Electric sports car roars into Japanese market

California-based electric sports car manufacturer Tesla has roared into the Japanese market with the opening of its first dealership in Asia.

The company's showroom is in the swish Minami-Aoyama district of Tokyo and opened earlier on November 12. And there has been a high level of interest in the first week of business, according to the company. And that is even more impressive given the number of high-performance vehicles that Japanese companies produce. Thanks to Nissan and Mitsubishi, Japan is a global leader in electric vehicles.

"There has been a lot of interest since our grand opening and we even sold several vehicles at the opening party," said Shin Io, sales manager for Tesla Japan.

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Troy Wolverton test-drives the all-electric Nissan Leaf and plug-in Chevy Volt

Who knew that electric cars could be fun to drive and practical at the same time?

Those were my impressions last week after test-driving the all-electric Nissan Leaf and the plug-in Chevrolet Volt, two new cars that will reach showroom floors later this year. The Leaf was zippy, spacious and fun. The Volt felt like a standard family car updated for the 21st century with high-tech features you can control through a smartphone.

I liked them both but for different reasons, and would consider buying either of them if I were in the market for a car.

The Volt and the Leaf represent the vanguard of a new generation of electric cars, but each has its own take on what that means.

The Leaf is all-electric, which means you never have to worry about burning gasoline or having to deal with the maintenance issues of a combustion engine, such as changing the oil or replacing the spark plugs or timing belts. The trade off is that it has a range of only 100 miles — less if you drive fast or run the heater or air conditioner, both of which draw power from the battery.

And once you drain the battery, recharging it is not as easy and quick as filling up at a gas station. Instead, you'll typically have to wait eight to 20 hours for the batteries to recharge, depending on the type of outlet you use. (Recharging can be much quicker — as little as 30 minutes or so to get an 80 percent charge — at one of the relatively few fast-charging stations.)

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All-electric Nissan Leaf to "Whistle" While it Works to Alert Pedestrians

Leaf will get artificial "sound" sweeteners

On a number of occasions, DailyTech has discussed a concern that appears to be growing among advocates for blind pedestrians. With the rise of hybrid vehicles which run nearly silent at low speeds and fully-electric vehicles, many blind pedestrians are concerned that they won't be able to listen for typical audible cues present in modern internal combustion engines.

The NHTSA is already working on guidelinesthat would require hybrids and electric vehicles to produce sounds that can be heard by pedestrians at low speeds. However, Nissan it taking matters into its own hands with the upcoming Leaf electric vehicle.

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