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"We recently spent some quality time\u2014three months\u2014with the Nissan Leaf, the first mass-produced battery-electric vehicle sold in the U.S. Although driven often, the car didn&amp;#039;t accumulate many miles. We put only 1366 miles on the $33,720 car for one simple reason\u2014it&amp;#039;s unable to make long trips. The new electron-propelled Nissan was great for short hops and errands, but even in temperate Southern California, the absolute best the Leaf could manage on a full charge was an indicated 113 miles. And with 110-volt home current, a recharge can take 15 hours. A dedicated 220-volt charger, such as the one at our office ($2528.92, installed), cuts the charge time of the Leaf&amp;#039;s lithium-ion batteries by more than half, but recharging time is still a big percentage of each day. Overnight obviously worked best.           That noted, the Leaf still impressed us. It&amp;#039;s not a tinny econobox like you might expect; it&amp;#039;s a substantial car that holds four adults in complete comfort, five in a pinch, with a decent amount of luggage space beneath the hatch. The suspension is comfortably sporty, and the accelerator sends power to the front wheels at a rate commensurate with its travel. The regenerative brakes, on the other hand, sometimes feel grabby at parking lot speeds.   In driving the car, Engineering Editor Dennis Simanaitis liked to exploit the torque of the Leaf&amp;#039;s 80-kW motor and beat his rivals across intersections, then settle into gentle adjustments of speed to maximize efficiency without impeding traffic in any way. (He also enjoyed accumulating digital &amp;quot;trees&amp;quot; as the car&amp;#039;s efficiency rewards.) In my week with the Leaf, I maximized efficiency as well and found myself increasingly aware of energy expenditure and regeneration. Even though I avoided using the range-enhancing Eco mode (it made the Leaf far too slow), I found myself coasting as much as possible when approaching red lights, and the moment I saw that using the a/c knocked 15 miles off the Leaf&amp;#039;s range, I began cracking open the right-front and left-rear windows to create a nice cooling draft. What&amp;#039;s more, I relished long downhill runs, where the Leaf&amp;#039;s excellent gauges let me see how effectively the regen &amp;quot;refilled&amp;quot; the batteries and extended range.           A few words about the Leaf&amp;#039;s economy. The EPA states that one gallon of gasoline is equivalent to 33.7 kWh of electrical energy. During our test, the Leaf, with its 24-kWh battery, had an average indicated range of 88 miles. Based on the actual 1366 miles we drove the car, and the indicated total miles made available via charging, we conservatively calculated that the Leaf achieved the electrical equivalent of 107 mpg, which is a bit better than the EPA combined rating of 99 mpge. Impressive.   Viewed one way, the Leaf can be likened to a super-efficient internal combustion car with a tiny gas tank (a bit less than a gallon) that can only slowly be refilled. Viewed our preferred way, the Leaf is a technically fascinating (and trouble-free) glimpse into an increasingly electric future, a car that&amp;#039;s remarkably easy to drive and shines as an extremely efficient commuter/runabout. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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