Nissan looks to an electric future.

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26/09/2008

Nissan announced it will introduce an affordable, all-electric vehicle known as the Cube by 2010 that will be offered worldwide by 2012. Its success will depend largely on battery technology, a dependency that GM see as a road block for their all electric car the Volt. Not just the cost of batteries but the tried and tested safety of them as well. As a young boy, growing up in London , it was not unusual to see electric milk wagons going from street to street and at the end of the day, limping back to the depot to charge up for the next day. Surely, some research came out of that? I know if I was stuck behind one of those slow poke milk wagons, an automotive executive at some time had to have been! Nissan should have no problem convincing consumers that most of their daily driving needs can be met by small electric vehicles that can't drive as far or as fast as conventional cars. Art Spinella, president of CNW Marketing Research in Bandon, Ore. Claims, "It is a risky move for them. On a scale of one to 10, I'd say it's an eight," Nissan has one hybrid model, the Altima Hybrid, sold in only eight states and has put the company behind other automakers in the race to develop alternative drive technology. But if the gamble pays off, the company could leap ahead of its competitors. Nissan are planning to make hybrid versions of existing cars rather than design a model specifically as a hybrid only, as with Toyota and Prius and as Honda will do with its Insight. That decision allows Nissan to put more effort into developing electric vehicles. A spokesperson for Nissan said the main goal was to provide a vehicle that would get people to and from work on one charge. Nissan did not say how far it expects the electric vehicle will go on a single charge. Chevrolet is aiming for a 40-mile electric-only range for its Volt plug-in. But the Volt will have a small gas engine on board that will work as a generator to replenish the batteries and in turn, extend the driving range. Other major carmakers are rushing to get alternative vehicles on the road as well. Ford, Subaru, Mitsubishi and Toyota are all working on battery-powered and next-generation hybrid vehicles. Battery technology is the ‘Holy Grail’ for this technology. That's the thing that is making electric vehicles cost-prohibitive. Even so, The Ford Company sees battery technology as preferable over hydrogen for the manufacturing of alternative vehicles. Advanced lithium-ion batteries produced by Nissan and NEC Corp. under their joint venture, Automotive Energy Supply Corporation will be used for the all electric Cube. The batteries are more reliable, safer and less expensive than conventional nickel metal-hydride batteries, Nissan says. They also provide twice the power and take up less space than conventional batteries. While consumers definitely show interest in electric vehicles, the cost and maintenance of electric vehicles could put off potential buyers, CNW's Spinella says. The technology is still developing and at this time very costly, the batteries for the next generation hybrid like Chevy’s Volt are said to be in the region of ten thousand dollars. A Norwegian based company called Think Global lease the batteries for their electric vehicles and is one way of keeping cost down for the electric auto maker but will add another hundred or two a month for the consumer.