Nissan claims electric car was not given fair chance by Top Gear

Nissan has slammed BBC show Top Gear for its unflattering and, it claims, 'unfair' review of its new electric car. The motor company insists its Nissan Leaf electric car was not given a fair chance in Sunday's episode, when it was shown breaking down after running out of juice in Lincolnshire. This left presenter Jeremy Clarkson 'stranded' and co-host James May having to get out and push.

Nissan has accused Top Gear of misleading viewers by deliberately running down the battery, and says a monitoring system installed on the car can prove it. The telematics device showed the battery was at 40 percent when Clarkson set off on his journey. But Nissan says the car was fully charged when it handed it to the BBC with enough power to go 100 miles and not the mere 30 it lasted.

Its executive vice-president, Andy Palmer, told the Times that it appeared the car had been driven in loops for more than 10 miles around Lincoln to flatten the battery.

But the BBC has denied that Sunday night's episode misled viewers. "The point of the film was to show how bad the charging infrastructure is in the UK. The car needed to run out of charge so that it could be demonstrated," a spokesperson told The Times.