Key facts:
Model tested: Nissan Leaf
Price: £23,995
Tested: October 2010
Road tester: Martin Gurdon

The Nissan Leaf is a Volkswagen Golf-sized, electrically powered five-door hatchback. It's the first mass-market electric car you can buy and Nissan plans to start selling it in Britain early next year.

The Leaf is a conventional four-seater hatchback, with folding rear seats that's capable of accommodating a normal family.

To say the Leaf drives like a petrol or diesel automatic is a compliment. Other than the lack of noise and the smooth, turbine-like acceleration it feels familiar. Press the Start button and the dash lights up like a Christmas tree, select drive and squeeze the accelerator to make it go and slow it down with the brake pedal. That's it.

There are two drive modes, Normal and Eco; the Leaf goes well in both but it's notably sprightlier in Normal mode. The Leaf provides instant, strong acceleration and it decelerates smoothly and progressively.

Nissan claims an average range of around 100 miles. It can better this if driven gently, but sustained, high-speed motorway driving would cut the car's range in half.

Basically, the gentler you drive the Leaf, the further it will go. The more equipment you use (heater, lights, wipers, etc) the sooner it will stop.

Performance-wise, it gets to 62mph in 11.9 seconds - but feels quicker - and has a near-90mph top speed.

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Nissan claims the Leaf is designed as an electric vehicle from the ground up. The front wheels are driven by an electric motor, which sits where a conventional engine would normally live. Its 48 lithium-ion batteries, each the size of a laptop computer, live under the passenger compartment. Nissan claims this is accident-resistant, compact and gives the car a low centre of gravity.

Regenerative braking pumps power back into the batteries when you come to a stop and Nissan claims the Leaf will take an 80 per cent charge in 30 minutes if connected to a bespoke charger. It can also be juiced up from a conventional three-pin socket - but this takes seven to eight hours.

The car will be sold through selected dealers for just under £24,000, £5,000 of which will come from a government grant. Nissan will sell the car with a Personal Contract Purchase package, the details of which are still being worked out.

As a driving experience, the Leaf is very user-friendly, but given its pioneering technology and lack of charging infrastructure, owning one would present some challenges. Anyone without a garage might have issues recharging it without access to an on-street charger, and older properties might need modified electrics to cope with charging the car - this could cost up to £1,000.

There's a three-year, 62,000-mile warranty on the car and a five-year 62,000-mile warranty on its batteries, by which point it reckons they'll still be 80 per cent efficient.

The Leaf is practical, nice to drive, goes well and with features like sat-nav, a reversing camera and air conditioning, is decently equipped. It's very quiet, but it's easy to forget this is an electric vehicle.