Nissan Ariya electric SUV: specs, prices and on-sale date

Order books for the Nissan Ariya are now open, with prices for the new Audi Q4 e-tron, Tesla Model Y and Volkswagen ID.5 rival starting from £41,845. Four versions are available for UK buyers to pre-order and first deliveries are expected in summer 2022.

The entry-level Ariya Advance gets a 63kWh battery, which feeds a single electric motor making 214bhp and 300Nm of torque. It’ll do 0-62mph in 7.5 seconds, has a top speed of 99mph and offers up to 223 miles' range. 

Upgrade to the Ariya Evolve – which Nissan expects will be the biggest-selling model – and you get a larger 87kWh battery and 310 miles' range. It still has a single electric motor powering the front wheels, this time producing 239bhp and 300Nm of torque. In this version, 0-62mph takes a slightly longer 7.6 seconds due to the larger battery. Prices start from £51,090.

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Two dual-motor versions of the Ariya are also available, both of which get Nissan's 'e-4ORCE' four-wheel-drive system that can vary the amount of torque between the front and rear axles, and use individual wheel braking to improve agility and handling.

The Ariya e-4ORCE Evolve starts from £53,790, with the dual-motor setup producing a combined 304bhp and 600Nm of torque, which means 0-62mph takes 5.7 seconds and top speed is increased to 124mph. It has the larger 87kWh battery and promises up to 285 miles on a charge.

Meanwhile, the top-of-the-range Ariya e-4ORCE Performance costs £58,400, pumps out 389bhp and 600Nm of torque and can go from 0-62mph in 5.1 seconds – over a second faster than the Volkswagen ID.5 GTX. The downside of this performance is maximum range being slashed to 248 miles.

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Nissan Ariya charging and dimensions

The entry-level Advance features a 7.4kW on-board charger, while the 87kWh battery versions support 22kW three-phase charging as standard. In addition, the Ariya can recharge at up to 130kW from sufficiently fast public rapid-charging points. Notably, the Ariya has ditched the Nissan Leaf’s CHAdeMO charging connection in favour of the more popular European-style CCS system.

The Ariya sits on CMF-EV electric-car mechanical platform, which was developed by Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance and also underpins the Renault Megane E-TECH Electric – which we’ve driven in prototype form.

Measuring almost 4.6 metres from nose to tail, the Ariya is longer than the petrol-powered Nissan Qashqai, but shorter than the seven-seater Nissan X-Trail. Height-wise, it sits between the two, but is wider than both. The most important measurement is the 2.7-metre wheelbase; this means the Ariya should offer more space inside than its combustion-engined siblings, aided further by a completely flat floor.

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Design, interior and technology

Developing a design language first seen on the latest Nissan Juke, the Ariya gets a set of ultra-slim LED headlights flanking a blanked-out grille emblazoned with a redesigned Nissan badge. The sloping roofline ties in with the ‘coupe crossover’ theme, while the narrow rear window and full-width light bar are in-vogue features appearing on many new electric cars these days.

The cabin has been modelled around a “sleek cafe lounge” them, according to Nissan. The minimalist dashboard is almost completely devoid of buttons and features a pair of 12.3-inch displays – one central infotainment touchscreen and a digital driver’s display behind the steering wheel. The Ariya can also receive over-the-air (OTA) software updates, and features a virtual assistant activated by saying ‘Hello Nissan’ and ‘Hey Nissan’.

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All versions except the entry-level Advance get an electric panoramic sunroof and the Bose Tech Pack as standard, which includes a head-up display, 10-speaker sound system and ‘intelligent rear-view mirror’ that can show the feed from a rear-view camera. Elsewhere, the Ariya comes with either 19 or 20-inch wheels depending on variant, plus a choice of four upholstery and 10 paint options, including six two-tone colour schemes.

The Ariya is also expected to get an advanced version of Nissan’s ProPilot semi-autonomous drive system. The new setup uses navigation data to offer a “smoother ride during single-lane highway driving”. The system can adjust speed based on upcoming road conditions, as well as being able to slow the car for approaching corners.