Nissan Signs First U.S. Commercial Lease for its Hydrogen Fuel Cell SUV
By John O'Dell November 25, 2009
In a marketing marriage made in public relations heaven, Nissan's zero-emissions, fuel-cell electric SUV is going to be running around California's capital for the next year emblazoned with ads for Coca-Cola Zero.
Nissan and Sacramento Coca-Cola Bottling Inc. have signed the first North American commercial lease agreement for one of the automaker's X-Trail FCVs - which have been used in test fleets in California and Japan for several years.
The SUV, based on the X-Trail small SUV sold in Asia and Europe, uses Nissan's proprietary hydrogen fuel cell to produce electricity to power an all-electric drive system.
Test vehicles, including several based at the California Fuel Cell Partnership in Sacramento, have racked up close to 300,000 collective miles. Nissan says one of the SUVs accounts for almost a third of the total - testimony to the potential of fuel-cell vehicles to meet real-world reliability demands.
Nissan says the X-Trail FCV - fuel cell vehicle - is capable of a top speed of 95 miles an hour and a range of up to 300 miles on a tank of comprfessed hydrogen gas.
Fuel cells convert hydrogen and oxygen to electricity in an electro-chemical reaction when the gasses are passed through a catalyst.
Nissan is one of nine major automakers that recently signed a pledge to continue development of hydrogen fuel cell technology with the aim of bringing retail vehicles to market by 2015.
The company earlier this year began testing a fuel cell stack that is 25 percent smaller than its previus model, and its Tennessee-based Nissan North America operating unit recently opened a fuel cell laboratory at its engineering center in Farmington Hills, Mich.
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