Ford Focus Electric if you're just using it around town. You can get them for under $10k with under 30k miles, they have fantastic safety ratings unlike the Leaf, and the interiors are very nice.
While I like hatchbacks in general I would avoid the Focus electric. If I recall correctly it has no fast-charge mechanism. That might not be a problem around town, but it comes in handy every now and again.
My money is still on the Nissan, and it has better range as well.
The lack of fast-charge option for the Ford Focus ensures that the market for resale is very small. Most people do not want a car that is so limited. I'm no fan of the Renault Zoe, but it can at least charge at 400V, so you don't have to wait more than an hour if you are in a rush. The Ford shares market space with the ancient EVs, like Buddy, Th!nk, Citroen Saxo Electric, REVA, etc. If you can find one with a decent battery, they are much cheaper than a Ford, and fills the same need.
The battery problems in warm areas was fixed around 2013. Older than that, I would consider it carefully before buying a leaf. But if you are aware of it and get the right price, a leaf with a rotten battery can work fine. We drove 2300 km in our leaf the summer of 2014:
http://travelelectric.blogspot.no/search?updated-min=2014-01-01T00:00:00%2B01:00&updated-max=2015-01-01T00:00:00%2B01:00&max-results=23In Norway, the cheapest EVs with fastcharging option are the triplets: Citroen C-Zero, Mitsubishi i-Miev and Peugot Ion. They only fit four, not five, and have a shorter range than the leaf. But they handle well in city traffic, and I don't think I remember having heard anyone having problems with them. There are very few problems with any modern EVs, since the motors are so much simpler than the combustion engines. With a Prius, you get a double system, and twice as many potential problems.
