EVs Are Top Nissan Priority

[madokie]

http://blogs.edmunds.com:80/.eea6d04

EVs Are Top Nissan Priority Says Product Planning Chief; He Also Sees Diesel's Promise Fading

By John O'Dell, Senior Editor

CASCAIS, Portugal – Nissan Motor Co. which has promised to introduce an electric vehicle in North American in 2010, now sees enough market potential for battery-powered electric cars that it is planning a second model for as early as 2012.

The Japanese carmaker was late to the game with gas-electric hybrids and doesn't intend to get caught with a bare product portfolio as cheaper and more reliable batteries make EVs an economic and practical choice in coming years, product planning chief Tom Lane told Green Car Advisor in an interview at Nissan's global vehicle show-and-drive program in this coastal resort town just west of Lisbon.

Lane said that while Nissan began its green planning half a decade ago with a broad slate of possible technologies, economic and scientific changes have pushed battery-electric vehicles to the forefront as a near- and midterm market strategies to meet increased political and social demand for cleaner, more efficient vehicles.

Diesel Will Fade
While Nissan makes a number of diesel-powered cars and trucks for markets outside of the U.S., Lane said the company believes rising fuel prices, the high cost of diesel-emission cleaning technology and rapidly falling battery costs will make electric cars a better choice for many.