Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Nissan, Pacific Region
A year-and-a-half after it came to the U.S. and Japan, the Nissan Leaf is finally available in Australia, and at quite a price. Available now at 13 Nissan dealers across Australia, the all-electric car will cost $51,500 Australian dollars ($52,400 U.S. at today's exchange rates). Yowza.
Even though Nissan says they are key to having electric cars succeed, there are no government incentives to bring the price down in Australia. In January 2011, the Australian government cancelled the Cleaner Car Rebate Scheme, saying it would instead use the $429.7 million ($437.4 million) to help rebuild infrastructure that had been damaged by catastrophic floods that hit Queensland in December 2010. Nonetheless, the Leaf has - or will have - some plug-in company Down Under, including the Mitsubishi i-MiEV, the Holden Volt (the rebadged Chevrolet) and the Renault Fluence Z.E. When the 2011 i-MiEV went on sale, it cost over $63,000 ($64,129), but that fell to $48,800 ($49,675) last fall.
As is true in other markets, Nissan says the Leaf is just the first plug-in car it will sell in Australia. Nissan has been planning for the Leaf launch since at least last summer, working with Coulomb to install some DC fast chargers. Inside EVs reports that Nissan Australia home charging partner, Origin, will install Level 2 chargers for around $2,800 ($2,850). Starting July 1, Australians will also be paying a carbon tax on electricity of around 10 percent.
Continue reading Nissan Leaf goes on sale in Australia for a cool $52,000
Nissan Leaf goes on sale in Australia for a cool $52,000 originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Tue, 19 Jun 2012 13:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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