More Nissan bashing from Top Gear - this time it's the Nissan Leaf electric car.

More Nissan bashing from Top Gear - this time it's the Nissan Leaf electric car.

Poor old Nissan, they can't seem to do a lot right in Top Gear's eyes can they?

First was the £6995 car that had optional electric windows… I remember when the Austin Ambassador's (a large family car of the early '80's) big selling point was front electric windows and (hand onto you hats) power steering! And all for the incredible price of £5,695 (if memory serves).

Then the other evening, they took the new Nissan Leaf - Nissans first all electric car - out for a spin with another electric car from Peugeot.

They ran out of juice - spent the day in Lincoln brass rubbing and begged borrowed or tried to steal from cafe's, boat moorings before ending up at Lincoln University.

I know, I know it's all in the name of entertainment but the trouble is many take Top Gear's word as gospel. Also, any owner of an electric vehicle will a) not be contemplating such long journeys and b) will be organised enough to have recharging points / stops worked out well in advance and plan the journey accordingly.

The 100 mile range would certainly do my weeks commuting on a single charge. £8 of electric for a weeks commuting - cheaper than the bus.

Of course, the cost of these electric vehicles is sell high - £25,000 after the covernments £5k electric vehicle subsidy.

The studio post-drive debate (banter) did draw some interesting ideas - James May wanted to turn the entire road network into a kind of dodgem ride with a wire mesh network for vehicles to draw power from.

In a crazy world, I think a better idea would be a remote spike you can lower down from the floor of the car, which locates in a slot on the main roads / motorways and a spring / chain running continuously in a channel in the road pulls you along.

When you reach the exit you require, you just pull up the spike and drive manually.

This sort of system would mean less accidents and less congestion hold ups and vehicles would always be evenly spaced and all doing the same speed.

What do you think?