I'm pretty sure that everyone (well drivers anyway) are aware of our addiction to oil (especially foreign oil). Who am I to tell someone what to do? Instead of shoving buy electric campaigns down your throat, just get a load of this. Nissan is slated to release the world's first affordable 100% electric, emission free mid-size vehicle. The environmentally friendly lean mean electric machine on wheels is called the Leaf. Unfortunately (for some anyway) the car will be arriving sometime this year (2010) in only 5/50 United States. These lucky 5 are California, Oregon, Tennessee, Arizona, and Washington.

There are definitely some perks to purchasing the car, aside from not spending money at the gas station. The United States government currently offers 7500 tax credit to those who own an electric car. Another added benefit is that there are typically no oil changes with electric cars. So if you're like me, saving about 30 bucks at the mechanic about every 3 months sounds nearly too good to be true. To fuel the Leaf it takes about 4 dollars at a commercial electric fueling station. Most Americans spend roughly 40 bucks at a time at the gas station. Just think about the savings there. My only concern with the Leaf, and other electric cars is about how much will it be to replace the battery. With hybrid vehicles such as the Toyota Prius, the replacement of the hybrid battery can run you well into the thousands. However, Nissan says this will be an affordable electric vehicle. By affordable to they mean the cost of ownership or the purchase price? Another concern I have about the Leaf is the size. It seems as if it would appeal to a European market more because it is hatchback, and "small" by American standards. It will be difficult for Americans to ween themselves off their gas guzzling SUVs.

Unfortunately, I still have some unanswered questions about the Leaf. I am EXTREMELY excited about a world famous automaker like Nissan initiating the going-green campaign, why couldn't it have been VW though, I just can't imagine life without my VW New Beetle.