Nissan is Expecting 20,000 Initial Orders for the Leaf EV

Next spring, Nissan is going to start taking orders for the Leaf EV, with deliveries starting that fall. Nissan is expecting to receive 20,000 orders, which is well over the 5,000 Leafs Nissan has planned to lease in 2010.

For the first two years of production all Leafs will be imported to the US from Japan. By 2012 Nissan expects to have completed a $2 billion investment in its Smyrna, TN production facility to produce 150,000 electric vehicles and 200,000 lithium-ion batteries per year.

The Leaf is going to launch in Tennessee and Oregon as well as San Diego, CA; Seattle, WA; and the Phoenix/Tucson are of Arizona. These areas have committed to installing 2,500 electric vehicle charging stations.