Customers in California, Washington, Oregon, Arizona and Tennessee will be the first in the US to be able to buy the new Nissan Leaf electric vehicle when it launchesthere in December.
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Nearly 17,000 people have placed reservations for the new EV across the US and the first vehicles will be available in those states which have been home to The EV Project – the largest electric vehicle and infrastructure deployment ever undertaken.
The project is a result of a partnership with charging infrastructure provider ECOtality and partially funded by a grant from the US Department of Energy. Customers in these first five launch states, accounting for 55% of reservations, will be able to place firm orders for the car from August.
The new EV will be introduced to Texas and Hawaii in January 2011; North Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Washington DC, Virginia, Maryland, South Carolina and Alabama follow in April 2011. Then car will then be rolled out across the rest of the US later in the year with availability in all markets nationwide by the end of 2011.
Nissan North America sales chief Brian Carolin said: “Consumer feedback and market readiness have been key drivers in developing our phased rollout. Nissan is able to target areas of customer demand for early launch, while continuing to work in future markets to ensure the continued success of electric vehicles.”
NNA said the EV’s lithium-ion battery pack will have an eight-year, 100,000 miles warranty.
The reservations process has told the automaker about more than just geographic distribution. Some information learned about future drivers includes that their favourite leaf colour is blue, which accounts for more than 30% of reservations, silver is at 26%.
About 75% of orders are for the SL trim level, which adds a rearview monitor, solar panel spoiler, fog lights and automatic headlights.
About 67% of reservers indicated they’d be ready to purchase or lease within one year of placing the reservation. An additional 24% said they would be ready within two years.
However, Nissan said it needs up to five years of support from various governments around the world in the form of subsidies to build a sustainable market for electric vehicles.
Carlos Tavares, executive vice president and head of the company’s US operations, said Nissan needs government incentives to trigger volume so it can bring down the cost of the car.
He told Reuters: “We will need to be supported three to five years. We expect that within that time frame we will have enough volume to generate the appropriate cost reduction which will make these subsidies something that we can live without.”
US customers who buy electric cars currently qualify for a federal tax credit of US$7,500. Some states, including California, offer additional tax incentives but, to qualify for that state’s advanced technology partially low emissions vehicle certification, EVs and hybrids, such as GM’s Chevy Volt, need a 10-year, 150,000-mile battery warranty.
The Leaf retails at US$32,780 but, in California, the price of the car comes down to about US$20,000 including all available state subsidies.
Nissan plans to produce about 50,000 units at its US plant in Symrna in the first year with capacity rising to 150,000 when the new assembly line at the plant comes online in late 2012. A new battery plant being constructed nearby will have the capacity to produce 200,000 packs.
Initial Leaf units sold worldwide will be built at Nissan’s main plant in Oppama, Japan.
