The very first Renault ZOE has been delivered to its new keeper. And fittingly the keys have been handed over to Arnaud Montebourg, France’s Industry Minister, who placed his order at the Paris Motor Show in September.

It has already been called the future of motor racing. The Nissan LEAF Nismo RC – all-electric, zero emission, all the performance.

Owners of the Nissan LEAF, invited to Japan to celebrate the second anniversary of the day the innovative car went on sale, experienced laps in the racing car at the GranDrive test track.

Visit Nissan's blog to read more about the LEAF Nismo RC

Nissan celebrated the electric vehicle’s second birthday in Japan with a gathering of more than 200 LEAF owners at GranDrive last weekend.

LEAF owner Masahiko Yoshida joined participants at the gathering, which also included EV enthusiasts from the U.S. and Europe.

“It’s going to be the first time I see so many LEAFs driving around the city at the same time,” said Yoshida en route to the event. “It’ll feel a little like a homecoming event, and I’m excited about that.”

Visit Nissan's blog to read more about this event

On the eve of the Nissan LEAF’s second birthday, some owners from overseas visited Japan to see the factories where the batteries and electric vehicles were produced.

Since December 2010, Nissan has delivered more than 18,000 LEAFs to U.S. customers and more than 46,000 worldwide, making it the most successful 100% electric vehicle in history.

Visit Nissan's blog to read these LEAF owners' comments on their visit in Japan

The largest gathering of electric vehicle owners in Japanese history was a perfect chance to touch base with one of the men leading the push,  Nissan’s s Corporate Vice President of Zero Emissions Hideaki Watanabe.

The Nissan Global Media Center began asking him the aim in bringing the LEAF owners to Oppama.

There is now a way to enjoy the freedom of zero-emission driving without owning an electric vehicle. You can begin and end your journey anywhere in town – and you don't even have to pay for parking.

All this is possible thanks to Twizy Way by Renault, an innovative car-sharing scheme recently inaugurated in the French agglomeration of Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines. The model is proving so successful that there are already plans to extend it to other areas.

Users can sign up for the scheme online or at a new boutique in the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines train station. Via the internet or a mobile web app, they can then locate and reserve one of the service's 50 Twizy vehicles. Throughout their reservation, parking is free in town, and to return the vehicle, they simply leave it anywhere in the agglomeration, ready for the next user.

Autumn leaves blew into the famous Silverstone Grand Prix circuit at the end of November. Or rather, that should be autumn LEAFs.

UK owners of the world’s most popular pure electric vehicle got together at the home of the British Grand Prix to set an official Guinness world record for the largest parade of electric vehicles.

It’s a hard fact of life that while electric vehicles benefit the environment by producing zero tailpipe emissions, they can have an impact in other areas. Perhaps the most significant is the use of rare earth elements for the batteries and electric motors.

As one aspect of the Nissan Green Program 2016 – the company’s continuing commitment to the environment – is an undertaking to reduce the use of rare earth elements (REE) to minimise the depletion of natural resources.

You’d be forgiven for thinking that a visit to the great outdoors – the vast Great Smoky Mountain National Park, straddling the border between Tennessee and North Carolina in America, for example – would be the perfect place for plenty of fresh air.

Not so, it seems. According to a survey carried out in 2004, it was considered the most polluted national park in the country with, it was estimated, no fewer than 150 ‘unhealthy air days’ in the previous year.

It’s not just the ten million annual visitors who were at risk but also the park’s natural plants and its local inhabitants, including one of the largest populations of black bears in the United States.

On Wednesday, November 21, actress Diane Kruger, arrived in an electric Renault ZOE to switch on the Christmas lights that will illuminate the world’s most beautiful avenue until January 9, 2013.

Diane Kruger is a German actress, most known for her roles in Troy, Joyeux Noël and Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds. She was a member of the jury at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. Click here to see her profile on imdb.com.

Renault has been official partner of the Champs-Elysées Christmas lights since 2012.