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

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.

He didn't rule out Nissan diesels for this market, but suggested that there aren't likely to be many.

Nissan's first EV, initially introduced for use in utility and other fleets where the powertrains can be closely monitored, will be "a smaller car,"  Lane said, but one that Nissan intends to produce as a "fully capable" car.

That means a range between charges of at least 100 miles and seating for at least four people, with ample cargo room.

Fast Recharge Coming
Nissan also believes that only by making rapid recharging facilities available will electric have a chance at succeeding.

The company doesn't intend to merely hope for the best, as automakers and energy providers seem to be doing regarding development of a hydrogen fuel infrastructure to bolster the chances of fuel-cell electric vehicles making it big, Lane said. Nissan instead is working actively to help develop a fast-charge system and intends to be part of the electric refueling distributor system.

"We want a piece of the [EV] fueling pie," Lane said. "We don't know yet exactly how we are going to do it, but we don't intend to let the energy companies" make all the profit, as the oil industry does now for fuel for internal combustion automobiles.

"They're the only ones making a profit these days" from the automobile, Lane said of oil companies.

Development Headway
He said Nissan's own research, as well as work being done by outside companies on lightweight, high-powered lithium-ion batteries, shows that it is possible to recharge a pack big enough to power a full-function car in just 25 minutes.

While Nissan is working with entrepreneur Shai Agassi's Project Better World and the governments of Israel and Denmark to introduce electric cars in those two countries that would use removable, replaceable battery packs, Lane said he doesn't see that system as more than a stopgap measure because the cost of the infrastructure is so high.

Battery exchange stations require precisely calibrated robotic changing systems that can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars while a quick recharge system costs about $50,000, with most of the cost associated with bringing high-power wires to a refueling station, he said.

"With a ubiquitous quick-charge system, people could top off for 10 minutes here while they were having coffee, 20 minute there while shopping, it really wouldn't be all that time-consuming," said Lane.

Gasoline, Too
While battery-electric cars are developing and diesel fades, he said, Nissan also expects to see continued improvements lead to new families of powerful but fuel-efficient and extremely clean-burning gasoline engines that will continue to power cars and trucks for decades to come.

At the same time, Nissan's market research team "sees the diesel mix in the small-car market going down" because of the high costs.

"Turbocharged, direct-injection gas engines can deliver almost the same power and fuel-efficiency," Lane said, "and they don't have the emissions costs."

Fuel Cells Far Away
Hydrogen fuel cells, which produce electricity in an electro-chemical reaction when hydrogen is mixed with oxygen and passed through a catalyst, are a future technology that Nissan remains interested in and that could someday resolve the world's oil dependency problems. But the technology "remains far in the future," he said.

Nissan researchers believe that the lack of a widespread fueling infrastructure, plus the energy costs involved in making hydrogen fuel, will keep it from prime time readiness for years to come.

That leaves battery electric technology, and Lane said it has quickly become Nissan's top priority.

"Not in terms of the dollars we're spending," he cautioned, "but in terms of the determination to try and make it happen, [battery] electric technology is our No. 1 priority."

John O'Dell:  is an AutoObserver Senior Editor. Follow @AutoObserver on Twitter.