The first affordable, mass-marketed electric car, the Nissan Leaf, has already sold out - before it has even appeared in showrooms.
The Japanese company has been overrun with orders for the Leaf since it introduced a refundable deposit scheme in the US and Japan. It has received 13,000 reservations for the Leaf in the States since last month and 6,000 reservations in Japan.
Chairman and CEO of the Nissan-Renault Alliance, Carlos Ghosn, noted that it was individual customers that placed the others rather than fleets.
Earlier this month, Nissan announced that the Leaf will cost £23,350 when it goes on sale in February 2011 in the UK. That will make it the most affordable all-electric car on the market, though the total cost incorporates a £5,000 grant from the Government.
Together, Nissan and Renault expect to build 500,000 electric cars from eight models by 2013. The companies also expect ten percent of their cars to be electric within a decade.
The Leaf will be produced at Nissan's factory in Sunderland.
