More hard drive than car drive, the oddly named Nissan Leaf is like a laptop on wheels. Turn on the ‘ignition’ and instead of a vroom you get a Dell-like jingle. As the car has no gears, a centre console-mounted mouse takes the place of a conventional gear lever. On the go, a large flat screen emits brightly lit data that monitors energy usage and range – and at the vehicle’s heart, powering the whole shebang, is a state-of-the-art lithium-ion battery produced in association with the Japanese electronics giant NEC.

The car’s biggest drawback, however, comes when you try to charge up its electric engine. Test drivers report that its theoretical range of 160km plummets any time they aim for Schumacher speeds. The empty power pack takes eight hours to recharge and requires a garage – not practical if you live in an apartment block. But at least there’s an iPhone app to call you when the process is complete.

For all that, the Leaf is a significant breakthrough in technological terms. To date, rival vehicles have relied on massively heavy nickel batteries, giant versions of the AAAs you stick in your TV remote control. Take the ridiculously unwieldy Smart car – which in its pre-production form cornered like a toffee pudding on stilts – or the lease-only Mini E, complete with 300kg battery pack that wipes out the back seats and compromises the handling.

The Leaf is different, not because there’s no weight penalty from the comparatively light lithium batteries (the car still weighs 200kg more than a Ford Focus), but because it was designed as an electric vehicle from the first sketch. The batteries lie under the floor plan and the resulting weight distribution gives the vehicle an on-road poise. It’s a very grown-up car, plus it’s better looking than Toyota’s Prius and Nissan’s other ‘urban proof’ run-arounds (such as the Qashqai and the funky but slightly absurd Juke).

The Leaf’s interior exudes an airy brightness consistent with the promise of tomorrow’s world today. Reassuringly, it offers five seats and a large hatchback boot: just like the competition then, only without a combustion engine and exhaust. Instead of trying to look futuristic and weird, the Leaf appears demurely Japanese from the front and curvaceously muscular from the rear.

The driving experience is different from the norm but is simplicity itself: there’s the mouse, a stop pedal and a go pedal. Like a power tool, the engine can achieve maximum performance levels without having to warm up. The car goes really fast from a standing start, but higher velocities prove draining. That contrasts with a typical petrol engine and is, as Nissan concedes, not ideal for motorway drives.

As an urban commuting tool, the Leaf has the potential to appeal to millions. Nissan claims that 80% of motorists travel less than 140km a day and in today’s world of multi-car families it will find itself completely at home in the verdant suburbs its name evokes. It may cost more than the petrol-powered competition when it goes on sale early next year (€30–35,000, depending on local taxes), but factor in eco-tax breaks and the cost of electricity (typically less than a tenth of the petrol price) and over three to five years you may just be driving a bargain.