Awhile back, we were lucky enough to get to drive around Nissan’s electric vehicle mule. It was still very much in the late testing stages, so the drivetrain was housed in the body of a Cube. Since then, we’ve been itching to find out what direction they’ll go design-wise, and now we have our answer:

They’re calling it the Nissan Leaf, and it’s actually very similar in appearance to a Mazda3 5-door, taking more of a wagon look than any other avant-garde green vehicle we’ve come across. The headlights are a little too amphibious for our liking, but overall this EV concept has really impressed us with its ability to blend the brand’s ‘look’ with something completely new.

The five-passenger, zero-emissions car will have many of the regular features available in Nissan vehicles, like airbags and a navigation system, and will have a top speed of 90 mph. That’s all fine and dandy, but Nissan’s biggest challenge will be convincing people to buy a car that has a range of just 100 miles with its lithium-ion battery. Unlike the much talked about Chevrolet Volt, it won’t have a back-up gas motor; it’s all electric.

The Leaf doesn’t have a release date yet.

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If you have questions, check out the Leaf’s new website where you can ask a ‘Nissan expert’ anything you like. Whether they answer you is another thing. [Source: Nissan]