Could now be the time to go electric?

Julie Marshall is pleasantly surprised by the Nissan Leaf

It’s fair to say that I’ve not yet embraced the whole electric energy revolution as readily as some of my colleagues

The lack of a suitable infrastructure in the north is my main concern followed closely by the poor range of travel offered by the early models which gave me such anxiety that I didn’t enjoy the driving experience.

As new models are launched, the distance they can travel gets better and new charging stations are springing up at a rate of knots. There are nowhere near enough though and unless you have your own charging point at home, electric cars are still fraught with problems.

Now for this week’s road test, the Nissan Leaf..

I have to rely on a domestic charging point when my battery runs low and the time quoted on the sheet supplied with the car said that can take up to 32 hours, which you can appreciate is unrealistic

I was pleasantly surprised then to find a battery depleted to 30 per cent was back up to full strength after leaving it plugged in all night and into the following morning. That I could live with.

I love everything else about the Leaf. It’s good looking and the handling, acceleration and ride quality are superb.

The boot is deep and wide and can take a whole load of bags and the seats are comfortable. The 0-62mph benchmark is accomplished in a nifty 6.9 seconds, the efficient 62kwh motor powering the little car to a top speed of 98mph.

The CVT gearbox is one of the finest I’ve used and slides seamlessly between the gears.

A quoted 239-mile range is, I’d say, a little optimistic. Once you start with windscreen wipers, headlights, air conditioning and infotainment, the level of remaining charge goes down rather quicker than you’d like.

Our Tenka model came well specified with intelligent cruise control, auto wipers, blind spot warning and other driver safety features.

The rear view camera is clear and the audible reversing note helpful to warn pedestrians of your intentions.

The Leaf is linked to the Nissan Connect system which, among other things, can direct you to the nearest charging station.

Plug in your smartphone and you can use Android Auto and Apple Carplay apps which are displayed cleanly on the eight-inch touchscreen

With petrol and diesel prices going through the roof it might be a good idea to think about if an electric car would fit in with your lifestyle.

Of course, the initial outlay is quite high. Our test car started out at £32,445 and the added extras included in the package topped this up to £34,925. But even factoring this in and the cost of charging up the battery, if you regularly do a lot of miles the maths just might work out in your favour.

There’s a new Leaf on the way any time soon. The engines and transmission are the same, it’s just had a bit of a makeover with new colours and different wheels.

Leaf 2022 is available to order now priced from £26,995.