While Tesla remains the EV manufacturer with the biggest magnet for headlines, Nissan silently forges ahead selling the world's most popular and inexpensive electric car, the Leaf. But don't chalk its relatively high sales numbers up to cutting-edge battery technology, because that's an area where the Leaf has traditionally lacked.

While the new Leaf Plus can claim 226 miles of EPA-rated range on a full battery, older Leaf models gained notoriety because their batteries would degrade so quickly that range, and in turn, resale value, would plummet by the time the EV found itself on the used car market. And then there was Rapidgate, a controversy surrounding the fact the Leaf's rapid charging capability only worked when the battery was cool and not after it had gotten hot during a long trip or during a previous rapid charge earlier in the day. Those problems stem mainly from the fact that the Leaf cools its battery using passive cooling techniques rather than more robust liquid cooling technology.