Enterprise to Buy 500 Nissan Leaf BEVs, Offer Them for Rent Starting Next Year
By Scott Doggett July 27, 2010
Enterprise Rent-A-Car announced today that it will offer battery-electric vehicles for rent in selected U.S. cities starting next year and, to that end, take delivery of 500 Nissan Leaf BEVs beginning in January and continuing throughout 2011.
Enterprise said it will initially make the Leaf available to customers in eight cities starting next year: Los Angeles, San Diego, Seattle, Phoenix, Tucson, Knoxville, Nashville, and Portland, Oregon.
Charging stations will be installed at 100 Enterprise rental locations beginning in November.
The cost of renting the Leaf, which runs about 100 miles on a full charge of its lithium-ion battery, hasn't been determined yet. But, like the hybrid vehicles that Enterprise rents to customers, the rental price is likely to be higher than its gasoline-powered cars.
In addition to the Leaf, Enterprise said it will offer customers electric vehicles from other manufacturers as they become available.
The Leaf will be Nissan's first fully electric vehicle and is one of several battery-powered cars hitting the market over the next several years.
Nissan is currently taking reservations for the Leaf and will start deliveries of the hatchback to customers in select markets in December. The vehicle will have a base price of $32,780 in the U.S., but that will be brought down by a $7,500 tax credit to $25,280 - the same price Enterprise is paying for the vehicles.
Nissan said 17,000 people have placed orders for the Leaf so far in the U.S. Buyers in California, Washington, Oregon, Arizona and Tennessee will receive the first deliveries in December. The Leaf will go on sale in other markets over the course of the year, becoming available nationwide by the end of 2011.
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This is an ideal way for potential buyers to try out electric vehicles.
Where they have been trialed such as the iMiEV in the UK, the customers have loved them.
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