The Nissan Leaf is already an excellent affordable EV. With a starting price of $29,990 before destination fees and up to 303 miles of range in that configuration, it was a good enough value to win our 2026 Breakthrough EV Of The Year award. But things were supposed to get even better this year, with the launch of a cheaper, smaller-battery version. That ain't happening.
When electric vehicles started becoming popular around a decade ago, much of the public charging infrastructure was free. They weren't especially fast chargers, sure, but they didn't cost anything to use. That was true in the United States as well as in Europe. Today, you have far more chargers available, but a much smaller proportion of them are free. In many European countries, they have mostly disappeared, but in the United Kingdom, you can still find them around, mainly in supermarket parking lots.
The 2027 Chevrolet Bolt is back after a two-year hiatus, with a familiarly affordable price tag and better specs than ever. What's great for EV buyersmaybe not as much for General Motorsis that Nissan had largely the same idea. The 2026 Leaf is back with a vengeance for the trusty EV's third generation. The two models are America's cheapest new EVs, starting price at right around $30,000.
