New Nissan Leaf Electric Car

Japan's 3rd largest car-maker has unveiled its first zero-emission electric car, the Nissan Leaf.

The Leaf, an all-electric 5-door hatchback, will take 8 hours to charge and will have a range of 100 miles when fully charged. However with a "quick charger" Nissan say their new Leaf can reach 80% charge in just 30 minutes.

The Lithium-Ion batteries will be produced at Nissan UK's Sunderland plant which has recently received an investment of £200 million and is expected to create up to 350 new jobs.

As for pricing, Nissan have siad their new Leaf will be "competitively priced" and the running costs are expected to be lower than the equivalent costs were the car to have a conventional petrol engine.

Whilst Nissan's CEO, Carlos Ghosn, said the new Nissan Leaf would not be a niche-market vehicle, the limited 100 mile range on a full charge does limit the use of the vehicle; a trip from here in the south-east of England to see relatives in the north is out of the question, so fairly niche the new Leaf will have to bem although trips to work and back, shopping locally etc are all within the remit of this new all-electric car.