This article is more than 1 year old

Britain takes delivery of first Nissan e-cars

Leaf wafts in

The first batch of Nissan's Leaf battery powered e-car have arrived in Blighty.

Not that our allocation is a large one - just 67 of the zero-emission motors, Nissan admitted.

It said some 270,000 27,000 of the cars have been reserved by punters around the world

The company describes the Leaf as "the world’s first affordable all-electric car", for which it's asking £28,900, though you currently get £5000 of that paid by the government.

Nissan Leaf

The Nissan Leaf is 90 quid cheaper than the Mitsubishi iMiEV.

Leaf deliveries will start the the "coming weeks", Nissan said. It has been allowing punters to reserve Leafs since September 2010 at the payment of a £257 deposit.

The zero-emission car is currently built in Japan, Nissan said, 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.

Nissan claims the Leaf has a range of 109 miles, based on the New European Driving Cycle test, which measures urban fuel economy - low speed, low engine load - and extra-urban fuel economy - high speed driving, essentially.

Nissan reckons that's sufficient for 80 per cent of the trips Britons make, which are all 30 miles or less. You'll need to keep your old car if you want to travel further than that in one go. ®

More about

TIP US OFF

Send us news


Other stories you might like