(April 22, 2013) NEW YORK — To celebrate Earth Day, Nissan and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg today launched a new electric vehicle taxi pilot with the world's best-selling electric car, Nissan Leaf. This pilot program, which puts six Leaf taxis into service beginning this spring, will help Nissan, the city, the taxi industry and the public understand how zero emission vehicles can be integrated into future taxi fleets.

Joe Castelli, vice president, Nissan Commercial Vehicles said: "As part of our commitment to zero emission vehicles for the mass-market, Nissan is looking for ways to broaden the use of electric cars, including commercial applications like taxis. Following the selection of Nissan NV200 as New York City's Taxi of Tomorrow, our relationship with the city provides us the ultimate proving ground to conduct this Leaf taxi pilot to help optimize the use of electric vehicle technology for future applications."

"Even though the Taxi of Tomorrow won't be on the road for another six months, we're already looking ahead to the taxi of the day after tomorrow," Bloomberg said. "Nissan's proven track record with electric vehicles will put us ahead of the curve in helping us answer important questions about incorporating electric taxis into the fleet so that we can achieve the goal of a one-third electric taxi fleet by 2020."

As part of the pilot, Nissan and partners in New York City will also install several CHAdeMO-based DC quick chargers, which will enable drivers to re-charge their electric taxis quickly during their shift. With quick charging, Nissan Leaf can be recharged to about 80 percent in under 30 minutes.

Now in its third model year, Nissan Leaf is the world's best-selling pure electric vehicle with nearly 60,000 cumulative sales worldwide. For 2013, Leaf features numerous customer-focused upgrades and is now being assembled at Nissan's plant in Smryna, Tenn.

Leaf is powered by a responsive 80kW AC synchronous motor produced at Nissan's Powertrain Assembly plant in Decherd, Tenn., with energy supplied by an advanced 48-module lithium-ion battery assembled at Nissan's new battery plant in Smyrna.