Review of the new Nissan Leaf range

Plugging our cars into the mains electricity supply when we get home at night might currently seem about as natural as shovelling coal into them before setting off in the morning but all the signs are that's going to change. Hybrid cars were a first step in the direction of increased use of electricity to drive our vehicles and fully electric models look like being the next. Owning a car that will never go near a filling station forecourt except to use the jet wash or inflate its tyres might take some getting used to but Nissan is confident its Leaf can make the transition a painless one.

Is this the first viable electric car? Not by a long shot. Before the internal combustion engine really took off, electricity was one of the preferred means of powering early automobiles. Cars with electric motors were commonplace between the mid 19th and early 20th centuries and they've reared their heads again at various intervals over the years, usually prompted by oil price rises or concern over vehicle emissions levels.

Finally, it looks like the electric car may be about to have its day in the sun but British buyers needn't look to the overcast skies in despair: the Nissan Leaf we look at here isn't solar powered. It gets its energy by charging its batteries from a standard mains socket which brings environmental benefits that increase if the electricity used comes from clean sources. There are rival electric cars around but the Leaf was the first to be signed off for sale to a mass-market audience and it will be built in the UK by 2013.

".the Leaf may well succeed where other electric cars have failed"

Milk floats and golf carts are the representatives of the electric car breed that most people will have encountered but, thankfully, they aren't a good indicator of what the Leaf can do. It's motor delivers a maximum of 107bhp, enabling it to reach 60mph from a standing start in 11.5 seconds and surge on in eerie silence to a 90mph top speed. That modest top speed excepted, it's the kind of performance you might expect from a middling family hatchback with a 1.6-litre petrol engine.

High speed work isn't the forte of the Leaf though. It's designed for people who cover less than 70 or 80 miles a day, with a full charge giving it a maximum range of 100 miles. Long motorway journeys will be off the agenda unless owners make regular eight-hour coffee stops, as that's the time scale needed to replenish the batteries in full from a standard power supply.

The Leaf was created for short, urban journeys and should be well-suited to them. The nature of electric motors is that all of the engine's torque is available instantly and the Leaf will pull like a determined buffalo off the line as its 280Nm of muscle hits home. This strong acceleration won't last long as the motor's best work is all done by 20mph but it will be enough to make the Leaf feel nippy in stop/start urban driving. The electric powertrain, mated to its CVT automatic gearbox, is so smooth and silent that Nissan has fitted a speaker in the engine bay that produces a low whine at low speeds to give pedestrians a heads-up when the leaf is approaching.

Many of the electric cars that we're seen in recent times have been based on conventional platforms and this throws up problems in terms of packaging. The Leaf, on the other hand, was designed from the ground up as an electric car. There was no need to fit a bulky engine in the front so it has a stubby and sharply-angled nose that produces a smart wedge profile and aids the strong aerodynamic performance. Things get a little more bulbous around the rear of the Leaf but the 48-module lithium-ion battery isn't in the boot. It's actually housed under the vehicle's floor, helping create a low centre of gravity.

The looks might be unorthodox but the layout will be familiar to owners of conventional five-door hatchbacks. The car is 4,445mm long and 1,770mm wide, which is similar to something like a Ford Focus or Volkswagen Golf. There are four side doors with wide apertures and a tailgate that lifts to reveal a boot that's on the small side by family hatch standards but still usable.

The key factors that are going to attract customers in the Nissan Leaf's direction are its superior environmental performance and low costs. The upfront purchase price is in the region of £28,000, which is a lot of money for a family hatchback, electric or otherwise. Being a full-blown electric vehicle, however, the Leaf benefits from a UK government incentive through which 25% of the purchase price can be claimed back. This leaves the Leaf looking like an expensive but not unaffordable alternative to conventional cars of a similar size.

The Leaf is initially being built in Japan and the US but a production line is due to open at Nissan's Sunderland plant in the UK by 2013. Annual production capacity will be 50,000 units which indicates the kind of confidence Nissan has in its electric car concept. A separate lithium-ion battery plant is also being built in Sunderland that will begin manufacturing batteries for the Leaf and other vehicles by 2012.

For the target market of owners doing less than 80 miles a day, running a Leaf should be a breeze. It might take eight hours to charge the car fully from the mains but a specialist 50kw DC quick charger can replenish the battery up to 80% of capacity in just 30 minutes. As these cars catch on and the network of quick charging posts grows, so the Leaf and other electric vehicles will look more viable. The car's on-board computer can recommend public charging points in the area and will update in real time as more come on line.

The environmental performance of the Leaf boils down to where the energy used to charge it comes from which is a complex issue if you're charging from the national grid. There are no fuel costs but owners can expect to see their electricity bills rise if they're plugging the car in at home every night. What we know for sure is that the Leaf has zero exhaust emissions bringing significant tax advantages for private and business users.

It's also possible to reduce the car's energy consumption with an ECO mode. This boosts the regenerative braking system, which charges the battery with recovered kinetic energy, turns down the air-conditioning and reduces the throttle response to increase the car's range.

The electric car could be finally coming of age and Nissan looks intent on getting in on the ground floor. Its Leaf hatchback will go down as the first mainstream pure electric vehicle on sale to the mass market. The question is; will that turn out to be a claim to fame in the future or the tagline to an episode that the Japanese marque would rather forget?

With technology that appears to work within realistic parameters, impressive packaging and an affordable pricing structure, the Leaf may well succeed where other electric cars have failed. The trick is to offer negligible drawbacks compared to conventional vehicles, coupled with attractive cost savings and environmental benefits. With improvements in infrastructure, the Leaf should come very close to hitting those targets.