Nissan North America's nationwide tour to promote its forthcoming electric sedan, the Leaf, cruised through the SDan Francisco Bay Area Monday, stopping long enough to sign an agreement with San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom on developing a local charging infrastructure there. ———- Click here for more Leaf pics. ———- The plan is to collaborate on a network of residential charging stations that Nissan hopes will ease consumer fears about electric cars and how to fuel them. As part of that agreement, the car company also agreed to make the Bay Area among the first retail markets to receive the car in 2011 or 2012. Tracy Woodard, director of government affairs at Nissan, said the idea is to help San Francisco County and eight other counties in the region “get the kinks out” in terms of permitting construction of charging units in residences and offices. “We want to make sure the home and workplace are taken care of first,” said Woodard, explaining that Nissan's research indicates that about 80 percent of all charging will take place in the home or office. A larger public infrastructure of charging stations would come later, she said, after demand drives local governments and power suppliers to build a network away from home and office charging facilities. “That's up to the city and all the different localities,” Woodard said. “We think the public infrastructure is going to be there.” Because the Leaf's range is about 100 miles, Nissan appears to be making a bet on urban drivers content to make most of their trips locally. Experts in the industry say that means families would likely regard the Leaf as …
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Nissan, San Francisco to Collaborate on Network of Residential Charging Stations
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