Soaring fuel prices mean increasing attention on all-electric cars, and the current – no pun intended – market leader is the Nissan Leaf, which in the UK has sold more than all its rivals put together.

Mind you, that isn’t many – about 500 in fact. But demand for the  Leaf is strong in America and Japan, and when the car starts to be built in the UK in 2013, volume will surge and the price will tumble. At the moment, a Leaf costs around £26,000 including a £5,000 Government subsidy.

The Leaf is well specified, with air-conditioning, sat-nav, power windows and mirrors, cruise control, parking camera, alloy wheels, and auto transmission among its features. It’s an attractively styled car too, without the quirky appearance of some of its rivals.

The Focus-size Leaf is easy to drive, smooth, effortlessly, with light steering and comfortable ride.  To get going, you just press the start button, shift the gear-lever to ‘drive’ release the electronic handbrake and press the accelerator.  It is not at all complex.

You do have to get used to its ultra-quiet progress – it emits a faint whistle -  and while there is not conventional engine noise,  you still get a certain amount of wind and type noise.

It offers 107 hp, top speed is 90mph, the 0-60 mph time 11.9 seconds – comparable to many conventional small cars.

However, looks, driving feel and equipment levels are not uppermost in the minds of most potential buyers. Their first concern is how far a fully charged battery will allow you to go, how long it takes to re-charge, and what is the cost.

The Leaf has a range of just over 100 miles, and a dashboard guage tells you how many miles you have left. When the power is used up, then the Leaf has to be recharged, and from a conventional domestic socket, that takes around 12 hours. And it needs to be on a different circuit from a washing machine or any other heavy-use appliance. There is a Nissan special-plug option costing almost £1,000 which you can have installed at home, and this cuts the re-charge time to 8 hours.

In London there are some ‘podpoint’ charging posts at various locations but outside the capital , as yet, charging points are rare.

From a domestic supply, re-charging costs around £2.50, and if you are on an Economy 7 Tariff, then about £1.50, so there are substantial savings over petrol or diesel. You also qualify for zero road tax, though insurance cost is high – group 22E. The Leaf is also exempt from Benefit-In-Kind Tax and the London Congestion charge.

The LEAF has a three-year/60,000-mile warranty and the battery pack, motor inverter, control module, AC/DC converter and charger have a five-year warranty.
Nissan say batteries should last at least 10 years in normal usage, but there could be a gradual loss of capacity depending on driving patterns.

The Leaf is  - at present anyway – not a car for everyone. If your lifestyle involves mainly local travel, or you live in London, then it is fine, but for longer distances, there are obvious drawbacks and more planning is required – primarily finding somewhere to re-charge at the other end.

That said, the Leaf offers very low-cost motoring and a boost for your green credentials.

FOR: First truly mainstream electric car

AGAINST: Price, range, charging time, charging points