16 years old and already at the museum
The very first Nissan Leaf in Norway has arrived at the Technical Museum in Oslo.
16.10.2026 14:17
There is no doubt that the electric vehicle you see here has changed Norway.
Although Norway’s electric vehicle scene began early in the 1990s with models like Think and Buddy, things really started to pick up in 2010-2011.
That’s when Nissan introduced the Leaf, which offered both rear-wheel drive and a slightly greater range than Norway’s smaller electric vehicles.
This meant an electric car could suddenly function as a family vehicle, and the Leaf, along with Norway’s advantages for electric cars such as tax exemptions, free parking, and easy public transport access, played a crucial role in getting the ball rolling seriously in the country.
Still in production – and now in a museum
In total, over 700,000 units of the Leaf have been sold globally.
Approximately half of these were sold in Europe, and alone in Norway, there are now around 80,000 of them.
The fact that the Leaf made an electric car function like a regular car led to it also becoming Norway’s most common car for a time.
And by car, we mean regular cars, not just electric vehicles:
It was then pushed aside by a brand that also made a huge contribution to accelerating the electric vehicle revolution.
You’ve probably guessed which brand and model we’re referring to, but if you’re completely lost, we can say the model name starts (and ends) with Y:
Back to the Leaf unit now at the Technical Museum: This is said to be the very first unit registered in the country, and it has so far been kept by Nissan’s importer in Norway.
- We find it exciting that Norway’s first Nissan Leaf has made its way to our museum, says Dag K. Andreassen, chief curator at the Technical Museum, in a press release.
- We are proud that the Technical Museum will have Norway’s first Nissan Leaf in its extensive collection, and we value being an important part of Norway’s electric vehicle history, says Stian Thrane, communications manager at Nissan Norway.
The first model of the Leaf on display at the museum has a 24 kWt battery and an electric motor with 122 horsepower.
The official range at the time was 175 kilometers, and its price in Norway was 263,900 kroner.
Adjusted for today’s currency value, this amounts to a significantly higher cost than what you need to pay for the latest generation of the Leaf, which fortunately also has a much greater range.
That’s because several versions of the model have been released over the years, and the Leaf is still in production – although the latest version, launched last year, has little in common with the original model.
Other than being electric just like before and still capable of achieving good range...
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