Electric cars arrive in Puget Sound area

EVERETT — Electric cars are finally gaining some momentum.

The Nissan Leaf made its debut in the Puget Sound area Friday, and some customers in Snohomish County could receive them before the end of the month.

Jennifer Steele and Jonathan Hoekstra of Seattle on Friday became the first private owners of an all-electric Leaf in Washington state. The couple took delivery of their new red Leaf in front of television news crews at Stadium Nissan in Seattle.

The couple was the first in the area to submit their request and have it match up with a car that was built and ready to go, said Katherine Zachary, a spokeswoman for Nissan North America.

“This was the first fit,” she said.

The arrival of the new cars — others are on the way as well — plus government investment in new charging stations means 2011 could be a watershed year for the use of all-electric vehicles.

Already, one Everett dealership reports more than a dozen people have signed up to buy plug-in electric cars. The county also recently got a grant to set up two charging stations in Everett.

Nationwide, about 20,000 people are on a reservation list for a car they haven't seen in person.

Friday's event was the fifth on a six-city unveiling tour for Nissan. The first four were in Phoenix, San Diego, San Francisco and Portland, Ore.,, with one more to go in Nashville, Tenn. This makes Steele and Hoekstra the fifth private household in the nation to receive a Leaf.

A boatload of Leafs is expected to arrive in Seattle from Japan on Monday, Zachary said.

The Chevy Volt will be a little later in rolling in to Western Washington but could start showing up here in the middle of 2011, said Gordy Bjorg of Roy Robinson Chevrolet-Subaru in Marysville.

Buying either the Leaf or the Volt is not as simple as going to the dealership, taking one for a spin and driving it off the lot. They can't be test-driven — they have to be pre-ordered.

That could eventually change, but right now “it's a pre-sold, ship-in type of thing,” said Bob Hansen, Leaf sales leader for Performance Nissan of Everett.

Some of the dealerships have demo cars to view and sit inside. Performance Nissan probably won't get one until the spring, Hansen said.

More than 1,100 people in Western Washington are on the reservation list, 90 through Performance Nissan, Hansen said. Of those in Everett, 16 have committed to buying one of the cars, he said.

Two types of people have expressed interest, he said. One has the attitude of “‘I'd like to see it before I drive it,'” he said. The others are more like “‘I can't wait to get it, we're excited.'”

The second group is more likely to be “greener,” he said, with solar panels on their homes and taking other steps to make their lives more environmentally conscious.

Getting on the reservation list costs $99 and, if the car is purchased, includes installation of a charging kit at home, Hansen said.

The car can be charged using a standard outlet but it takes longer — 16 to 18 hours from empty to full compared to eight hours with the charging equipment, he said.

The charging unit includes a plug that looks like a blow dryer. This connects to the car through a portal in the front, between the license plate and the hood.

The Volt has been introduced in four test markets, Bjorg said: Austin, Texas, New York City, California and Washington, D.C.

“They're going to slowly grow past those markets,” he said. It's not certain when it will reach Western Washington, he said.

“We're going to take them as they're allocated to us,” he said. Bjorg has just started building a reservation list. “There've been a lot of inquiries.”

He's been to Detroit and seen the Volt and sat inside.

“I liked the car. It's a very impressive looking vehicle. Very comfortable.”

Several local governments have added electric cars to their fleets, but only a couple of makes have been widely available to consumers until now. These include the Tesla motors models, which carry much heftier price tags than the Volt and Leaf.

In the next two years, at least nine other auto manufacturers plan to roll out electric or hybrid plug-in cars.

Unlike electric cars of the past, the new vehicles go farther on a single charge and can reach highway speeds.

The Leaf has a range of 80 to 100 miles and can reach 90 mph. Its base price is $32,780 — less with a $7,500 federal tax rebate.

One of the biggest roadblocks to electric cars so far has been a lack of public places to charge their batteries. The federal government is spending millions on building a network of 220-volt and 440-volt charging stations. The government is paying for a $100 million demonstration project in six states called The EV Project. The Northwest is one of the target regions and 2,000 stations are planned for the Seattle area, including along I-5.

More federal grants also are slated to pay for more charging stations in local communities, including Mountlake Terrace.

Snohomish County received money and plans to set up 20 recharging stalls at the county's public garage in downtown Everett and the McCollum Park park-and-ride in south Everett.

The county is including technology that allows it to bill a user for electricity via credit or debit card.

Other stalls would be installed at the Cathcart property outside Snohomish, the Evergreen State Fairgrounds in Monroe and another undetermined park-and-ride.

The state Department of Transportation is working with other agencies to create the country's first “electric highway” — a network of public-access charging stations along I-5.

The state has received federal economic stimulus funds to build four or five charging stations along the I-5 corridor from Canada to Oregon. The $1.32 million would ultimately pay for seven to 10 stations on I-5 and I-90.

The first should be ready at the Gee Creek Rest Area at I-5 northbound in the Vancouver area, and the Custer Rest Area, on I-5 southbound in the Blaine area, said Tonia Buell, a project manager for the state Department of Transportation.

Herald reporter Debra Smith contributed to this story.

Bill Sheets: 425-339-3439; sheets@heraldnet.com.