While Nissan/Renault has been very helpful to Project Better Place in Israel by offering to supply electric cars that will work with their recharging and battery swapping service, its cooperation with PBP may not be extending to its homeland of Japan. Not only has Nissan undertaken its own investigation to decide what business model is best suited for the island nation (Like the "Project," they are looking closely at the battery-lease model as a way to keep the initial vehicle purchase price low), its already begun putting together a consortium of companies to deal with everything from batteries to real estate.

Nissan, as well as Mitsubishi and Subaru, are also participants in a project sponsored by the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. This electric vehicle promotional effort, said to continue until 2015, will involve charging station testing, examine different insurance models, and attempt to get the public on-board.

Though there was talk of Project Better Place making a go of it in Japan, facing competition from its partner on their home turf will probably persuade them to concentrate their expansion efforts on some other island. Click the "read" link for more details.

[Source: Globes]

As we reported the other day, Chrysler is working as hard as possible to get its gas-guzzling fleet more in line with consumer desires. These days, that means fuel efficiency, so it comes as little surprise that Dodge is renewing its efforts to get the Hornet small car up and running. Up until this point, it had been assumed that the Chrysler joint venture with Chinese automaker Chery would produce the Hornet, but it seems that the Chinese company may not be quite ready for prime time. Instead, Chrysler's recent tie-up with Nissan is now expected to result in the new Dodge vehicle.

Chrysler still has plans to introduce a budget line of vehicles with its Chinese counterpart. Dodge's upcoming Hornet, though, will not be an entry level model at all. The Hornet is expected to compete with upper level small cars such as the Mini, which has seen excellent sales as of late due to its fuel efficiency.

[Source: Automotive News Europe - sub. req'd]

Click the new Maxima for a high-res gallery of 60+ photos

According to Yo Usaba, senior veep of powertrains for Nissan, the upcoming clean diesel engine for the next Nissan Maxima may be paired only with a manual transmission. Although the stick would likely be the most efficient transmission choice, it doesn't seem all that appropriate for the American market, where automatic transmissions are the rule. It seems that Nissan is concerned with turbo-lag, which is the lull before the turbocharger kicks in and delivers the power. For this reason, the new diesel X-Trail for the Japanese market will come only in a shift-it-yourself flavor.

Apparently, diesels have the same poor reputation in Japan as in the U.S. and many Japanese drivers are stick-shift neophytes. Since this information hasn't kept Nissan from launching its first diesel in its home market with a manual transmission as its sole option, many are concluding that the same could be true in the states. We hope not, as sales would surely be negatively impacted by such a decision. A CVT would likely be a decent choice for this application, and Nissan has proven rather adept at making its seamless transmissions sell in America. We hope that it can make that combination work.

[Source: Automotive News - sub. req'd]

The executive vice-president of Nissan R&D, Mitsuhiko Yamashita, expects the fourth-generation of lithium ion batteries to yield ranges of about 400 kilometers (248 miles) by 2015. According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, that's about four times what the current first-gen packs are capable of. Yamashita-san also says the second generation should arrive by 2010 and be good for 170 klicks (105 miles) while we can expect 300 km (186 miles) third gen by 2012.

To those of you who are saying to themselves right now, "What is he even talking about? The Tesla Roadster gets almost that kind of range now with the version 1.5 drive train." (Oh yes, I can hear you). Well, I assume he is talking about slightly different chemistry than Tesla is using as well as a pack small enough to fit something like the Nissan Mixim concept (pictured above). Had we been there in Paris with him, we would have asked how many watt hours per kilogram he was talking about but, alas, we were not. He did give some production numbers though, saying they would start making 13,000 units next year in their joint venture with NEC and ramp up eventually to an annual amount of 65,000 units.

[Source: Wall Street Journal]

Click above for a high-res gallery of the Japan-spec 2008 Nissan Cube

The Nissan Cube is coming to the U.S. next Spring, and we'll get our first look at the U.S.-spec car when it makes its debut at this year's Los Angeles Auto Show. I recently had the opportunity to drive a Japanese-market edition for four days, and it's a very neat little car. Driving the JDM vehicle also illustrates how differently small Japanese cars are set up depending on their target market. Is the Cube an economy car? In Japan, it would certainly qualify, boasting a fuel economy rating of 16 km/l (some 37 mpg U.S.) according to the country's 10-15 mode test cycle. That's basically the combined cycle, and the test is done at low speeds. For Japan, where there's plenty of urban driving and road congestion, it probably serves as a fair indicator of what drivers will experience. For us, not so much. Read on after the jump.


All photos Copyright ©2008 Alex Núñez / Weblogs, Inc.

