Nissan gets the jump on the green car race
June 29, 2009 by Tom GuayPosted in: In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views, News, Technology
Waiting for the market for electric vehicles to develop is like preparing for the upcoming baseball or football season. Everything looks great on paper before the games begin.
In the pre-season matchups, Nissan just won an easy entry into the electric vehicle (EV) playoff race.
The company this week announced it will build affordable, mass produced EVs and start getting them on the road by 2010. It plans to make 100,000 EVs a year and will build them in Tennessee. Nissan’s EV is expected to be priced under $20,000, but officially, the company’s only saying that its EV will be very affordable. Global mass production will be under way by 2012.
All this opens the door for businesses to consider EVs as a way to enhance their green image. If Nissan delivers on the affordable promise, EVs will make economic sense for businesses, especially for company vehicles that cover predictable, regular routes.
Benefits include fuel savings (remember $4/gallon gasoline?) and credits for reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions as well as standard air pollution. And, unlike gasoline- and diesel-powered vehicles and even some hybrids, a fully electric EV doesn’t burn any fuel while at idle.
If Nissan can come through on its promise to market an affordable EV, it could capture the market even though the company is a relative newcomer to the EV game. Other EV ideas in the works are pricey, top-end models. GM’s much touted Chevy Volt for example, is expected to cost more than $40,000.
Some photos of Nissan’s hybrid EV van and sedan offerings are here. Some pics of the Chevy Volt are here.
Nissan’s announcement pulled the rug out from under Ford’s big EV news. The American automaker got a press boost last week when it won a $5.9 billion loan from the Department of Energy to help produce EVs in 2010 and 2011. Nissan got a $1.6 billion loan for its EV work and newcomer, California-based Tesla Motors got $465 million to help produce its $50,000 Model S electric sedan.
For a pic of an electric Ford Focus and details of the DoE funding, click here.
Tags: carbon dioxide, Chevy Volt, electric vehicles, EVs, Ford, GM, Nissan
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July 2nd, 2009 at 2:10 pm
No one’s going to buy a $50,000+ electric car which has to be charged up frequently and only goes 30 MPH. More enviro-whacko hokum.
July 9th, 2009 at 2:27 pm
One thing that should be noted is that Nissan is doing this all WITHOUT any of Nobama’s stimulous or governmental bailout. Now that is something that is important to note, but is the mainstream media going to announce it?
Change we can believe in – indeed.
August 5th, 2009 at 3:23 am
The CO2 missions are increasing much, and the big usage of automobiles last years, means that it will not stop increasing. We should reduce it, with such cars, like this. I hope that car builders will pay more attention to the earth and will care about it much more.