The Nissan Leaf made her debut in Japan

[malaise]

http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2010/12/03/con-leaf-rollout.html
<snip>
Nissan rolled out its Leaf electric car Friday, trumpeting its zero-emission technology and practicality with video of the hatchback zipping through snow and water.

The Leaf will be available in Canada in late 2011. Nissan chief operating officer Toshiyuki Shiga introduces the company's zero-emission electric car, the Leaf, during a news conference at its headquarters in Yokohama, Japan, on Friday. The Leaf will be available in Canada in late 2011. (Itsuo Inouye/Associated Press)The car, among the world's first mass-market electric vehicles, is already sold out until March because of limited production capacity. There have been 6,000 orders in Japan and 20,000 in the U.S.

More than 6,000 Canadians have expressed interest in purchasing a Leaf. It will be available in Canada in late 2011.

"This day has finally arrived," a grinning Toshiyuki Shiga, Nissan Motor Co.'s chief operating officer, said before posing for photographs with Japanese customers who had placed orders. "The curtains are about to rise for a new era in the auto industry."


Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2010/12/03/con-leaf-rollout.html#ixzz17Cw29zh8

[flvegan]

1. God bless, but that is one ugly car.

I love the tech and I hope to see thousands on the road. The price is too high and it's just too ugly for my blood, though.

[Rincewind]

2. What kind of heater

does it have? We just got 9 inches of snow where I live, and in the next couple of days, the low temperature is supposed to be in the single digits (Fahrenheit). And as for "zero emission", more than half the electricity in this area is generated by coal burning power plants, which is something to consider if it's a plug in electric car. Just because it doesn't have a tail pipe, that doesn't mean there is no pollution involved.

[dmallind]

3. the hvac is run offf a separate battery - and remember to add upstream emissions to ICE cars too,

You do that as well as for EVs right? Can you cite a similar complaint from you about emissions claims for them not including oil extraction and refining?

BTW around here we use hydro power heavily, very little coal..