20,000 initial orders for Leaf EV

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Nissan expects 20,000 initial orders for Leaf EV

Posted Wednesday, Sep 30, 2009, 11:30 am in Employee News

Nissan North America will begin taking sales orders for its new Nissan Leaf electric vehicle next spring and expects to have 20,000 of them pre-sold by the time the model reaches U.S. showrooms in the third quarter, the Automotive News reported.

Speaking to a breakfast meeting of Nashville business executives, Tavares said Nissan expects to make the city a key launch market for the mass-production five-passenger electric vehicle and is counting on local utilities to have the necessary recharging network in place for next year’s launch, the trade paper said. The automaker has created a partnership with the state of Tennessee and the Tennessee Valley Authority to build a recharging grid that links Nashville, Chattanooga and Knoxville, Tenn., the Automotive News said.

Nissan has created similar partnerships with governments and utility companies in several other markets, including San Diego, Phoenix and Seattle, the paper said. Tavares invited his audience to consider purchasing commercial fleets of Leafs for their businesses and to invest in their own recharging systems to encourage employees to drive the zero-emission car to work, the story said. (Automotive News)