Nissan Teams With Tennessee for Electric Vehicle Promotion
By John O'Dell July 22, 2008
By John O'Dell, Senior Editor
It just had to happen.
After all, Nissan is there, in a master-planned business park next door to Nashville; Nissan wants to promote electric vehicles; and the Tennessee Valley Authority, which oversees a vast hydroelectric empire, has juice to spare.
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Nissan's Mixim EV Concept, right
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So Nissan and the state of Tennessee announced today that they are forming a partnership (actually, Tennessee and the Renault-Nissan Alliance) to promote zero emission vehicles - a category that right now includes only electric vehicles.
Nissan, which has said it will begin marketing electric vehicles in the U.S. in 2010, apparently will provide the ZEVs, while the state, working with the TVA and other corporate and non-profit participants, will work on ways to keep those electric cars running. That would include installation of publicly available recharging stations.
Efforts initially will be focused on the mid-Tennessee region along the Interstate 24 and Interstate 65 corridors.
The Tennessee Valley Authority - the nation's largest public power supplier - "is looking forward to being part of this project to explore the potential of electric vehicles," said TVA Chairman William B. Sansom.
"Electric vehicles could put electricity to work overnight, or off-peak, when other power needs are lower," he added, "and that has the potential to be an economic and environmental plus for all of us."
It would be especially beneficial to the TVA and other power utilities.
There's no impropriety here, but its fun to watch electric companies jump on the EV bandwagon.
They've seen Exxon, Shell and other oil companies get fabulously wealthy as the principal suppliers of automotive fuel for the past century, and now see themselves making bundles supplying the electrons that - we hope - will someday supplant gasoline and diesel.
Meantime, Nissan and its French partner and co-owner, Renault, are determined to be major suppliers of electric vehicles and to participate in the development of a fueling infrastructure for them.
Nissan, for instance, has begin talking with parking lot and railway companies in Japan on deals to put EV recharging stations near commuter stations throughout that country.
The partnership - which calls itself the Renault-Nissan Alliance - also has been developing EVs for sale globally by the two companies.
The alliance also is working on electric vehicle programs with the nations of Israel, Denmark and Portugal.
In Israel and Denmark, the programs were put together by Project Better Place, a California-based program that will supply battery charging and exchange stations to facilitate vehicle fueling. Renault is charged with supplying the vehicles while Nissan has signed-on to supply the lithium-ion batteries.
In Portugal, the automakers are working directly with the government.
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