Nissan has delivered 220 units of its electric Nissan LEAF to rental car companies in Okinawa Prefecture, to support the project “Eco-resort Island Okinawa Promotion Project”.
Nissan immediately delivered 190 units to local car rental companies. In the meanwhile, the roll-out for civilian customers in the US and Japan is dragging on.
The company has prepared about 500 LEAF models for rental car use throughout Japan, with 220 LEAFs (about 40 percent of them) to be introduced in Okinawa.
The Prefecture attracts nearly six million tourists each year and around half of them rent cars to go sightseeing. Nissan said that through its support, the electric vehicles will “create a ripple effect that will resonate its environmental benefit to the rest of the country.”
Related companies within the prefecture have also established a joint company called Advanced Energy Company (AEC) to deploy charging facilities in Okinawa. Providing active support for the wide-spread adoption of EV in the prefecture, the new company has already built 27 charging facilities in 18 spots in the main island, ready for use by the EV rental cars.
