Nissan, Toyota locked in race to market zero-emission cars

[Mugu]

By Richard Read, The Oregonian

ATSUGI, Japan -- While Detroit executives beg for bailouts, Japanese automakers speed through turns in a race whose winner could dominate the next generation of car sales.
From Toyota City to Atsugi -- the site of Nissan's advanced technology center where Gov. Ted Kulongoski drove an electric car Tuesday -- engineers are locked in a white-knuckle competition to produce zero-emission cars.

Nissan, which announced a deal last week to launch its electric vehicles in Oregon, is determined to lead the green pack.

Its edge boils down to batteries, and its battery man is Masahiko Otsuka, a zero-emission evangelist who won't sleep much until electrics swarm across Japan and the United States.

http://www.oregonlive.com/business/index.ssf/2008/11/nissantoyota_locked_in_race_to.html">Complete article

[cliffordu]

1. Now explain to me why Detroit isn't in this mix.....

Never mind. I know.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

2. If OUR American car market comes up with a car like this, I'm buying American, and

the Chinese and Japanese cars should be tariffed. Free trade removed our jobs, and free trade can kiss my big fat J-Lo @$$.

[burythehatchet]

3. Ford and Chevrolet locked in pitched battle to engineer fouth row seat into SUV.

[gristy]

4. Is this a new meme? Calling electric cars "zero-emission" cars?

That is misleading, at best.

[physioex]

5. Tis true.....

But it depends on the source the electricity being used was generated. Here in WA a customer can choose to pay more on their electric bill to purchase wind power.

[gristy]

6. But it is the wind power that is green. Not the car.

If I had a 3-ton electric hummer (and it somehow could get 50 miles on a charge so as to make it practical), that certainly wouldn't make me green. Nor would it make me green if I bought its electricity from a wind farm. But it would still be called a "zero-emission" vehicle in the current vernacular, with all the implied "greenness" that comes with the term.

[physioex]

7. Baby steps......

You have bring technologies that are an alternative to gasoline and diesel. While we are in the process of developing other technoligies like wind, solar, and ocean waves.