Nissan and Renault have already announced plans to start offering battery electric vehicles beginning in 2010 for fleet testing with retail availability a year or two later. However batteries aren't the only technology they are looking at for emissions-free running. Hydrogen fuel cells are also in the picture. Nissan has been testing fuel cell-powered versions of its X-Trail SUV for the past two years with examples leased to Japanese government agencies. Renault and Nissan are now jointly working on a fuel cell version of the Renault Grand Scenic compact MPV.

The Scenic ZEV H2 uses a Nissan-developed fuel cell stack, with high pressure hydrogen storage and lithium ion batteries for recapturing kinetic energy during regenerative braking. All the hardware is mounted under the floor of the vehicle, maintaining seating for five adults. Both the X-Trail and Scenic will be shown at a variety of green events around Europe this year.

[Source: Nissan]

Although the situation has improved in the recent weeks, Barcelona, Spain and its metro area is facing a severe drought, with water reserves that aren't expect to last until the end of the summer. The local governments made a plea to industries to reduce water consumption and Nissan, which has a plant in Barcelona's Zona Franca district and very close to the river Llobregat, is heeding the call.

Thanks to reusing water, the plant is expected to save 21.6 million liters of water in 2008 - a 20 percent improvement from 2007 figures. The main savings came from the paint section, where water is filtered and reused. This not only saves the precious liquid, but generates less waste water to be treated at the final filters before reaching the river and reduces electricity consumption from water pumps and the final treatment. Nissan claims that each car needs 51.5 percent less water to be produced than in 1998.

[Source: Nissan España]

click the Laguna coupe for a high-res gallery

Amongst the sun and stars of the Cannes Film Festival this weekend, Renault has unveiled the new Laguna Coupe with a pair of V6 engines. Each of the 6 cylinder powerplants uses a different fuel. One runs on gasoline, the other diesel. While Renault-badged cars haven't been available in North America for more then two decades, the Laguna's new diesel is of interest here because it is being co-developed with Japanese partner Nissan. The 3.0L common rail diesel will find a home in U.S.-market Nissan Maximas in 2010. The sparkless 6 cylinder is outputting 235hp and 331lb-ft of torque. That's 55hp shy of the 3.5L gas V-6 in the Maxima for 2009 but 70lb-ft more. Both engines will share a 6 speed automatic transmission in the front wheel drive Laguna which, unlike other recent coupes, actually only has 2 doors. Renault will release all the details on the new coupe at the Paris Motor Show in October. The initial Renault press release is after the jump.

Try to list all of the stories we've had recently about Nissan's work to bring electric cars to the masses. It's hard, because there have been a lot of them, covering the company's efforts in Japan, Israel and the U.S., to name just a few. We're not the only ones who've noticed what Nissan (and Renault) are up to; the non-profit group Plug In America (PIA) has issued a statement praising the company for the EV push. PIA president Linda Nicholes said in a statement that, "It's past time that people had the chance and the choice to get behind the wheel of an electric car. Nissan, through innovative leadership, will make that choice possible to people all over the world." PIA's laudatory release continues:

Nissan is the first manufacturer to say it will market all-electric vehicles worldwide. Its commitment to plug-in vehicles is sure to fan competition among rivals, ultimately reducing both greenhouse gas emissions and U.S. dependence on foreign oil.

The full statement is available after the jump. Now Nissan just has to deliver on these promises and we'll all have sometime to praise.

Though Nissan's solar projects in Spain have been around for a while now, they are still getting attention from many eco-minded people around the world. Proof of this can be seen again as Nissan has recently been awarded the 2008 Carles Ferrer Salat Award. Presented annually by Fomento del Trabajo Nacional, the award is named after the famous Spanish tennis player for his later efforts in the environmentally friendly business arena.

Two types of solar energy systems, both thermal and photovoltaic, have appeared on Nissan plants in Spain. At one of these installations at the Avila plant, the structure's 1,335 square meters makes it Spain's largest solar installation and is part of Nissan's total of 1,428 solar panels in Spain. Nissan estimates its total CO₂ emissions reduction of 381 tons per year due to these solar installations.

Besides these solar installations, renewable wind power is being used at Nissan's Sunderland vehicle plant in the UK. Details after the jump.

Nissan admits that it has fallen behind when it comes to eco-friendly automobile technology, and it's working hard at rectifying that situation. With all of Nissan's ambitious plans for electric and hybrid vehicles in the coming years, it is going to need lots and lots of batteries, lithium ion batteries in specific. To that end, the NEC and Nissan joint venture will be opening a new plant for the mass production of its batteries. Initial output is expected to be roughly 13,000 units per year, but we're unclear if that means individual cells or total packs ready for the vehicle. Total planned output hovers at 65,000 units by 2011. To make that output a reality, Nissan's total three-year investment will be a hefty 12 billion yen, or about $115 million for those of us who count in U.S. dollars. While that investment seems pretty heavy, Nissan Executive Vice President Carlos Tavares says, "We are going directly to zero-emissions vehicle positioning, and we are trying to go there as fast as we can."

