Yahoo Finance

• The new Nissan Leaf Plus will go on sale in early spring and will deliver an estimated 226 miles per charge of its lithium-ion battery.

• That's more than triple the range of the original Leaf.

• Nissan promised the updated car will also deliver better acceleration.

With a growing number of long-range battery-cars coming to market, Nissan's 7201.T-JP own electric vehicle, the Leaf, has been in danger of coming unplugged.

But the Japanese automaker is hoping to attract potential buyers with the launch of a new model that gives a 50 percent boost to both range and performance.

The new Nissan Leaf Plus will go on sale in early spring and will deliver an estimated 226 miles per charge of its lithium-ion battery. That's more than triple the range of the original Leaf which, when launched in 2010, was the world's first mainstream battery-electric vehicle, or BEV. The second-generation Leaf, launched two years ago, yielded 150 miles per charge. The latest model, which will be known as the Leaf e+ outside the U.S. and Canada, will now fall in line with a surge of long-range competitors, such as the Tesla TSLA Model S, Chevrolet GM Bolt EV and Hyundai 538-KR Kona EV.

"This deserves to be called a big bang," Denis LeVot, the CEO of Nissan North America, said during a conversation with CNBC following the debut of the 2020 Leaf Plus at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas Tuesday night.

A long with the boost in range, the updated battery car will also deliver better acceleration, Nissan promised. While it didn't offer specific performance figures, Japan's second-largest automaker said the updated hatchback's single electric motor will now punch out 217 horsepower, up from 147 when the second-generation Leaf launched, with torque climbing from 174 to 250 pound-feet.

The Leaf Plus relies on a 62 kilowatt-hour battery pack, about 50 percent bigger than the 2017 model and the mere 24 kWh pack in the original, 2010 Leaf. Like the earlier versions, however, the latest battery-electric vehicle will remain air-cooled, rather than the more advanced liquid cooling found in its key competitors. Nissan claims the approach requires few compromises but means a less complex — and thus less expensive — product.

The automaker won't release final pricing until the Leaf Plus goes on sale in early spring. But at a starting price of $29,990, the current model is one of the least expensive all-electric models on the market.

Since the debut of the original Leaf, Nissan has sold about 365,000 to customers around the world, LeVot pointed out, making it the best-selling BEV on the market. But it has been losing momentum as new competitors have come to market. The Tesla Model 3 is now the best-seller on a monthly basis and likely to pass Leaf's overall record this year if current demand holds, according to industry analysts.