Nissan will start taking reservations for the Leaf electric vehicle in April, start building them by October and have the first of them rolling into driveways in December.

The automaker outlined the timeline late Thursday at the end of a 24-city “Zero-Emission Tour” to build buzz for the Leaf electric car. The plan closely mirrors that of the Chevrolet Volt, putting Nissan and General Motors neck-and-neck in the race to be the first automaker with a mass-market EV in showrooms.

Nissan has spent three months showing off the Leaf during a coast-to-coast road trip to spread the EV gospel. The tour kicked off in Los Angeles, where Nissan CEO and avowed EV evangelist Carlos Ghosn said consumers would own the car but lease the battery.

Turns out that won’t be the case.

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 The city has signed an agreement with Nissan Motor Co. to explore ways to prepare for a coming tiny wave of new electric vehicles, or EVs. The "Zero Emission Mobility Project" includes developing plans for a network of battery-charging stations that would take the place of gas stations for electric cars.

 It's part of a wider initiative that also includes Orange County, the Orlando Utilities Commission and Progress Energy. To promote the agreement, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer and Orange County Mayor Rich Crotty took a break from their government-issue SUVs Tuesday to test-drive a prototype of Nissan's new electric car in a downtown parking garage.

 If the company remains on schedule, the Nissan Leaf later this year will be the first mass-market all-electric vehicle released in the U.S. For Nissan, the agreement is a way to promote the Leaf to a buying public still in love with gas-guzzlers.

 Read more at the Orlando Sentinel