Nissan (NSANY) is making headlines this weekend with the unveiling of its version of the electric car, the LEAF.  They probably won’t win any awards for the name of the car which according the press release embodies the air cleaning, purity qualities of a leaf by removing the emissions portion of the driving experience.  Not the prettiest thing either.

Name and looks aside, the vehicle sounds impressive.  The zero emission vehicle (well.. not exactly zero if you factor in where that charge is generated) is capable of a range of 100 miles on a single charge of the lithium ion battery (30 min quick charge at 80% capacity or 8 hrs for full charge) and isn’t expected to cost too much more than a traditional gas powered car (which is great if they’re referring to a Ford, not so great if along the lines of a BMW)  No word yet on cost which is expected to be revealed next near, with a launch date to follow in late 2010.  The company plans to keep the initial cost down by leasing the battery to the customer and relying on government incentives, hoping that the cost is reduced significantly by the time the government pulls the plug on incentives.  On the performance side, the motor outputs at 80kW which is expected to put it inline with a traditional car.

Lots of hype and oohs and ahs so far.  Let’s just see what the cost is and the actual range once the reviews come out and the public has a chance to put this to work in real world driving.

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