Early orders for the Nissan Leaf have far exceeded expectations, with as many as 6,635 orders being placed in the US in just the first three days.  An additional 3,700 orders were placed in the Japanese markets. These numbers represent as many as 20 percent of the all-electric hatchbacks sales target for the first year of production (50,000 units). Pre-orders for the Nissan leaf requires a $99 reservation fee. Nissan has previously stated that it would love to have at least 40% of the total production units to be reserved by December of this year.

“We had 2,700 reservations in the first three hours,” said Dave Mingle, senior director for customer management at Nissan. “It exceeded what we expected, though we knew from what the hand-raisers were telling us this is an exceptionally passionate crowd.“

The four-door, five-passenger Nissan Leaf was open for reservation by Tuesday afternoon, and the world went crazy for this all-electric hatchback which will go on sale in December for $25,280, following the $7,500 federal tax break for environmentally friendly cars. You might just be a tad bit more luckier if you happen to be living in the state of California – the state offers an additional $5,000 rebate through the state Air Resources Board.

The Leaf will initially be available only in a handful of states to start with – California, Seattle, Oregon, Phoenix and east-central Tennessee (where Nissan is HQ’d) – however, Nissan plans to give it a wider release by the end of 2011.

The Nissan leaf will be available in two versions – the standard ST model and the premium SL model. The SL model will cost you an additional $940, and will include a rearview backup camera and a solar-panel spoiler to charge the batteries for accessories. Powered by a 24-kilowatt-hour, lithium-ion battery pack, the Nissan Leaf can travel up to hundred miles per charge, while attaining a top speeds of 90 miles per hour.