Jeremy Clarkson and James May driving two new electric cars in 2011 shows just how much has changed in 14 years
Published on Dec 03, 2025 at 4:03 PM (UTC+4)
by Daisy Edwards
Last updated on Dec 03, 2025 at 4:03 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Emma Matthews
Back in 2011, Jeremy Clarkson and James May took two brand new electric cars on a Top Gear road trip to test what were new-fangled EVs at the time.
Their Nissan Leaf and Peugeot iOn struggled with small batteries, limited range, and almost no charging infrastructure.
Watching it back shows how early electric cars demanded patience from even the calmest drivers because the world wasn’t quite ready for them yet.
It also highlights how far the Nissan Leaf went from underdog to one of the most loved EVs on the road still to this day.
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Early electric car struggles for Jeremy Clarkson and James May
Back in 2011, the world of EVs was not as successful as it is now, and Top Gear‘s James May and Jeremy Clarkson decided to test some early versions of beloved models: the Nissan Leaf and Peugeot iOn.
The Nissan Leaf’s range dropped from 19 miles to seven in minutes as the pair tried to reach Lincoln.
Chargers were so rare that the GPS navigation pointed them towards stations more than 40 miles away.
When the battery died, Clarkson had to be pushed through town just to find a socket, and a full charge from a wall plug took a whopping 13 hours.
It showed how early EV ownership meant slow charging, high prices, and unpredictable range.
Even as the TV show played the failures for laughs, it captured a real snapshot of the time when public charging barely existed.
Batteries wore out faster than expected, and most journeys required advance planning that few drivers were willing to do.
The Leaf became a symbol of the early challenges electric cars had to work through.
The Nissan Leaf’s lasting legacy
Fourteen years later, the landscape looks completely different, and fast chargers are now found in supermarkets, service stations, and car parks, pretty much everywhere.
Modern EVs can regularly travel past 250 miles on a single charge and batteries last longer, and drivers can top up almost anywhere without thinking about it.
Through all of this change, the original Nissan Leaf remains one of the most trusty and beloved electric cars on the market.
Owners value its reliability, low running costs, and easy daily use, and it proved that EVs could fit into normal life long before the rest of the industry caught up.
Looking back at the 2011 episode shows how dramatic the progress has been, and why the Nissan Leaf still remains a beloved EV icon.
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Daisy Edwards is a Content Writer at supercarblondie.com. Daisy has more than five years’ experience as a qualified journalist, having graduated with a History and Journalism degree from Goldsmiths, University of London and a dissertation in vintage electric vehicles. Daisy specializes in writing about cars, EVs, tech and luxury lifestyle. When she's not writing, she's at a country music concert or working on one of her many unfinished craft projects.
