Nissan Leaf available to pre-order from September

By Tom Phillips

30th July 2010

The future is available to order! Nissan is now taking deposits for its electric Leaf in Portugal and Ireland. The two markets are the first in Europe to get the groundbreaking EV. The UK will be third, with Nissan taking orders from September 1st.

Customers will be required to put down a fully refundable £257 deposit. Those who do will be invited to test-drive the Leaf in December, at which point they will need to formally confirm their order.

Deliveries are set to commence next year, with the first cars arriving in Portugal in January, Ireland in February and the UK in March. The car costs £23,990 in the UK including the battery and the government’s £5,000 ‘Plug-in’ car grant. Running costs are anticipated at less than £1.59 per 62 miles in the UK.

The Leaf is designed to be no more expensive to buy than a conventional hatchback, and much cheaper to run. It features air conditioning, sat-nav and a parking camera as standard, and its battery range is 100 miles.

Nissan already has almost 12,000 customers signed up in Europe for regular updates on the launch of the Leaf, while the firm has amassed more than 23,000 orders for the car in the USA and Japan, where the Leaf is already available to order.