Dates and cities have been announced for the "Zero Emission Tour" that will introduce the 2012 Nissan Leaf hatchback electric car to potential buyers in the U.S. markets where it will first be sold.

The car won't be sold nationwide for more than two years. Instead, it will be offered where Nissan has negotiated agreements with electric utilities. So far, that list includes Seattle, Portland, San Diego, Phoenix / Tucson, and Nashville (home of its U.S. headquarters).

Nissan will start taking reservations for the Leaf next spring, and hopes to gather 20,000 U.S. advance orders for the Leaf by the end of next year. That's when first deliveries of 5,000 cars will go to selected fleets and up to 5,000 consumers in the first markets.


The goal is to give Nissan real-world data on how drivers really use electric cars before the company offers the car more widely.

Compact size, midsize space

The 2012 Nissan Leaf is a five-seat hatchback about the size of a compact car, but is said to offer the interior space of a midsize vehicle like, perhaps, the 2010 Toyota Prius hybrid. It is a dedicated design, meaning it doesn't share body panels with any gasoline vehicle.

Nissan claims a range of 100 miles when its 24-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery pack is fully charged. An 80-kilowatt (108-horsepower) electric motor powers the front wheels.