THERE'S one instrument on the dash of Nissan's all-electric Leaf you'll be studying more than the speedo. It tells you when the battery juice runs out.

During 300 miles with the world's best selling electric car it came to dominate proceedings which, given my impressions of the Leaf, was a pity.

For it is a simple delight to drive. At walking pace the Leaf makes no noise at all, apart from a distant hum built in to warn pedestrians of your approach.

At speed, with road and wind doing their bit, it's as calm inside as a bigger, plusher, dearer executive express.

About the size of a Ford Focus, the Leaf has room for five and a decent boot. It rides well and pulls away from rest like a steam train making up time and, in the top trim tested here, is laden with goodies.

It will happily sit at 70mph on the motorway until the battery runs out and is a genuine delight to manoeuvre around a crowded town centre.

Without gears and a clutch pedal to worry about, and the smoothest accelerator pedal I can remember, there is no better way of going slowly.

Carefully placed cameras front and rear on this top model Leaf give you views of the kerb and let you creep up to parked cars with inches to spare.

The Leaf is now built at Nissan's Sunderland plant and has been gone through with a fine engineering toothcomb to make it more attractive to a potential buyer. A new pricing structure means there are also lots of ways of putting yourself in the driving seat.

With driving range the biggest worry, the latest Leafs have a more efficient electric motor and a heater (in the top two versions) that's much kinder to the battery. Firmer suspension is aimed at making the car more responsive without ruining the ride.

As to costs, you can buy the cheapest Visia version for £15,990 and lease the battery for £70 a month, if the annual mileage is less than 7,500. It costs more the further you travel, with a 15,000 miles a year car costing £109 monthly for the battery lease.

Or you can simply buy both car and battery, with the dearest combination (like the car I tried) retailing at £30,490.

Our government, anxious to promote electric cars, generously shaves £5,000 off the price of the Leaf and other all-electric machines.

If it still sounds an expensive way of travelling consider that a full charge is likely to cost around £2 on cheap electricity. That ought to get you around 90 miles, so running costs are tiny. No road tax or congestion charge either, of course.

But there's still that range anxiety. We set off for a shopping trip safe in the knowledge we could fast charge in 20 minutes at the distant Nissan dealer.

However the charger was bust and we wouldn't have made it home apart from a free boost at a motorway services. More of these rapid chargers are being installed but you'll still need a second, petrol or diesel powered car if you want total security on longish journeys.

Charging at home will take all night from a domestic plug. You can have a faster charge point installed free under a government scheme. Mine is a POD point and it sits neatly on an outside wall.

£25,490 (including £5,000 government grant)

109bhp electric motor driving front wheels via automatic gearbox

90mph

11.9 seconds

25

0g/km

0%

3yrs/60,000 miles