[Source: Nissan, Automotive News - sub. req'd]

Nissan has been telling us over and over again that they will have electric cars for sale by 2010 and we are pretty darn sure they're serious about it. However, that doesn't mean that they are so committed to zero emissions that they won't explore less idyllic possibilities. Conscious of a vocal segment of the car-buying public that wishes to be able to travel well beyond the current range of a battery electric vehicle without having to stop for hours to re-charge, Nissan/Renault head Carlos Ghosn stated in an interview last week that they will be offering a "range extender" in some of their upcoming electric models. Ghosn is quoted in a piece in the Wall Street Journal, as saying that Nissan is committed to making vehicles that are "pure electric, zero emission. But you always have the possibility of having a range extender."

It's possible Ghosn remembers that the Renault side of the corporate family built 500 electric vehicles with range extenders back in 2003 called the Elect'Road (electrode, get it?). Though technology has marched on in the five years since that brief offering, perhaps they believe they can improve on that formula with a modern drivetrain, like that of the Mixim concept (pictured above). And while this compares closely with what GM is planning for the Volt, the article in the WSJ suggests that the Nissan version will go 100 miles gas-free as compared to the meager 40 clicks for the Detroit machine. That should keep those annoying trips to the gas pump down to a bare minimum.

[Source: Wall Street Journal]

Lots of Nissan electric car news today. Shortly after hearing that Nissan intends to be a global leader in affordable electric cars, news comes that the company is looking at a few cities to trial some of their new electric vehicle technology. One such city on the short-list is reportedly London. Carlos Ghosn says, "We have not yet got to the level of talking to the mayor's office. At this stage it is just a feasibility study, but London is definitely among the cities interested." London seems to be a rather obvious choice, considering the cities controversial new congestion charges which would offer zero-emission vehicles a big advantage over their gas or diesel-consuming cousins.

Let's recap the other recent news. Israel and Denmark want in on the electric car craze too. In fact, What Car reports that Israeli authorities have struck a deal with Nissan allowing the automaker exclusive rights to sell electric cars in Israel for a period of ten years. California is slated to be the first stop for an upcoming Nissan electric car in the U.S.

Interestingly, Nissan hopes to get 100 kilometers, or 62 miles, of range from a single battery pack, which could then be swapped out or recharged at an EV station -- sorta like an electrified version of today's gas stations and part of the Project Better Place idea. Ghosn says that Nissan is fully capable of offering an EV, sans battery, for the same cost of a normal gas-powered car. After the initial purchase, the cost of the battery and the amount of money spent keeping it charged will be less than the cost of gasoline. Ghosn also says that Nissan's electric cars will be sexy and attractive. That seems to cover all the bases rather well. Nissan, you've got our attention... we're waiting!

[Source: What Car]

During the Nissan 360 event in Portugal earlier this week Nissan's head of global product planning, Thomas Lane, re-confirmed that the company plans to have an electric vehicle running in U.S. fleets by 2010. That vehicle would also be made available at the retail level a year later. The plan is for government and commercial fleets to use the vehicle first before letting regular customers have a crack at it. According to Lane, the architecture of the new EV is almost done with some components borrowed from other cars but it will essentially be a dedicated battery-powered car rather than a conversion like the Denki Cube concept that was shown at this years New York Auto Show.

The new car will use lithium ion batteries, probably sourced from Automotive Energy Supply Corporation (AESC), the joint venture that Nissan established with NEC in 2007. Pricing and volume targets aren't available at this point, but Lane wants the car to be affordable to mainstream customers. Select markets like Southern California and New York will likely be the first locations where the new car is available. Those also happen to be the markets where such a car would be most successful. Lane's U.S. counterpart, Larry Domenique, indicated that initial volumes would probably in the hundreds rather than thousands.

[Source: Green Fuels Forecast]

Click the Denki Cube for a high res gallery.

According to Nissan and Renault head Carlos Ghosn, Nissan has plans to become a global leader in affordable electric vehicles. Citing rising oil costs and environmental issues, especially in emerging markets, Ghosn is quoted as suggesting that it was a "very easy" decision when it comes to justifying Nissan's commitment to zero-emission vehicles. Ghosn says, "We are looking at a future of permanently high energy costs." He goes on, "That is why in our opinion it is time for zero-emissions cars, those that will be completely neutral to the environment." While much of Nissan's planned growth centers around emerging markets - oh, and the Middle East - those electric vehicles will most likely be offered here in the States as well, starting in 2011.

Don't hold your breath for fuel cells, biofuel vehicles or more hybrids from Nissan, though. Nissan has partnered with NEC for the development of large-scale automotive batteries and believes that fully-electric vehicles are the way to go.

[Source: Autocar]