Nissan said Wednesday it will accelerate shipments of LEAF electric cars to the United States where it has made 471 deliveries since December.
Beginning May 1, the company will reopen reservations to select consumers as both LEAF production and U.S. deliveries move into the many thousands.
Nissan completed its first reservation session in September 2010 after achieving its goal of 20,000 U.S. reservations, three months prior to the first Nissan LEAF delivery.
Reservations first will reopen in the launch states of Arizona, California, Hawaii, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas and Washington.
More markets will follow, with market availability in the southeastern United States (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Maryland, South Carolina, and Virginia) this fall, and nationwide ordering in 2012.
Individuals who already have registered on the Nissan LEAF website – a group that now totals 340,000 potential owners – will be given the first opportunity to reserve a spot in line to purchase a Nissan LEAF.
With the help of the advanced telematics system that comes standard on every Nissan LEAF, the company has compiled aggregate data about the use patterns of these first Nissan LEAF owners.
The average trip length of these early adopters is 7 miles; most charge on a Level 2, 220-volt charger at their homes; and the average charging time is 2 hours and 11 minutes. Nissan LEAF owners are a combination of conscientious environmentalists and tech-savvy individuals. They are highly educated, have excellent credit, and are in the nation’s top 15 percent for household income.
The week of 2011 New York Auto Show marks the debut of the Nissan LEAF Nismo RC, a purpose-built prototype that wraps production Nissan LEAF components and technology in a dramatic, ready-to-go-racing carbon-fiber body.
