San Jose to Lake Tahoe in 2020 NISSAN LEAF

A very nice report of 2020 Nissan Leaf test drive by Gary Lieber of cleanfleetreport.com.

The outcome:This was a test drive for Nissan Leaf SL 2020. The goal of the trip to see how it performed through the urban and rural roads, fast interstates, and steep mountain and flat highways with strong head and tailwinds.

And the outcome:

In anyone’s BEV efficiency book, 4.3 miles/kWh is excellent efficiency. There are other BEVs that brag that they can achieve 4.5 miles/kWh on a flat road, but not many have shown that they can match the Leaf on a course like the one we undertook.The real-world range on the Leaf Plus far exceeds the car’s EPA ratings. As has been shown with other BEVs, the Leaf has much more range than its advertised rated range. The EPA range for this Leaf is 225 miles, but we could easily beat that by 44 miles. If we had been on a flat road course, the magic 300 miles to a charge might have been within reach

GARY LIEBER

Our Take:

This is a very detailed report. Gary explains updated to Leaf’s battery tech. He also details the trip route and drive efficiency. A fun read!

Checkout the trip report + route map