Nissan Leaf Zero Emissions Electric Car

Top speed: around 90 mph 0-62 mph: 11.9 seconds; Emissions: zero;
Price: £23,990 (with Government grant)

Nissan's new Leaf, a five-seat Focus-size hatchback, will make sense for some people. If you spend your day pounding the motorways it isn't for you, but most people's average journey is quite short, and the Leaf's 100-mile range will be more than adequate for that.
There’s no extended-range-parallel-series-hybrid-fuel cell powertrain to explain. The Leaf has an electric motor up front and a battery under the cabin floor. For all that matters, it really is as simple as that.
It is powered by 48 laptop-sized lithium-ion batteries arranged low in the car to give it better balance and rigidity.
An overnight recharge using a domestic plug socket will cost about £2 but Nissan is building a network of fast-charge points which can deliver 80 per cent of full power in about 20 minutes.
If you need more detail, it is specifically an 80 kilowatt AC synchronous electric motor that pumps out 107 horsepower. That’s not at lot, but with 207 pound-feet of torque it’s enough to accelerate the 3,400-pounder as quickly as most economy cars
Regular use in extreme temperatures and frequent quick charges, which heat up the cells, will hasten the effect, but as hybrid owners have come to know, that’s part of the deal. An 8-year/100,000-mile warranty protects it against actual defects.
Using the heater, will reduce about 10 percent off of the projected range . More energy-efficient heated seats aren’t available, but should be coming to later editions.