Nissan delivers the first 2011 Leaf electric car in Tennessee

Over the past week, Nissan USA has delivered 2011 Leaf all-electric cars in California, Arizona, Oregon, and Washington and yesterday, the Japanese automaker delivered the first consumer unit in the state of Tennessee.

The proud first owner of a 2011 Nissan Leaf in Tennessee is Mr. Jeff Heeren – the other of a virtual telephone company named NumberGarage.com. Mr. Heeren lives with his children in Nashville and his wife Ashley - who works for the Tennessee Parks Foundation. The Heeren’s new 2011 Nissan Leaf is an SL model (premium trimline) finished in silver and they bought their new Leaf at Action Nissan in Nashville.

Before the initial launch of the 2011 Nissan Leaf, the automaker worked with the Tennessee Valley Authority and the State government to advance the development of the electric vehicle charging infrastructure – in other words pushing to have available charging stations in popular locations around the Nashville area. While other areas have since developed their own charging infrastructure, the program in Tennessee was the first of its kind in the US and that effort by the various parties helped make Tennessee one of the initial launch markets.

In addition to the other initial launch markets mentioned above, Tennessee Leaf-buyers will continue to receive their new electric cars as the second shipment of 2011 Leafs (or is it Leaves?) hit US soil on Monday, headed for dealerships for customer distribution. Early next year, the distribution areas will add Hawaii and Texas before hitting their nationwide launch in 2012. The pre-orders for the initial wave of 2011 Nissan Leaf electric cars was closed earlier this year when those units “sold out” but Nissan plans on opening orders mid-2011 and depending on the success in the initial markets, the automaker may shift additional market growth in to late 2011 rather than 2012.

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