<P> The Mitsubishi i - MiEV was launched in Japan for fleet customers in July 2009, and for individual customers in April 2010, followed by sales to the public in Hong Kong in May 2010, and Australia in July 2010 via leasing . The i - MiEV was launched in Europe in December 2010, including a rebadged version sold in Europe as Peugeot iOn and Citroën C - Zero . The market launch in the Americas began in Costa Rica in February 2011, followed by Chile in May 2011 . Fleet and retail customer deliveries in the U.S. and Canada began in December 2011 . Accounting for all vehicles of the iMiEV brand, Mitsubishi reports around 27,200 units sold or exported since 2009 through December 2012, including the minicab MiEVs sold in Japan, and the units rebadged and sold as Peugeot iOn and Citroën C - Zero in the European market . </P> <P> Senior leaders at several large automakers, including Nissan and General Motors, have stated that the Roadster was a catalyst which demonstrated that there is pent - up consumer demand for more efficient vehicles . In an August 2009 edition of The New Yorker, GM vice-chairman Bob Lutz was quoted as saying, "All the geniuses here at General Motors kept saying lithium - ion technology is 10 years away, and Toyota agreed with us--and boom, along comes Tesla . So I said,' How come some tiny little California startup, run by guys who know nothing about the car business, can do this, and we can't?' That was the crowbar that helped break up the log jam ." </P> <P> The Nissan Leaf, introduced in Japan and the United States in December 2010, became the first modern all - electric, zero tailpipe emission five door family hatchback to be produced for the mass market from a major manufacturer . As of January 2013, the Leaf is also available in Australia, Canada and 17 European countries . </P> <P> The Better Place network was the first modern commercial deployment of the battery swapping model . The Renault Fluence Z.E. was the first mass production electric car enable with switchable battery technology and sold for the Better Place network in Israel and Denmark . Better Place launched its first battery - swapping station in Israel, in Kiryat Ekron, near Rehovot in March 2011 . The battery exchange process took five minutes . As of December 2012, there were 17 battery switch stations fully operational in Denmark enabling customers to drive anywhere across the country in an electric car . By late 2012 the company began to suffer financial difficulties, and decided to put on hold the roll out in Australia and reduce its non-core activities in North America, as the company decided to concentrate its resources on its two existing markets . On 26 May 2013, Better Place filed for bankruptcy in Israel . The company's financial difficulties were caused by the high investment required to develop the charging and swapping infrastructure, about US $850 million in private capital, and a market penetration significantly lower than originally predicted by Shai Agassi . Less than 1,000 Fluence Z.E. cars were deployed in Israel and around 400 units in Denmark . </P>

When was the first mass produced electric car