Test drive: Nissan Leaf

The world's first mass-produced electric car impresses, but until battery quality improves only city dwellers will be tempted, writes Richard Cree

The Nissan Leaf arrives in my street on a trailer, so as not to run down the battery, and sporting a sticker proclaiming it "Car of the Year 2011". It's a bold decision to hand the gong to an electric family saloon.

Electricity may have been the power source of choice in motoring's early years, but petrol took hold and the 20th century became one of fossil-fuel dependence, with plenty of roaring engines and brilliant cars. If cars in the last century made drivers smile, now they're making communities smile.

Until now most modern electric cars have been two-seaters, light enough to be propelled by batteries. With total power available, they've often boasted excellent acceleration. But that's about as far as driving benefits have gone. Nevertheless, support for electric cars is rising based on the assumption that costs of conventional fuel-financial, political and environmental-will spiral. Detractors point to many reasons not to go electric, including allegations about just how green electricity is, but there is a consensus that the future will, in part, be electric.

The Leaf is billed as the "world's first affordable, mass-production electric car". But the most impressive thing about the car is how unremarkable it is. There may be issues about charging and it may have a tiny boot, but it looks, feels and handles like any other family car. You climb in, put your foot on the brake, push a button and wait for the dashboard to light up and play a tune. Then you select if you want to go forward or reverse and off you go. To inject excitement, Nissan has made pushing the knob forwards to put the car in reverse, and vice versa.

The Leaf is eerily quiet. Apart from that it handles like other runarounds, including the bit when you're starting to have fun. Floor it round a bend and it suddenly feels a lot less secure. In the city, it does the job well.

There are plenty of clever microprocessors at work. The dashboard informs you of the distance you can drive before you need a charge, while the sat-nav selects a route that makes sure you pass a charging point before it's too late. It's also possible to use an iPad app to start charging it or set the climate control. Selecting eco mode takes what fun there is out of acceleration and uses regenerative braking technology to extend the range. You can even receive feedback as to how eco-friendly your driving is.

Using public charging points, the Leaf will reach 80 per cent of full charge in 30 minutes. At home, a full charge takes eight hours. And there's the rub. Unless batteries leap in quality to allow a decent range, electric cars will be for city dwellers. There was no way my local council would let me charge the car at home, leaving cables trailing over the pavement.

Until such batteries are available and the network of charging points is bigger, electric power will be best used in tandem with conventional motors as part of a hybrid engine. The Leaf may well be a Car of the Year-I'm just not convinced that should be 2011.