NissanConnect EV (2017) - Review 2022

For electric vehicles (EV) owners, connecting your auto to the cloud is practically essential, as it helps yous manage crucial features and track downwardly your adjacent charging station. The 2022 Nissan Leaf is covered by the NissanConnect in-dash infotainment interface, as well as a separate NissanConnect EV app and web portal. For Leaf owners, this creates a wealth of features on the EV side, though not quite as much when it comes to in-motorcar content. Luckily, the various interfaces are relatively straightforward and like shooting fish in a barrel to utilize, and the connectivity makes for a improve experience overall.

Multiple Screens

Nextcar Bug art Nissan has created several paths to the Foliage'southward connectivity features via multiple screens. In the 2022 Leaf SL we tested, the main point of contact is the car's 7-inch bear upon screen.

To the left side of the affect screen are physical buttons for AM/FM radio, satellite, CD/aux, volume, and power. On the right are buttons for map/voice, carte, status, tune/seek, and zero emission (which we'll explain in a fleck). Below the screen are buttons for Day/Dark mode, the camera, and to open up/tilt the screen for access to the CD slot behind information technology. Along the bottom of the screen itself are tabs for audio, phone, info, main menu, map, navigation, and settings.

We found it very easy to move around in the interface, every bit the combination of bear upon icons and concrete buttons makes operation intuitive. Chief menu items can also be rearranged so that the ones you use most frequently are on the kickoff page. That said, we feel that allowing only four items per page along makes for wasted space and some unnecessary scrolling.

Apps and Setup

The non-EV portion of the interface is similar to what we've seen in other Nissan vehicles, merely with one major exception. There'due south just one app, for Google local search, which uses data from a connected smartphone with the NissanConnect app installed. The organisation in the Foliage doesn't include apps for Facebook, iHeartRadio, Pandora, TripAdvisor, and Twitter like nosotros've seen in other Nissan vehicles like the Altima.

The setup procedure for the NissanConnect and NissanConnect EV apps (available for Android and iOS) required a call to client service to prove we were authorized to use the vehicle and enter its VIN. Depending on how you feel about security, this is either a necessary pace that will aid you sleep at night, or a needless hassle you don't run across with well-nigh other infotainment interfaces.

2017 Nissan Leaf SL Once we were registered to utilize all the continued features on the EV side, it opened a wide range of options. While in the car, a push of the aforementioned Zero Emission push button to the right of the touch screen brings upward an on-screen menu eight different options. These range from seeing how much energy the Foliage is using and its driving range (shown on a map), to setting up accuse times, location charging stations, and lots of other useful info.

Some of this same info is bachelor via the NissanConnect EV telephone app and spider web portal. Both the app and spider web portal allow remote access to info such every bit bombardment, accuse status, and activation of charging and climate controls. The app also adds a vehicle locator part and detailed info on distanced traveled, energy consumption, CO2 savings, and more, as you can encounter in the image to a higher place. If the Leaf if your commencement electric car (and fifty-fifty if it isn't), it'south a good way to get a handle on what the vehicle is capable of, and exactly how far yous tin can get earlier your adjacent charge.

Conclusions

Owning an electric vehicle is more complicated than owning a gas-powered machine, as charging, bombardment status, and range anxiety become a fact of daily life. While the NissanConnect EV interface in the Leaf is lite on cloud-connected features found in other vehicles—even other Nissans—the EV connectivity features and the car'south various interfaces make operating information technology much easier, peculiarly if it's your first fully electric vehicle.