Time travelling in the new Nissan Leaf | Editor’s Choice November 2025

A few weeks ago, I was invited to Copenhagen to drive an electric car. The trip itself was nothing unusual, but the car was especially significant and the timing couldn’t have been better. Just as the leaves began to fall from the trees, I was en route to drive the all-new Nissan Leaf, the successor to the icon which brought electric cars to the masses. The event started with presentations from Nissan and an evening’s hospitality before the test drives the following day. At some point during dinner the conversation turned to one of my favourite films, Back to the Future. This got me wondering what we would have made of today’s Nissan Leaf if we’d seen it 30 years ago.
As a child of the 1990s my memories of the era are patchy, but I do remember there was a fascination with the future. We were on the cusp of the new millennium and TV programmes like Tomorrow’s World regularly showcased the latest innovations – many of which were car related. There were features on sat-navs, self-driving vehicles and of course battery-powered cars. It all seemed as far-fetched as a flying DeLorean. Yet, by the time Nissan Leaf arrived in the UK in 2011, things had changed.

The original Leaf arrived just ahead of Renault’s closely related Zoe (a car I would later go on to own personally). The Leaf offered a truly viable way of going electric with its attainable price and official range of around 100 miles. It may have had some unusual styling, but unlike early EV prototypes it looked like a proper car – because it was one. Over time its batteries got larger, real-world range increased and Nissan started using the Leaf to develop autonomous driving technology. All of which had still seemed like science fiction only a decade or so before.
Nissan had laid the foundations for the electric revolution, helping to establish both the new and used electric car market. Today the original Leaf is one of the cheapest EVs you’ll find on Autotrader. Admittedly the range will be a limitation for many, but the first-generation model is still a great option if you’re looking for a runaround to do commutes or school runs. However, since it launched newcomers like Tesla have changed the landscape entirely. So, you can see why on a sunny morning in Denmark I was intrigued to get behind the wheel of a thoroughly transformed Leaf in lovely ‘Luminous Teal’ blue. You can find out what it was like here.

The big question, though, is what would I have made of the new Leaf as a six-year-old in the ‘90s? It’s worlds away from the boxy Volvo 940 estate my Mum drove back in the day. I don’t think I would have be-Leaf-ed that one day you’d be able to play computer games on a car’s in-built screen. Neither would I have considered that Volvo would stop selling large estate cars, though, so what did I know. Ultimately, I’m sure the Leaf would have blown my mind and looking through the eyes of my younger self is a lesson in how far we’ve come.