Blue Cars has rolled out a new motive-force battery module for Nissan Leaf, which is capable of boosting the cruising range of the electric car model by 45%.

Furnished with the new battery model, a 2016 Nissan Leaf electric car boasts a cruising range of 250 kilometers, compared with the original 172 kilometers (with a 30 kWh battery) and comparable to that of the 2019 Nissan Leaf.

The 2019 Nissan Leaf is furnished with a 40 kWh motive-force battery, with a cruising range of 240 kilometers, which is more than double that of the earlier models, such as the 117 kilometers of the 2011/2012 Nissan Leaf (with 24 kWh battery), but still a far cry from the electric cars of many other makers, according to the evaluation of the U.S.’s EPA.

Blue Cars, an electric-car dealer and rental firm in New Zealand, has developed the new battery module, taking advantage of the US$16,870 of subsidy from the Low Emission Vehicles Contestable Fund of New Zealand. The company has developed the new battery mainly for application in large numbers of the second-hand Nissan Leaf cars in New Zealand.