Simple, stylish and on your show room floors this year, the Nissan leaf is something to watch for in the near future.  In the midst of painstaking delays, vaporware, and just face palming prototypes,  the Nissan Leaf is a breath of fresh air.  Their platform is simple, 100 miles per charge, good electric acceleration, and actually going into production at an affordable price ($25K-$35K).  The Nissan Leaf will be available to US buyers in Fall 2010.  More companies should be this forthright.

Perhaps their gall partially comes from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that granted the EV Project nearly 100 million dollars to deploy the Nissan Leaf and 11,210 fast charging stations in the US.  Here are the details on the specific Nissan Leaf hot spots from the EV Project site:

In the summer of 2010, charging infrastructure will be deployed in the following major population areas: Phoenix (AZ), Tucson (AZ), San Diego (CA), Portland (OR), Eugene (OR), Corvallis (OR), Seattle (WA), Nashville (TN), Knoxville (TN) and Chattanooga (TN). The Nissan LEAF will be available in those same areas in the fall of 2010 to consumers and fleets.

In February 2010, Nissan announced that 50,000 people in the US had already registered to have first priority.  Time magazine even called the Nissan Leaf one of the 50 best inventions of 2009.  America is ready for a change in transportation.

This is all very similar to the EV-1 project of nearly 15 years ago.  Except with our domestic brands struggling and failing to get the hint that they need to innovate, a Japanese car manufacturer is partnering with our most advanced infrastructure projects.  I for one welcome our new Japanese automotive overlords.