Oregon Public Broadcasting

Nissan is betting on Oregon as a market for its new mass-market electric car.

The zero-emission Nissan LEAF goes on the market in December. The company picked Hillsboro for a test-drive tour.

Of the hundreds of people who showed up, some were just curious about a possible tax credit. Others, like Steven and Heather Spates have been eyeing electrics for a long time.

They drove all the way from Puyallup, Washington with their nine-month old twins for the test drive.

Steven Spates “Initially, I wanted something like the Aptera, which is a two-seater car that’s very high efficiency, but when we had the twins, we needed something with a little more room.”

Saturday at the Solarworld factory in Hillsboro, drivers stood in lines for three separate sales pitches before they got near the car. Portlander Steven Kelsui didn’t care for the wait.

Steven Kelsui “It’s like being locked up with an Amway salesman, people shouting at you with a microphone about how great this car is!”

That said, he likes what he’s seeing in the LEAF. Its lithium-ion battery, goes over a hundred miles on a single charge.

Nissan has targeted Portland as one of the first markets to host public charging stations for electric vehicles.