Nissan is hoping that their electric Leaf will attract interest of people bothered about the environment and will lead the way towards the electrification of automobile transportation.
On a side note to the Nissan Leaf’s marketing Nissan Division for Nissan North America Vice President Al Castignetti had a relatively unsurprising statement to make about the customers of this new car.
Castignetti’s statement sums up relatively simple as it would seem that of the 130.000 people that reserved their Leaf, more than half have been or are Toyota Prius owners. According to the same man this proves that there is a considerable market out there of people who appreciate hybrids and are ready to go to the next level.
On May 26, Nissan held a groundbreaking celebration that marked the beginning of construction of the company’s Smyrna, Tenn., plant that will produce lithium-ion batteries that power the Nissan LEAF.
The Nissan Leaf is powered by an electric motor capable of developing just over 100 horsepower which runs on power from a set of lithium-ion cells. On a full-charge, the car has a driving range of 100 miles with a top speed of 87 mph. That full charge will take up to 8 hours on a standard 200V outlet.
Pricing for the Nissan Leaf has been announced to start at $32,780 but with a federal tax-credit prices will come in as low as $25,280, or for a lease payment of $349 a month.
