Exec Explains Why Nissan is Betting on Pure Electric Vehicles

Exec Explains Why Nissan is Betting on Pure Electric Vehicles

gm-volt.com

The yet-to-be-seen 5 seat compact car will begin mass production in late 2010 and will be available in the North American market. It will have a 100 mile electric range. The image above is the mule using a Cube body, and has nothing to do with the final design. I had the chance to discuss this upcoming vehicle and strategy with Mark Perry who is Nissan’s director of product planning.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Nissan has announced that it will be unveiling a global pure electric vehicle in Japan on August 2nd. The yet-to-be-seen 5 seat compact car will begin mass production in late 2010 and will be available in the North American market. It will have a 100 mile electric range. The image above is the mule using a Cube body, and has nothing to do with the final design. I had the chance to discuss this upcoming vehicle and strategy with Mark Perry who is Nissan’s director of product planning.

Other companies are doing gas plug-in hybrids and EREVs, but Nissan has put its money on the pure electric, why is that and what do you think of the Volt?
I only will talk about us. The whole issue on our mind is zero emissions. The only way you can achieve zero emission at the tailpipe is in a pure battery electric vehicle. You’re zero emission all the time, you don’t fall off the wagon after 12 miles or 40 miles. When you make that commitment you’re looking ahead not only to the regulatory pressure that’s coming but the consumer and environmental pressure that’s coming. To achieve zero emissions you have to do it with electrification.

Now you can still do fuel cells or plug-in battery electrics. Every manufacturer has those same two options. But fuel cells and hydrogen are a lot longer away than a vehicle you can plug into the existing electric grid.

I assume Nissan isn’t going to change its whole fleet into electric cars, so why not have a car in between? Obviously there are range limitations.
Again what you’re talking about is, he who wins in the zero emission race is he who gets his costs down and his manufacturing scale high. So how do you start, you start now. You make investments in assembly plants globally. Building hundreds of thousands of vehicles is what we’re setting out to do.

Now we’re not saying that the internal combustion engine is disappearing but long-term to achieve the 90% reduction in CO2 that all the policy makers, all the regulatory folks and the scientists are all calling for, the only way you can do it is through electrification. You cannot improve the combustion engine to achieve a 90% reduction in CO2.

There is also the rational issue and the emotional issue. The rational issue is 98% of the population drives less than 100 miles per day. That’s a fact. Volt has picked 40 because that number is 72 to 76%. So if I have 100 miles of range I’m more than covering people’s daily commuting and transportation needs and allowing them to charge overnight and become zero emission all the time.

The question always comes is this my primary or my secondary car? The answer is what’s your definition of your primary car? If your primary car is the vehilce you use every day you go back and forth to work in you do your chores and your shopping, then this is your primary car. The car you take on vacation or carry seven people or tow your boat with that’s your other car.

So you’re aiming at a very specific market with this vehicle?
Not a specific market, it’s the mass market.

What about range anxiety?
Thats a behavioral issue. People today are used to having no restraints. So you can buy as big a house as you want and spend as much money on credit cards as you want and continue to pollute and drive around in a 5000 pound vehicle with 350 miles of gasoline in your tank. Those things clearly are charging. We know from all the consumer research we have done that there are plenty of people that are looking for that alternative and want it, and are just waiting for somebody to come with a mass market affordable electric vehicle for them to drive. Not some neighborhood electric vehicle or something with 20 miles of range, but something that they can use every day. That’s what we’re looking to do.

gm-volt.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Could they have made it any more ugly :|

Nissan is awesome. I couldn't be happier to own two of their vehicles and would definitely consider buying another one again when I'm in the market. They make rugged comfortable bad ass dependable vehicles. You also never hear scandals or negative # about them. To me it was absolutely retarded to save GM when there's companies like Nissan, Toyota, and the other decent car companies out there. You may bitch and moan about the ramifications on the economy or jobs if we let GM die, but as an American all I can is # 'em. If they didn't make sub-standard products, be completely corrupt, and wholly incompetent in business, they wouldn't have gone under. Not to mention they were one of the first to begin outsourcing on a large level. # GM, # the Autoworkers Union (you're completely greedy and unrealistic, how you wound up with a piece of GM after helping to drive it into the ground is unbelievable.) # idiots who say to buy American even though it's sub-standard corrupt bull# that's over priced and will fall apart in two years.

And here again the Japanese auto industry is going to kick the American auto industry in the teeth by being first on the USS Obvious of alternative energy cars. While the US auto industry is finger #ing around with unrealistic energy methods that still keep us dependent on oil and do absolutely nothing to solve our problems, here comes the Japanese with a completely electric car. I see this as a middle finger in the face of the American Auto Industry and I all I can say is go Nissan go.

...How did I get on this soapbox? I guess I'm trying to say the American Auto Industry is completely inferior to the Japanese auto industry. Hands down.

But yeah Nissan cars are ugly, stylistically they're always a little off. I personally think stylistically the German cars are the most bad ass.

[edit on 22-7-2009 by CuriousSkeptic]

reply to post by DjSharperimage


100 miles isn't a whole lot. Inter-city travel would cease to exist. The Chinese are working on electric cars with like a 250 mile range for a decent price.

I say that Nissan needs to step it up.

Screw these expensive tech solutions. I've been saying for years the solution to gas consumption is entice people into buying smaller cars and a great way to do that is to base highway crime fines on the listed weight of the vehicle. This makes sense from a safety standpoint too. Caught doing 80 mph in a 60 zone in a 2000 pound car and you pay $200. Do it in a 15,000 pound RV and you pay $1,500. People would be begging to buy small cars and the psychopaths in their highway tanks would drive carefully and that would save lives.