The Nissan LEAF, one of the top-selling electric cars, will officially be sold in Ukraine starting this summer, Nissan Motor Ukraine announced on April 12.
The battery-powered car has been in Ukraine for about 10 years and is already the country’s “most popular electric vehicle,” said Volodymyr Ivanov, head of communications at Nissan Motor Ukraine. According to industry group UkrAutoprom, Nissan LEAFs accounted for close to a third of all electric vehicles registered in 2020.
Despite the demand, the Nissan LEAF has not officially entered the Ukrainian market because the company felt the level of charging infrastructure in the country was not sufficient, Ivanov said.
Today, most Nissan LEAFs in Ukraine were purchased from the gray market, according to Ivanov. He explained that “quite often,” they are damaged cars imported from Europe or the United States, which are then repaired by the gray dealers in Ukraine and sold at $12,000-$35,000 depending on the condition of the vehicle. The model starts at $32,400 in Poland.
Oftentimes, the gray dealers import the damaged Nissan LEAFs from other countries as “spare parts” to reduce the taxes they have to pay, Ivanov said.
Starting this summer, Ukrainian customers will be able to buy Nissan LEAFs from a reliable source that provides an official warranty for the vehicle and the battery, in addition to service and maintenance, he added.
Ivanov said that the prices, launch date and warranty period information will be revealed in less than three weeks on the company’s website.
The Nissan LEAF, introduced in 2010, was the first mass-market electric vehicle in the world and celebrated the 10th anniversary with over 500,000 units sold globally.
Ukraine’s electric car market has seen rapid growth in the past several years. During the last three years, the number of electric cars has quadrupled, from 5,600 to 27,300, according to UkrAutoprom. On average, Ukrainians are buying 7,200 electric cars every year.
A total of 7,455 new electric vehicles were registered in 2020, 1% less than in 2019. The most popular model was the Nissan LEAF, with 2,180 registrations.
A total of 660 electric vehicles were registered in the country in March, which is 61% more than the same month last year. The increase was mostly due to last year’s COVID-19 lockdown that put a pause on the registration process.
