First Nissan Leaf lands in Portland

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Nissan Leaf nabbed the top spot for the Kelley Blue Book's greenest car list.

The first delivery of a Nissan Leaf takes place today at Tonkin Wilsonville Nissan.

The all-electric car is destined for a Portland-area customer and is part of a week of first-delivery Leaf celebrations in markets including Phoenix, Seattle, Southern California and Tennessee.

Oregon's first official Nissan Leaf customer is John Duncan, a semi-retired University of Oregon professor who got his Leaf order in with the first batch that was processed by the company. He ordered a silver one.

Nissan USA spokeswoman Katherine Zachary said the next shipment of the new Leaf cars is expected to arrive in Southern California on Dec. 20, resulting in more Oregon deliveries around the first of the year.

Nissan will hold a reception Thursday night at the Oregon Museum of Science & Industry to celebrate the launch of the car. The company has worked for more than a year on the launch with partners including Oregon state government and Portland General Electric.

List price for the vehicle is $32,780. Oregon buyers will receive a $1,500 tax credit on top of a federal tax credit of up to $7,500, potentially bringing the cost down to $23,780. Reservations for the Leaf vehicle sold out earlier this year.

The Leaf was named 2011 European Car of the Year, the first time an all-electric vehicle received the designation.

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