Nissan LEAF Electric Car to Come to British Columbia First (in 2011)

Nissan LEAF Electric Car to Come to British Columbia First (in 2011)
by Michael Graham Richard, Ottawa, Canada on 10. 7.09

Lucky B.C.

The Renault-Nissan Alliance, along with the Province of British Columbia, the City of Vancouver, and BC Hydro, have announced that British Columbians will have a chance to get their hands on Nissan's LEAF electric car sooner than the rest of the world. Global distribution is planned for 2012, but Canada's Westernmost province will see it come in 2011.

Electric Cars in Vancouver

Gregor Robertson, the mayor of Vancouver (host of the 2010 winter olympics) said: "Moving towards a zero-emission mobility program gets Vancouver closer to our goal of becoming the world's greenest city. We've moved very aggressively to bring in electric vehicle charging infrastructure regulations for Vancouver that is a first for North America. The City will need electric vehicles to charge on that new infrastructure. We are very pleased to be the first Canadian municipal partner of Nissan, a global leader in electric-vehicle technologies."

Vancouver's mild climate (compared to the rest of Canada) will certainly help the LEAF electric cars perform better. Cold temperatures and heating energy requirements can reduce significantly the range of electric cars.

Comment

Wonder how many Leafs will be sold? Do they have the demand? The charging stations? Widespread electric cars are a good thing generally, but the bugs need to be worked out before I will buy one. Also, they are overpriced now. My brother has a used car lot and says in 2-3 years, once the bugs have been worked out, and the prices have fallen by volume pricing, then will be the time to buy.