Can a Nissan Leaf tow a caravan?
By
Elaine Knight
In this article, we will answer the following question: Can a Nissan Leaf tow a caravan? We will discuss the new Nissan Leaf features and specifics and its behaviour on long roads and trips.
Can a Nissan Leaf tow a caravan?
You can tow a braked caravan with a Nissan Leaf as long as you don’t exceed the maximum 1500 lbs (680 kgs) towing capacity of the car. The 1500 pounds include the trailer weight with everything on it.
Nissan Leaf Specs
| Acceleration 0 – 100 km/h | 7.9 sec |
| Top speed | 144 km/h |
| Electric Range | 220 km |
| Total Power | 110 kW (150 PS) |
| Total Torque | 320 Nm |
| Drive | Front |
| Weight Unladen | 1580 kg |
| Gross Vehicle Weight (GVWR) | 1995 kg |
| Max. Payload | 490 kg |
| Cargo Volume | 435 L |
| Cargo Volume Max | 1176 L |
| Towing Weight Unbraked | 0 kg |
| Vertical Load Max | No data |
The first Nissan Leaf was launched in 2010, the smallest battery had 24 kWh and offered 117 KM of autonomy. Nissan continued to improve the car and in 2016 the version with a 30 kWh battery could reach up to 172 KM.
Although the data is not impressive, Nissan Leaf has become the best-selling electric car in the world, reaching 300,000 units delivered. Nearly 200,000 of them arrived in the United States or Japan.
Eight years later Nissan launched the second version of Leaf, a completely redesigned and redesigned, which no longer resembles the old model.
Nissan Leaf: Features and specifications
Specifications. Nissan Leaf comes with a single-engine and a single battery variant: 40 kWh and a 150 hp engine. The declared real autonomy is somewhere around 300 km.
Endowments. The Leaf comes in three equipment variants: Acenta, N-Connecta and Tekna, as we are already used to with Nissan models. There are no major differences between the equipment options, but the prices are not much higher as the equipment level increases. The accent starts at $35100 and Tekna reaches $38900.From the $3800 you receive the following, compared to N-Connecta:
- Cream or black leather upholstery
- Boxing BOSE premium
- Automatic intelligent parking.
- Adaptive autopilot – knows how to maintain the lane and automatic start/stop in traffic
- Heated steering wheel
- Heated front and rear seats
- LED headlights
- Navigation with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay
Nissan Leaf: Interior and exterior appearance
Exterior. The Nissan Leaf is a beautiful car. But, the most important thing is that it looks like a normal car. Until recently, the trend was for electric cars to either look dubious, maybe too futuristic, but not necessarily beautiful, or to be a modified version of a fossil fuel model. At Nissan Leaf, this does not happen. Leaf looks completely different from any other car in the Nissan range and, on top of that, it also looks good.
90% of the interior is new, but some elements from the Nissan group have been preserved and borrowed. However, Leaf looks premium almost everywhere you look. I would have liked the dashboard to be a full display, without the analogue clock, but even so, it doesn’t look bad at all. Navigation is one I’ve seen on Nissan before, only this time it knows Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, two super useful tools.
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Nissan Leaf: Comfort and daily use
Nissan Leaf, in size, is somewhere above a Renault Megane. The interior space is generous, this time in the back and the trunk is quite large. Basically, it’s a car that can be easily used by a family with a child – even with luggage!
The car is very easy to drive, it is extremely quiet, much better soundproof than Renault Zoe – who is also very quiet. The gearbox is very cool, it’s what we should see on all cars that are not with a manual gearbox.
When used in the city, you have a few things that help you increase your comfort. One of these is the e-Pedal function. What is she doing? It helps you drive a car with only one pedal, the accelerator.
The moment you lift your foot off the accelerator pedal the car starts to slow down quite strongly. If you raise your foot suddenly it slows down, if you lift it slightly it slows down.
It is a very useful function if you like to anticipate traffic, you will practically not have to press the brake pedal at all. But if something takes you by surprise you will have to press the brake pedal. If you don’t get it, the automatic emergency braking will do it anyway.
Also in the city, you can use the automatic parking function – ProPilot Park. It works well if you learn with it, but you have to be a driver who parks very hard to deserve it because otherwise you will definitely be cursed in traffic. Automatic parking takes about 1-2 minutes, during which time you probably would have parked yourself 2-3 times already.
On the long road. It is a pleasure to drive the Leaf on the long road. It’s not tiring at all, because it’s quiet in the car, and the intelligent Cruise Control is very loud.
Once activated, it knows how to maintain the lane to maintain the speed of the one in front and to go back to the set speed as soon as the road is cleared. It’s not something you can’t find on other cars, but it was a function I really liked.
Things happen like this: at first, the car beeps twice and the steering wheel vibrates, if you don’t put your hands on it will beep a few more times, then it will brake twice, to shake you in case you fall asleep. If you don’t get behind the wheel even then, the car slows down automatically, starts the damage and stops completely. Unfortunately, not on the side of the road, but it’s still ok.
And because we are still on the long road chapter, I must tell you that the car is unexpectedly fast!
Nissan Leaf makes 0-100 Km / h in 7.9 seconds, a time close to a Megane GT, for example. The maximum (limited) speed is 150 Km / h, but it can be reached quite quickly and is funny. It’s just that all these accelerations and jolts will seriously damage the autonomy and, probably, if you go only with 150 Km / h you will not do more than 100 Km until you have to load.
Prices and final conclusion
Finally, I can tell you that the Nissan Leaf is an almost perfect electric car. A battery of at least 60 kWh would make it perfect, even at the expense of a slightly higher price. Thus, with 300 km autonomy – if you go elegantly and carefully, the Leaf cannot be used to its full capacity. Because, as I told you, it’s a roomy hatchback that could easily be a holiday car for the whole family.
Obviously, even with this autonomy, you can make trips, but the road will be much longer and must be planned much more rigorously. And if you want to tow a caravan, choose the lighter and smaller campers. Click here for a few suggestions.
FAQ on Can a Nissan Leaf tow a caravan?
Can a Nissan Leaf tow a small trailer?
Yes, a Nissan Leaf can tow a small trailer. Nissan Leaf’s towing capacity is rated at 1500 pounds (or 680kgs).
Is there an electric car that can tow a caravan?
Electric cars such as Nissan Leaf, Tesla Model X or Tesla Model 3 have a somewhat decent towing capacity and could thus tow a small to a medium-sized caravan. However, when it comes to towing a vehicle, a plug-in-hybrid such as the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV, Volvo XC90 T8, Volvo XC60 T8 and Audi Q7 e-Tron do a great job.
Can a Tesla Model 3 tow a caravan?
Yes, a Tesla Model 3 can tow a small caravan. The car’s towing capacity is rated at 910kgs.
References
- Towing Small Heavy Trailer with a Nissan Leaf and Class I Hitch
- Towing with electric cars – Practical Caravan
- 2013-2021 Nissan LEAF EcoHitch
