The Nissan Leaf suffered a fall in sales in September, while the Chevy Volt enjoyed a month-on-month increase, but Nissan’s popular Leaf remained the no. 1 selling electric car for the last month.

Nissan sold a total of 1,031 examples of Leaf during September, as compared with 1,362 units in August. On the other hand, the number of Chevy Volt sold jumped an impressive 140 per cent, from 302 units in August to 723 units in September.

It is worth mentioning here that Nissan has not accepted a new order for the cent-per cent electric Leaf for almost the last one year, but the carmaker still has as many as 13,000 pre-orders for a 2011 Nissan Leaf.

However, Nissan is opening new markets for its Leaf. On Thursday, Nissan announced that it was mulling over plans to launch the Leaf in South Africa sometime in 2013.

The Nissan Leaf has a range of 110 miles, and its quick charge system consumes merely 30 minutes to re-charge the battery up to 80 per cent with a public quick charger. At-home, it takes 7-8 hours for a full charge using a 240V-16A outlet.

It costs only £2 to fully charge the Leaf, but its massive price tag of £30,000 disheartens many buyers.