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Nissan's Leaf is highly important, a true milestone in automotive history. Essentially, it's the first electric car from an established manufacturer that is seriously intended for imminent production. Yes, I know about General Motors' EV1, which was our 1997 Design of the Year. But you couldn't buy it. You could only lease it and, ultimately, had to give it back to be scrapped. Most of the electric cars I've seen in fifty years in the automobile business were funny little Renaults stuffed full of lead-acid golf-cart batteries, which transformed nimble four-door sedans into heavy, slow two-seat city cars. A few electric conversions are available now-Peugeots and Minis-but they're basically existing small cars that have been clumsily repurposed in half-hearted gestures toward being "green."inline_mediumwraptextright26339858/features/by_design/1002_2010_nissan_leaf_design_analysis1002_03_z+2010_nissan_leaf+front_three_quarter_view.jpgTrue