Yokohama, Japan - This teaser video for the upcoming second-generation Nissan Leaf focuses on an interesting facet of electric-car design.
You can’t do much about the car’s weight - batteries are heavy, that’s a fact of life - but the more aerodynamically efficient you can make it, the less energy it takes to move the car through the air - and the further you you can go on the same charge.
Nissan says the profile of the new Leaf was inspired by that of an aircraft wing; ride height has also been lowered to reduce lift and increase stability at high speeds.
More work on the suspension, to provide a plush ride despite the shorter travel enforced by reducing ride height, has the additional benefit, it says, of improving stability in strong crosswinds.
No details on the drivetrain of the new Leaf have been released yet; expect more teasers in the run-up to the car’s world premiere in the United States on the evening of 5 September - by which time, as Nissan points out with tongue firmly in cheek, it will already be 6 September in Japan.