12/07/09 – Today, Mayor Newsom announced on behalf of the Bay Area Electric Vehicle (EV) Corridor program that Nissan has decided to make its first all-electric vehicle, the LEAF, available to Bay Area consumers starting next year. The vehicle will be sold in San Francisco and the Bay Area.

“This collaboration stems from Nissan’s recognition of the aggressive work we are doing to make the San Francisco Bay Area the nation’s EV capital,” said Mayor Newsom.

Nissan will be the first major automaker with an all-battery electric car available to consumers, beginning in late 2010, and other EVs and plug-in hybrid cars will be entering the market in the next year or two.

“We are making every effort to have the infrastructure ready when the Nissan LEAF arrives, and we are extremely pleased to have Nissan as a collaborative partner in making that happen,” said Mayor Newsom.

In addition, the car company will work with San Francisco and the region to promote and develop EV charging infrastructure, including development of a streamlined process for customer installation of charging equipment in their homes. The Nissan LEAF will serve as a pilot vehicle for implementing this streamlined process.

“Nissan is committed to the San Francisco market and is looking forward to working with the city and others in the partnership to make zero emissions a reality throughout the Bay Area,” said Brian Carolin, senior vice president, sales and marketing, Nissan North America. “In one year, Nissan LEAF zero-emission vehicles will be driving on the streets of San Francisco.”

More than half of San Francisco’s greenhouse gas emissions come from the transportation sector.  Ushering in the use of zero-emission electric vehicles and clean, energy efficient plug-in hybrids is part of the Bay Area’s efforts to meet its critically important climate protection goals, along with promoting greater use of transit, bicycles and other alternatives to gasoline cars.

One year ago, Mayors Newsom, Reed and Dellums jointly announced their plan to start a region-wide program to transform the San Francisco Bay Area into the EV Capital of the U.S. That regional EV initiative, now called the Bay Area EV Corridor Program, has led to coordinated efforts by public and private stakeholders throughout the entire region to promote the use of plug-in vehicles.

“The Bay Area stands at the forefront of the electric vehicle movement,” said Mayor Dellums. “This regional collaboration is another bold step in finding ways to transcend our own limited boundaries and joining efforts to wrestle global warming to the ground. This approach for creating a network of EV-ready communities in the Bay Area has been embraced enthusiastically in the region, and will be a key to our success,” said Mayor Dellums.

“This effort to make the Bay Area EV-ready shows the innovation that can happen when the public and private sectors work together. Our work has great potential to both protect the environment and create clean tech jobs,” said Mayor Reed.

Other members of the Bay Area EV Corridor program include: all nine Bay Area counties and numerous cities; the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG), Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD), and Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC); major business associations such as Bay Area Council and Silicon Valley Leadership Group; PG&E, EPRI, local businesses including EV infrastructure companies Better Place and Coulomb Technologies, auto companies and others.

San Francisco recently received a $1 million federal appropriation to support EV initiatives, and two regional grants totaling three-quarters million dollars have been received for EV technical training and curriculum development.