Not long ago SolarWorld a leading global solar panel manufacturer awarded Muhammad Yunus Nobel Peace Prize laureate and micro-finance pioneer, the 2010 SolarWorld Einstein Award for his breakthrough concept of micro-loans for the poor, which have helped millions of people worldwide to escape poverty. Now SolarWorld will serve as the sole Oregon host site of the “drive electric tour” sponsored by Nissan LEAF on Nov. 5, 6 and 7, giving the region’s many electric-vehicle enthusiasts a long-awaited chance to get behind the wheel of a zero-emission Nissan LEAF. The tour highlights mutual aims of electric vehicles and solar power.
The tour stop on SolarWorld’s busy campus points to the advances of two industry pioneers in promoting technologies that affordably curb environmentally noxious gases. Nissan is presenting its LEAF sedan as the first mass-produced, affordable 100%-electric-with-zero-emissions vehicle.The SolarWorld stop on Nissan’s “drive electric tour” is the sixth in a 22-city route that began in October and ends in March. The tour features several display areas, each highlighting a specific attribute or benefit of the car. Visitors will be able to drive the Nissan LEAF with a “co-pilot” to answer their questions and show them of all the interior features of the car. Visitors also can inquire about SolarWorld.
The Portland metropolitan-area market has proven to be an enthusiastic adopter of both the Nissan LEAF and SolarWorld’s solar panels, according to officials of both companies. Consumers there have reserved the Nissan LEAF and selected SolarWorld panels at vigorous rates. “The day of the all-electric Nissan LEAF, as well as expanded production of SolarWorld’s high-performance solar panels, has come,” said Gordon Brinser, President of SolarWorld Industries America Inc. “We are only too delighted that in Oregon the two are arriving in exactly the same place.” “Nissan deliberately chose the SolarWorld campus as an ideal place to showcase our exciting driving solution to the twin pressing needs for high affordability and no emissions,” said Jay Schaffer, Promotions and Lifestyle Marketing Manager, Nissan North America. “Both companies’ visions are lighting the way to a bright future for key products and technologies that do their jobs superlatively well, put consumers on a sounder environmental footing and work for their pocketbooks.”
For reservations, times and other details relating to all stops along the “drive electric tour,”