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.

Renault might not be the first car manufacturer to market electric cars, as Fluence ZE and Kangoo ZE will hit the road mid 2011, but in order to give a flavour of those exciting models, a lot of pre series cars will be seen on European roads this year.