TOKYO, Japan (AP) — The upgraded Nissan Motor Co Leaf electric car can travel further without recharging, comes in a cheaper model and tells drivers how much battery life is left.

The changes in the revamped model, shown at a Tokyo hotel recently, were based on feedback from owners whose chief worry was running out of electric juice while driving, Nissan officials said.

Electric cars emit no pollution, but they need to be recharged. Owners have charging equipment installed at home. But the scarcity of recharging stations on the roads has limited electric vehicles use to short commutes and kept zero-emission cars confined to a market niche.

The new model can travel 228 kilometres (142 miles) on a single charge, up from 200 kilometres (124 miles) as long as you don’t use air conditioning, because of improvements such as streamlining the battery system and the vehicle’s lighter weight, according to Nissan.

It sells for less than 2.5 million yen (US$31,000) in Japan when stripped of fancy options and adding government green subsidies — more affordable than the cheapest previous model at just below 3 million yen (US$37,000).

Nissan did not detail overseas sales plans but said similar upgrades were in the works.

The Leaf is the world’s most popular electric vehicle, comprising more than half of all electric car sales. Leaf global sales since late 2010 total 43,000 vehicles, about half of them in Japan.