First all-electric car launches in Ottawa
Posted Sep 24, 2011 05:38:41 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
OTTAWA – The world’s first mass-marketed, all-electric car is in the hands of its very first owner.
Ottawa resident Ricardo Borba, 44, picked up his new Nissan Leaf after more than a year of anticipation at the Hunt Club Nissan in Nepean.
Borba said the move to electric was an easy choice.
“To have independence from oil, from all the speculation in gas prices,” he said, adding he would also save money on maintenance like oil changes down the road.
He said it’s also a great piece of engineering, something he would know as an electric engineer and software developer for IBM. He added the Leaf is good for the environment and drives like a sports car.
The car comes with a 110 volt charger and owners can install a 240 volt charging dock that gives a full charge in seven hours.
The Leaf is a medium-size hatch-back that runs on a lithium battery. It has a range of 160km on a full charge and the battery generates 107 horse power.
It sells starting at $38,000 and in Ontario there is a rebate of $8,500.
Allen Childs, President of Nissan Canada, said these cars are meeting a specific demand.
“The consumers out there that are really focused on ‘I don’t want to have an impact on the environment, I’ve got no footprint, no carbon footprint,’ it’s zero emission, and it’s a real car,” he said.
The next round of Leafs will be available in October.
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