Nissan will be one of the first mainstream manufacturers to sell mass-produced electrically-powered vehicles if the company's ambitious Nissan GT 2012 plan comes to fruition. Under the timetable confirmed by Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn this week (as part of the maker's Japanese fiscal year announcements), Nissan will build and sell a practical four-to-five person all-electric vehicle in a range of markets across the globe by 2012.
The electric vehicle will debut in 2010 in the California market. The most populous US state has effectively held carmakers to ransom under legislation that requires brands to sell ZEV (zero emission vehicles) if they are to continue to have access to the state's car buyers for 'normal' vehicles.
Nissan is confident it will meet the California deadline. Further, interviewed at last week's Nissan 360 event in Portugal Global Environmental Planning Office executive Masanori Ueda (pictured) told the Carsales Network the maker would commence mass production of the vehicle by 2012.
In addition to the California roll out, Nissan has confirmed partnerships with Israeli and Danish authorities to develop infrastructure for EV (electric vehicles) ahead of their 2012 introduction in those countries.
Currently Nissan has development EVs with a between-charge range of 160km. Ueda described their performance as "comparable to petrol vehicles in the same (B Small Car) segment". Nissan is fast tracking battery development that should see the production vehicle's range boosted to in excess of 200km. There will be performance gains too, he says.
Ueda-san would not comment on the dimensions or configuration of Nissan's first mass-production EV but said it offered "practical solutions" and that it would be sufficiently mainstream to fulfil the role of a 'normal' suburban family car. The Mixim EV on display at Nissan 360 (also pictured) is purely a concept car, he stressed.
According to Ueda-san, Nissan is currently considering its wider rollout plan for its production EV, post 2012.
When quizzed on where Australia might sit in the timetable, Ueda could not comment. He did confirm, however, that both customer demand and the brand implications of being early to market with an EV would both be considerations Down Under.
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