Nissan has opened a new public exhibition which will give Brits the best chance to familiarise themselves with the all-electric Leaf before the car goes on sale next year.
The new Innovation Station in London’s O2 Arena is a free exhibition displaying the carmaker’s electric vision of the future and detailing more about its very first full production electric car.
Its the first time the Leaf has been so widely available to the British public and Nissan hopes the new state-of-the-art display will help drive interest in its new car and help convert drivers to electrically-powered motoring.
The UK is predicted to be Europe’s biggest market for electric cars, with 100,000 EV sales expected by 2015 according to research from Frost & Sullivan. It’s this prediction which influenced Nissan’s decision to start manufacturing the Leaf in its UK plant in Sunderland from 2013. While the Leaf will be available to UK customers from March 2011, the first cars will be produced in Japan.
Nissan is expecting to sell out of the first batch of cars when it launches but customers can pre-order online now at www.nissan.co.uk/leaf . More than twenty-five thousand customers in the US and Japan have already reserved their Leaf, including international cycling legend, Lance Armstrong.
“Anytime you talk about technology — if it’s a computer, or if it’s a phone, or if it’s a bicycle — you always talk about ‘next level,’” says Armstrong. Next level is the stuff that just blows you away. The LEAF was just really, in my opinion, what I would call next level.”
The exhibition is open daily from 12-8pm and is completely free. Early next year, the car will go on a regional tour as the first deliveries start.
The free exhibition features driving simulators, a virtual car design programme and interactive games that show visitors of all ages how electric vehicles can change the way people will drive and live in the future.
Paul Willcox, managing director of Nissan Motor (GB) Ltd, said: “We launched the Innovation Station as a fun and exciting way to showcase our vision for the future and above all, the role that electric vehicles can play in our everyday lives.
The Leaf will cost £23,990 with a Government Plug-in Car Grant subsidy worth £5,000. The five seat hatchback has a 24kWh laminated lithium-ion battery which generates over 90kW, giving it a top speed of 90 miles an hour and a range of around 100 miles on a single charge. Charged by a regular home socket, it takes between eight and ten hours to fully recharge. Alternatively a high energy, rapid charge can recharge the battery by 80 per cent in just 30 minutes.
