The OG Nissan Leaf is now the cheapest EV you can rent in Malaysia but here’s why you shouldn’t

GoCar recently announced the addition of the first-generation Nissan Leaf electric car into its GoEV Share fleet. It is the third electric vehicle that the car-sharing and subscription platform has made available to customers after the second-generation Nissan Leaf and Ora Good Cat.

The first-generation Leaf can be rented at a rate of RM13.90 per hour which is the lowest hourly fee under GoCar’s car sharing service. It is the same fee that the company charges for Perodua Axia, Perodua Myvi, Proton Saga, and Proton Iriz.

As a comparison, the second-generation Leaf is priced at RM17.90 per hour while the Ora Good Cat commands a significantly higher rental fee of RM29.90 per hour. Of course, you can reduce the fee further by renting the EV for a longer period.

According to the GoCar app, renting the 1st gen Leaf for 24 hours would cost you RM99 which is equivalent to RM4.13 per hour. If you rent it for three days, the hourly rental fee would be much lower at just RM3.71 given that the total rental fee is RM267.

Be mindful of its short range and outdated charging ports

Officially available in Malaysia back in 2013, the first-generation Nissan Leaf was the second EV to be sold in our market after the Mitsubishi i-MiEV. With an OTR price of RM168,000, it came standard with a single electric motor that produce 80kW (108hp) and 280Nm of torque.

This EV can accelerate from 0 to 100km/h in 11.5 seconds while it also has a top speed of over 140km/h. Being the first-gen model, it gets a tiny 24kWh battery with a rated range of 195km based on a lenient NEDC cycle.

For charging, it takes four hours for a full charge via its onboard 6.6kW AC Charger which uses the Type 1 connector. It also supports DC fast charging which can do 0-80% charge in 30 minutes via CHAdeMO which isn’t widely available in Malaysia.

At the moment, GoEV’s first-generation Leaf can only be obtained at the GoCar Cuba-Beli showroom in Chow Kit, Kuala Lumpur. Judging from what we saw today, the unit that GoCar provided for its GoEV fleet is likely an ex-showroom unit as we can spot the word “Test Drive” within the sticker residue on its body.  

If that is the case, it is possible that the unit was thoroughly maintained by Nissan Malaysia and had a low mileage before it was passed to GoCar. Given its age though, it is safe to assume that the battery life of the already tiny battery pack might have somewhat deteriorated.

If you need to go on long journeys and require a charge in between, you should probably look for newer-generation EVs with bigger batteries and widely supported charging ports. As noted earlier, the Ora Good Cat is also available for rent through GoCar’s GoEV service and alternatively, you can also rent the BYD Atto 3 and Hyundai Kona Electric from Hertz Malaysia.