First Nissan Leaf to be delivered

Nissan says the time has come. The first of its Leaf electric cars will be handed over to a new owner Saturday. Leaf starts at $33,600, but is eligible for a federal tax credit up to $7,500, making the net price $26,100. But, add $940 for the SL model, which has the stuff you want (rearview camera, solar panel on the spoiler to run some accessories, auto headlights, etc.). And the charger has to be taken into account, as noted later in this post.

Here's the company's announcement (leaving intact Nissan's quirky insistence on capitalizing all letters in the car's name, even though the name isn't an acronym) : "On Saturday, Dec. 11, the owner of the first Nissan LEAF gets the keys to the world's first mass-produced electric vehicle. The first Nissan LEAF owner will be revealed when he receives the car from Carlos Tavares, Chairman, Nissan Americas.

"The duo will lead a caravan of Nissan LEAFs across the Golden Gate Bridge to San Francisco's City Hall, where the car owner will charge his car for the first time at a City Hall charging station.

"The Nissan LEAF creates no tailpipe emissions (it has no tailpipe), is made from recycled and recyclable materials, and can travel 100 miles on a single charge."

But you have to have a charger, of course: $2,000, or so unless you can a free one via a government program. And that might be unlikely. Here's a section from Hybrid Owners of America's newsletter:

"If you ordered a Nissan Leaf but are not in one of the initial roll-out markets such as California, and the installation of your charging station has been delayed, what happens if you try and get one of the federal government grants that will supply 15,000 free electric-car chargers? That question has come up because the grant program expires on December 31, 2010.

"We contacted Nissan to ask how we could take advantage of the government grant program. (This is after we had originally been told -- incorrectly -- that a Nissan vendor would work with us over the last summer to install a charging station.) It looks like, unless we can purchase and take delivery of a charging dock from a Nissan-approved third party manufacturer, have a private electrician install it, and successfully submit a federal grant application by December 31, we are out of luck on the 'free' charging station.

"Nissan says it may be a few months before we can get our charging station installed with them, although we are still slated to place our full Leaf order this month. At least we'll still be able to get the $7500 tax credit."

Here's what Nissan's expert sends Drive On: Government "programs offering 'free' home chargers have not expired but are limited to the geographies listed (Puget Sound, Oregon, San Diego, Phoenix, Tucson, TN). You have to apply, meet the research requirements, agree to have your charging habits monitored for 2 years then you receive a home charger."