March 24 - Companies in The Netherlands have this week taken delivery of the Nissan LEAF, hot on the heels of the first deliveries in the UK.
LeasePlan, the City of Amsterdam and BAM Building Contractors received a total of 18 white LEAFs from a Nissan dealer in Amsterdam. During the next few weeks, another 82 cars will be delivered in the Netherlands.
In the UK, the first deliveries went to private customers, not companies. Deliveries to private customers in The Netherlands are expected to start in June as Nissan announces more Leaf dealers.
Working with Nissan, LeasePlan and the City of Amsterdam have pledged to put electric cars on the map in the Netherlands. LeasePlan is the first lease company in Europe to include the LEAF in its fleet. City of Amsterdam users will include Rijkswaterstaat, the executive arm of the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Environment.
Amsterdam, a pioneer in the use of electric vehicles, is working closely with Nissan on a pilot project involving 100 LEAFs.
As Aad van Dijk, managing director of Nissan in the Netherlands, put it, "Today, we are taking a special step with the delivery of the Nissan LEAF. We are on our way to a new, sustainable form of car driving."