Blog of RENAULT NISSAN Alliance

The ambitions of Renault-Nissan to be the world leader in zero emissions have received timely boosts – and this time well away from the Salon d’Auto in Paris.

Leading hire car company Avis has just announced that it has pre-ordered 500 Renault EVs while LeasePLan has signed an agreement with Nissan to offer the LEAF on its fleet in Europe from next year.

Avis customers will be able to hire zero emission Fluence and Kangoo Express in seven countries from the end of next year.

It’s a great way for motorists in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain and the UK to be able to experience driving an electric vehicle and learn of the environmental benefits that this new generation of vehicles will bring.

Fluence and Kangoo Express are the first of four Renault EVs – the other two production models are Twizy, a two-seat, four-wheel city commuter, and ZOE, a compact hatchback designed for every day use.

The other big deal for Europe comes from LeasePlan which has agreed to buy more than 100 LEAFs and offer them to its customers in 13 countries, starting in early 2011 to coincide with Nissan's launch plans in those markets.

The project will focus on driver behaviour and the operational side of running a fleet of zero-emission battery-powered cars. LeasePlan adds Denmark, Finland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland to those countries where Avis will operate.

At the same time, Japan has announced that it has received 6,000 reservations for LEAF while Nissan North America has just announced that it has received its 20,000th reservation – three months ahead of the target date to reach this milestone.

Deliveries of LEAF start in December, which is the time Nissan North America had pencilled in to reach this particular milestone. Now Nissan is in a position to close LEAF reservations until next year to give time to process the current block of orders.

The other cheering aspect of this is that it has all happened just days before Nissan starts its US 23-city ‘Drive Electric Tour’ which will give reservation holders and those interested in driving a LEAF a chance to experience all-electric driving firsthand and no doubt win new fans to the cause of zero emissions motoring.