Nissan has just announced launch of its new electric car, Nissan Leaf with many new features. Electric Vehicles are not new to Nissan; they built their first EV, called the Tama in 1947 and then followed with the Prairie Joy in 1996 and the Altra in 1998. Nissan’s last effort was in 1999 with a fleet of Hyper minis, which were in service across several Japanese cities from 2001. Nissan’s idea of affordable means that the LEAF will cost no more than an equivalent size car, which is powered by an internal combustion engine.

With 80 Kilowatts of power and a not too shabby 280 Newton-metres of torque, the LEAF will be able to manage a top speed of 140km/h. Electric Vehicles have almost always been hamstrung by their real world range but the LEAF isn’t so bad with full charge cruising range of over 160 kilometres, which is more than enough for most daily driving commitments. The great news for drivers of the LEAF is that you may never need to visit a petrol station again. Just plug your car into a domestic 220~240V system and by morning your vehicle will be fully charged at a fraction of the cost of a petrol-powered car. No tailpipe, means zero emissions, and zero emissions means a cleaner world, especially if the LEAF is mass-produced on a global scale as Nissan expects it will be. Naturally, there are some emissions if the car is charged via electricity from coal fired sources, but if that charge is from Solar power cells mounted on your own roof, then you will have a 100 percent zero emissions car in your garage.