Will Electric Cars Work For The Everyday Driver?

First of a three-part series

I have never been into cars. I don't know an oil filter from an air filter. But my 15-year-old Honda is on its last legs, and recently I've been curious about alternative fuels.

The first mass-produced electric vehicles ever sold in the United States will begin to hit showrooms by the end of this year. The Nissan Leaf and the Chevy Volt already have tens of thousands of pre-orders.

Until now, electric cars had been the domain of small groups of tech hobbyists and hard-core environmentalists. With electric cars around the corner, my dream of green motoring suddenly seems possible. But how feasible are they for everyday drivers?

Driving A Leaf

I wanted to find out. So, I spent some time behind the wheel of a shiny new, powder blue, all-electric Nissan Leaf — an aerodynamic four-door hatchback with a range of 100 miles.

Paul Hawson, a spokesman for Nissan, joins me for a test drive outside the San Francisco Giants ballpark.

"You are going to want to turn on the car by stepping on the brake," Hawson says.

I'm surprised by how roomy it is inside. I'm almost 5-foot-10, and I often find that I'm not comfortable in small cars.

As Hawson launches into car salesmen speak, I search for the brake.

"This is the brake — the big one — and this is the gas pedal? Oh, you don't call it a gas pedal?" I ask Hawson.

"It's an accelerator pedal," he says with a laugh.

A Digital Dashboard

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