Nissan has delivered the first 10 units of its Nissan LEAF electric car in Japan to the Kanagawa Prefectural Government.
Six Nissan LEAF EVs will be designated for official prefecture use and four will serve as rental cars to be used in the prefecture’s “EV Sharing Model Business”.
Kanagawa Prefecture has announced comprehensive and proactive support measures to quickly achieve the adoption of 3,000 electric cars within the prefecture. Specifically, the prefectural government has introduced large-scale purchase incentives, which is equivalent to half the amount of the subsidies already being provided by the national government. Development of charging infrastructure, including quick chargers and normal charging facilities have been accelerated as well.
As a member of the “Kanagawa EV Promotion Council”, Nissan supports these efforts and ctively participates in promotional and educational activities for EV within the prefecture, including the ”Kanagawa EV Taxi Project” using Nissan LEAF and “Hakone EV Town Project”, aiming to create eco-friendly tourist destinations.
In addition, the ‘EV Sharing Model Business’ also launched today with the Nissan LEAF, is a model project in which EV will play a dual role – as an official vehicle of Kanagawa Prefecture on weekdays and as a rental car for public users on weekends and holidays, providing an opportunity for residents of the prefecture to experience EV. Working together with the prefecture, Nissan will assist in the preparation for the start of operations in January 2011, at service offices of Nissan Rent-a-Car, operated by its affiliated company, Nissan Car Rental Solutions. One unit of Nissan LEAF will each be assigned to Hon-atsugi Station and Yokosuka Central offices and two units at the Odawara Shinkansen office.