Nissan Announces Leaf Roll-Out

Electric car comes to dealerships in December, 2010

Nissan Leaf

Nissan begins taking reservations for its new Leaf electric car in April. Interested buyers pay a $100 fee to get a priority spot when the automaker begins taking orders later this year.

The Leaf is available for lease or sale to consumers. A single transaction includes the battery. Cars begin rolling into dealerships in December.

In the meantime, the automaker is modifying its Smyrna, Tennessee plant to manufacture the Leaf and its battery packs. A $1.4 billion loan from the US Department of Energy is funding the project.

Rental car giant, Hertz, will be adding the Leaf to its US and European fleets in 2011. The electric cars will be available in major urban markets, where Hertz anticipates the highest demand.

The EV Project is deploying the recharging infrastructure, funded by a $98 million Department of Energy grant. ETec, a division of Ecotality, is providing 6,510 charging stations for the project. The public charging stations will be installed in five major markets: Seattle, Oregon, Tennessee, Phoenix/Tucson, and San Diego. Stations include both 240-volt and Level 3 fast chargers.

The company is also providing 4700 home charging stations for Leaf customers.

Nissan has formed eighteen partnerships with states and cities in the US, Mexico and Canada to prepare markets and infrastructure for electric cars. The partnerships include the state of Oregon, Sonoma County,  San Diego, San Francisco, Phoenix, Tucson, Washington DC, Seattle, Orlando, Raleigh, Houston, the state of Massachusetts, Mexico City and Vancouver Canada.

For more information on Nissan’s zero-emissions vehicle, visit the consumer web site.