Nissan (NSANF.PK) announced the price of the Nissan Leaf, its first electric vehicle. The company kept its promise to keep the price in the $20,000 to $30,000 range.
The sticker price for a standard model will be $32,780 before incentives. The federal tax credit of $7,500 brings the price down to $25,280. Additional state tax incentives, such as the $5,000 incentive in California, reduce the price to under $20,000. The car can also be leased for $349 a month.
After federal and state tax credits, the LEAF could cost as little as $20,280, which is less than the basic Prius, which sells for about $23,000.
Deliveries are expected to begin in December 2010. The car will only be available in select locations this year, but will go nationwide in 2011. Nissan will begin taking orders on its website on April 20 for a fully refundable fee of $99.
The vehicle, designed to travel 100 miles on an average battery charge, will be available in some markets this December, with nationwide sales beginning in 2011.
Nissan will offer to install personal charging docks that operate on a 220-volt supply. The average cost of the docks would be $2,200, but they too would be eligible for rebates. Using current national electricity averages, Nissan estimates the Leaf will cost under $3 to recharge.
Nissan has the capacity to build about 50,000 Leafs a year, but that will exand to 150,000 thanks to a $1.4 billion loan from the DOE (as part of the Recovery Act) for retrofitting and expanding its factory in Smyrna, Tennessee.
Renault Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn says that 10% of its cars will be all-electric by 2020.
The Nissan Leaf will be the sole vehicle participating in The EV Project, where the Electric Transportation Engineering Corporation (eTec) will provide free home charging stations and installations for up to 4,700 Nissan Leaf owners in 10 cities in five states: Phoenix and Tucson in Arizona; San Diego, California; the Oregon cities of Corvallis, Eugene, and Portland; the Tennessee cities of Nashville, Knoxville, and Chattanooga; and Seattle, Washington. The EV Project will also deploy a 6,510 EV charging stations in those cities. The EV Project won a $99.8 million DOE grant through the Recovery Act.
Mitsubishi announced it would reduce the price of its EV, the i-MiEV, to compete with the Leaf. In Japan, the vehicle will sell for about $43,000 before incentives. The vehicle is available for the first time to the general public next month, and the company hopes to sell 4,000 in Japan and export another 5,000 by the end of the year.
Other companies preparing to introduce EVs and plug-ins for 2010 and 2011: General Electric (plug-in hybrid); Ford (EV, then plug-in); Toyota (plug-in); Fisker Automotive (plug-in), Coda Automotive (EV).
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