The first shipment of Nissan LEAF EVs for Europe arrived on Thursday in North East England, on the maiden voyage of the ‘City of St. Petersburg’, Nissan’s brand new energy-saving car carrier for transporting vehicles in Europe.
The 67 Nissan LEAF EVs are destined for customers in the UK and Ireland.
The City of St. Petersburg has a sleek and semi-spherical bow which reduces wind resistance by up to 50%, resulting in fuel reductions of up to 800 tonnes annually, equivalent to about 2,500 tonnes of CO2 emissions. The carrier will join the fleet of ships which export hundreds of thousands of vehicles from Nissan Sunderland Plant each year.
UK customers have been able to pre-order the Nissan LEAF since September 2010 ahead of deliveries starting in the coming weeks.
Pre-orders for the Nissan LEAF, which is powered by an advanced lithium-ion battery, have reached more than 27,000 units globally.
The zero-emission car is currently built in Japan, but will be manufactured in Sunderland from 2013, following the start of production of lithium-ion batteries for such cars at the plant in 2012.[wzslider height=”400″ lightbox=”true”]
