As far as we know, no one has yet done a road test on the 2011 Nissan Leaf, which will go on sale in certain markets this December.

We've driven the Leaf powertrain mounted in a Cube mule, and our colleague Bengt Halvorson has driven it in a Versa mule--but never the completed car.

Still, we know there are Leafs out there that do run. Our writer Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield got a couple of minutes in the passenger seat of a Leaf that moved under its own power (see video below).

And now, spy shots have emerged of a Leaf prototype being tested on Arizona roads. The photos published on the Nissan-LEAF fansite were captured by an electric vehicle fan in Arizona.

The Leaf on the roads is identical to the vehicle that's been shown at auto shows around the world, with tape obscuring only the Nissan logo on the front charging port door in the nose.

2011 Nissan Leaf spied -- via Nissan-LEAF.net

2011 Nissan Leaf spied -- via Nissan-LEAF.net

[Nissan-LEAF via Green Car Reports]