Nissan was at the Tokyo Motor Show and annoucned today that they have sold over 20,000 Leaf vehicles since the car went for sale in December 2010. Of the 20,000 Leaf vehicles, about 9,000 was sold in the United States. About 60% of those sales took place in California. Nissan said that they expect to sell over 10,000 Leafs in the U.S. by the end of 2011. [Autoblog]

Nissan has released an official Android app for Leaf owners that allows users to control their EV from their smartphones. The app shows the vehicle’s charge and can start or stop charging the vehicle with a single button. Nissan also provides app-controlled climate control and a climate control timer. [Engadget]

Nissan’s EV Leaf will come with a “Leaf to Home” system option in Japan by March of 2012. The system will allow users to plug their homes into their cars to charge, using the Leaf’s stored electricity. Bloomberg reports that Nissan hopes to sell 1.5 million electric vehicles within the next six years.

In the state of Washington around the Cascade Mountains, there will be some 480V AC/DC EV charging stations installed. The 2-3 stations being installed in the 120-mile Rt. 2 stretch in the mountains are part of the 310 charging stations ordered to be installed by the government. These stations can charge a Nissan Leaf electric car to 80% in 30 minutes.

Nissan announced today that the Leaf electric car will cost about $32,780.  After a federal tax credit of $7,500, the car will cost about $25,280.  The Nissan Leaf competitor Chevy Volt will cost about $32,500 after the federal tax credit.

The Leaf will be going on sale this December, which is about a month after the Volt is released.  Infiniti will also be making a luxury version of the Leaf.

“We’ve been working in lithium ion batteries for 17 years,” stated Nissan director of product planning Mark Perry. “So all that advanced research and engineering work we’ve [already] paid for.” The Nissan LEAF will have an iPhone application available for checking temperature and battery levels. [CNN]

Nissan Motor Company, Ltd. is currently working on an iPhone application that will allow their electric car owners to log in to their car and check the battery level and temperature of their vehicle remotely.  The application was demonstrated at the research facility in Japan recently.

The iPhone application also allows the electric car owners to adjust the temperature within the car remotely.  The application is still a prototype and it will work with the upcoming Nissan LEAF automobile.

The Nissan LEAF is expected to launch in late 2010 in the U.S., Japan, and Europe.  The LEAF will have 5 seats and a range of over 100 miles.  The LEAF also has a zero-emission power train and an advanced intelligent transportation system built in.

[via Nissan PR/InfoWorld/SlashDot]