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Redwood City Man Owns First Green Leaf

REDWOOD CITY (CBS) -- Nissan North America Inc. delivered its first all-electric Leaf Saturday to a young tech executive in Redwood City.

Olivier Chalouhi was the first U.S. resident to reserve one of the new plug-in hatchbacks. Leaf buyers in Southern California, Arizona, Oregon, Tennessee and Seattle will start receiving their cars in the coming weeks.

The Leaf is the first in what promises to be a wave of electric cars intended for the mass market. The MSRP is $32,780. A federal clean-car tax credit and a California rebate bring the price down to $20,280.

Nissan plans to make 50,000 Leafs in the car's first year and has taken reservations for 20,000.

In a few weeks, GM will start delivering the Chevy Volt. Unlike the all-electric Leaf, the Volt has a gasoline-powered engine that kicks in once the battery runs down.

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