in a 2018 A200 demo model since we are comparing hatchbacks here.
The radio looks cheap…
at that price i rather buy newly launched mazda3 2.0 hatchback CBU from japan too ;)
Congrats to all malaysian….the car price nowdays are more “attractive” compare than last gov era….
hmmm, even Nissan Leaf just launch in Malaysia, Tan Chong are still sleeping
This car is for rich tree huggers. I like everything and anything that do not pollute, but simply cant afford this Leaf.
Hideous interior. Go look the aged VW vento.
dllm, 4 speaker sound system in a 188k car? Even an 80k Vios has 6….
How much does it cost to change the battery?