What's more, the initial interest has been driven largely by word-of-mouth and media buzz -- not by a focused marketing campaign. In fact, Nissan does not plan to start marketing the Leaf until September (the vehicle is expected in showrooms in select cities by December, and will be available nationwide by 2012).

From October through December, though, the Leaf will be available for test drives in cities across the country.

Given the lack of brand-driven interest -- though there's plenty of interest nonetheless -- in this EV it will be interesting to see if the first mass-produced electric to hit the showrooms will dominate the EV market in the way that the Prius dominated the then-nascent hybrid market. No one wants to be the equivalent of the Honda Insight in the new EV market, that's for sure.