Page 43 - Motor Trend (April 2020)
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ChargePoint offers
noticeably cheaper
rates, but unfortunately
WORDS KIM REYNOLDS s
EV
this one was dead.
Lesson: First check your
app to ensure it works.
PHOTOS BRANDON LIM
And because they’re battery-electric ones, The Leaf returns, as well, now as the Plus retention of its once-fast, now-obsolete
they’re tightly interwoven with their SL, with a bigger battery and a critical 55-kW DC Level 3 peak charging rate.
respective fast charging infrastructures. 65-mile gain in range, bumping it up That’s molasses compared to the Model
At no time since the gas crisis of the to 215 miles. 3 Standard Range Plus’ peak of 170 kW at
early ’70s would people endure waiting But the Bolt—last round’s runner-up— Version 3 Superchargers (with a recent
hours to refuel their cars, so this Super- has been benched for the newer and over-the-air update), the Leaf Plus’ 100
charger saturation is now a troubling frankly more compelling Kia Niro Eco kW, and the Niro’s observed 77 kW. (I’ll
issue for Tesla’s bespoke system. If a Electric ($44,045 to start, with 239 miles show you how this impacts real-world
Model 3 is your only car, are you willing to of range) despite the Chevy’s improved recharging on the go later on.)
put up with this possibility on your next info screen and a battery update of its Our biggest struggle last time was
holiday road trip? own that adds 21 miles. vexing over whether the Model 3 could
I see the cartoon balloon question conceivably win, given its big-battery
marks popping up over your attentive version’s ridiculous $22,585 price
Two years ago, we assembled a trio very heads: Why keep the Leaf Plus with its premium over the Leaf; it was a merely
much like this, featuring 2017’s most still-iffy 215 miles and add the Kia but absurd $16,595 more than the Bolt.
incandescent electrics: Tesla’s then- disinvite the newly 259-mile Bolt? Since then, Tesla has released a magic
brand-new Model 3, Nissan’s second-gen The Niro has been waved forward trapdoor beneath its early price penalty,
Leaf, and that year’s reigning Car of the in part due to our already exhaustive with this Model 3 (still with good range
Year, Chevrolet’s Bolt. As we flip forward exposure to the Chevy—and how quickly and quick performance) now actually
25 calendar pages, our lineup has evolved it’s being engulfed by the shadow of Ford’s cheaper than its two contemporaries.
a bit: The Model 3 is back but in its looming Mach-E, the presumptive best
cheaper (more mainstream) $40,690, of the Detroit electrics. But also—and Kia Niro Eco $47,405
Electric
250-mile Standard Range Plus version. critical in this setting—there’s the Bolt’s
APRIL 2020 MOTORTREND.COM 43
