Nissan Sees Extended-Range Plug-Ins, Unique Charging Systems in Future
By John O'Dell April 22, 2009
As Nissan Motor Co. expands its pilot program for prototype electric vehicles and EV charging stations in several U.S. cities, a high-ranking executive said this week that the company also sees a need for extended-range electrics such as General Motors Corp.'s Chevrolet Volt.
The Denki Cube, a concept Nissan EV shown at last year's New york Auto Show.
----------
Minoru Shinohara, a top Nissan engineer and corporate senior vice president, said that because they don't need an extensive public charging infrastructure, range-extending plug-in hybrid-electric vehicles will be an important transition solution to the fully electric vehicles the company sees as the future of private transportation.
Nissan plans to begin selling a full-electric vehicle to fleet customers in the U.S. in 2010, and the Renault-Nissan Alliance has started pilot programs to demonstrate the technology and develop infrastructure.
The company also has programs in Kanagawa Prefecture and Yokohama in Japan and in Israel, Denmark, Portugal, Monaco, the United Kingdom, France, Switzerland and Ireland.
In the U.S., Nissan says it is "exploring ways to promote zero-emission mobility and the development of an EV infrastructure" with the states of Tennessee and Oregon; California's Sonoma County and the City of San Diego, and the Tucson and Phoenix metropolitan regions, in Arizona.
In a presentation at the SAE World Congress in Detroit this week, Shinohara also showed two novel charging concepts for the future.
In addition to conventional plug-in electric vehicle charging, Nissan is experimenting with plugless - inductive - charging while the vehicle is parked on a special pad, and with a wild charge-while-driving scheme in which inductive charging technology would be embedded in roadways, permitting battery charging while the vehicle is moving.
Innovative charging technologies outside the home environment would "help EVs to be less dependent on the initial amount of energy storage," Shinohara said. Less requirement for initial energy storage means the vehicle might get by with a smaller, less expensive battery, lowering retail costs and making them more affordable.
Bill Visnic, Senior Editor, Edmunds AutoObserver.
----------
(Editor's note: We like both of Shinohara's ideas, but shudder thinking of the cost and disruption of ripping up a few hundred thousand miles of highway to install charging cables. Perhaps that's one best left to smaller, more compact countries.)
LEAVE A COMMENT