First Nissan Leaf Delivered Today.

Sometime today, a car dealer in Petaluma, California, will hand Mr. Chalouhi ( remember?) the keys to his new Nissan Leaf, and the young Silicon Valley tech-exec will drive off the lot and into our collective auto future.
His new car is the first all-electric Nissan Leaf sold — and delivered — in the United States.
It’s not, of course, the first EV on the streets.
The Tesla Roadster has been out for some time. And there are other limited production EVs around. What makes this different is the numbers. By the end of 2011, Nissan plans on putting 50,000 Leafs on the American road. Another number: including rebates and tax credits, the basic Leaf costs just $20,280.
Investors hope that this kind of large scale roll-out for an affordable all-electric vehicle will make a C-change (c = charging station) in the automotive world. Having test-driven the Leaf (next week I’ll get behind the wheel of a Tesla Roadster), I’d have to agree. It may not be able to beat the Tesla’s zero-to-sixty time (a phenomenal 3.7 seconds) but it’s a practical, well-handling, fun-to-drive family car.
And — drum-roll, please — it doesn’t use gasoline.
When Chalouhi leaves the dealership he may not notice a familiar building on the corner to the west. Then again, it won’t matter to him. It’s a Chevron station. You know, a “gas station.” The kind of place Chalouhi may never have to visit again.

Source: http://www.blogs.forbes.com/
Written by Osha Gray Davidson