First Nissan Leaf Rolls Off Lot

The Nissan Leaf is official: the very first Leaf made its way into the hands of its buyer this past weekend. San Francisco Bay Area resident Olivier Chalouhi took the wheel of his brand new Nissan Leaf on Saturday, driving off the lot of North Bay Nissan in Petaluma, California, and thus welcoming the world’s first major, mass produced electric vehicle.

Chalouhi was looking for a simple, highway-capable, electric car with room for two child seats. And he found it in the Nissan Leaf. In fact, he found the Nissan Leaf was the only choice.

Chalouhi commutes about 20 miles to and from work each day so won’t have to worry about running out of juice in the EPA-certified 73-mile Leaf.

While Leaf deliveries may be officially underway, most of the 20,000 consumers that reserved a Leaf will have a bit of a wait. Nissan is slowly ramping up production and doesn’t plan to have all of those initial models delivered until the end of next summer. The next shipment is coming from Japan on December 23. [via Inside Line and Autoweek]