The largest electricity utility in Chile and one of the largest in the world, Enel, somewhat recently began an initiative to get more of its Chilean employees driving electric vehicles. The initiative was pretty simple and effective — offering a subsidy for the purchase of an electric car. Following this raffle, 25 of the Enel employees decided to get a Nissan Leaf.
Now, Nissan has gone ahead and delivered this fleet of 25 Leaf EVs to those Enel employees at a ceremony attended by Chile’s Minister of Energy, Andrés Rebolledo; the general manager of Enel Chile, Nicola Cotugno; and the CEO of Nissan Chile, Santiago Castro.
“Today we celebrate a very important milestone for Enel, which will mark a before and after in the massification of electric mobility in Chile,” commented Nicola Cotugno, general manager of Enel Chile. “Through our workers, we will put electric cars in circulation in the streets of Santiago. This delivery confirms that electric mobility is viable and attractive in price compared to conventional cars. Besides, we take a very important step in the real contribution to the decontamination of our city.”
The Nissan Leaf EVs being sold in Chile will be backed by the distributor Salazar & Israel, according to the press release.
“We are happy to bring to Chile the best-selling electric car in the world,” commented Santiago Castro, CEO of Nissan Chile. “Nissan LEAF is now available in the country exclusively for fleet customers. In the case of Enel, we share the vision and internal culture of using technology for the environment. We are pleased with the interest of its partners in being pioneers in Chile, in the same way that Nissan was when we launched the first electric vehicle of mass use in 2010.”
In related news, and as we’ve reported numerous times now, a longer-range, refreshed version of the Nissan Leaf is slated to be released later this year — which is probably part of the reason that deals for the sale of affordable fleets of current-generation Leafs seem to be more and more common.
It should also be noted that these LEAFs will often be powered by solar energy from Enel solar power plants (or other solar power plants). Chile was one of the first countries where solar power become the cheapest option for new electricity production capacity, Enel was often a low bidder in electricity/solar auctions, and it has installed some large solar power plants in the country. For more on these topics, see:
- Solar Cheapest Electricity Option In Chile
- Christian Siemoneit: “Over the last years, the Chilean market has really blossomed.”
- Chile Announces Plans For 1 Gigawatt Solar Park
- New Low Solar Price Record Set In Chile — 2.91¢ Per kWh!
- Enel Commissions Its Largest Solar PV Project In Chile
- Enel Green Power Brings Over 100 MW Of New Solar PV Capacity Online In Chile
- Enel Begins Construction On Largest Solar Project In The Americas
Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News!
Have a tip for CleanTechnica, want to advertise, or want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here.
Former Tesla Battery Expert Leading Lyten Into New Lithium-Sulfur Battery Era — Podcast:
I don't like paywalls. You don't like paywalls. Who likes paywalls? Here at CleanTechnica, we implemented a limited paywall for a while, but it always felt wrong — and it was always tough to decide what we should put behind there. In theory, your most exclusive and best content goes behind a paywall. But then fewer people read it! We just don't like paywalls, and so we've decided to ditch ours. Unfortunately, the media business is still a tough, cut-throat business with tiny margins. It's a never-ending Olympic challenge to stay above water or even perhaps — gasp — grow. So ...
