SAN JOSE, Calif. -- The Nissan Leaf. It's blue and you can go from zero to around 40 miles an hour in a few seconds.
We got to drive a near-final prototype of the Nissan Leaf yesterday. The all-electric car will be released late next year. A final version of the Leaf was parked on Santana Road in San Jose (see picture). The test drive took place on the top floor of an empty parking garage. Why? The prototype isn't licensed for the streets.
Overall, it drove like a somewhat peppy mid-sized sedan, but with the benefits of regenerative braking, quick acceleration and almost none of the noise that you'd expect to find in an electric – think of a Honda Accord or Saab but with extras. Like the Tesla Roadster, the Leaf also has a somewhat clean cockpit. You control the transmission with a knob that looks and operates like a joystick.
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