This year can be the year in which electric cars make headway in attracting a large number of customers who want to buy a vehicle that has no gas emmissions over a vehicle that runs on fossil fuels. But many problems must be overcome before electric cars become a transportation mainstay.
Nissan kicked off fierce competition in electric car sales with the December launch of the Leaf, a five-door hatchback, in Japan and the United States. The Leaf has already found 6,000 customers in Japan — its sales target for the first three months of 2011. In the U.S., 20,000 customers have signed up to buy a Leaf, enabling Nissan to fulfill its initial sales goal.
Mitsubishi Motor, which started selling the i MiEV to corporate customers in July 2009, started selling the electric car to individual customers in April 2010. Toyoto and Honda plan to introduce electric versions of the iQ microcar and the Fit five-door subcompact, respectively, in Japan and the U.S. in 2012.