Nissan Motor Co. and the state of Tennessee are teaming up to encourage demand for ultra-clean electric cars and other zero-emission vehicles in the fourth such agreement concluded this year by the Renault-Nissan alliance.
“We think there is a very big market for electric cars in the United States,” Carlos Ghosn, CEO of both Renault SA and Nissan Motor Co., said at the formal opening of Nissan's North American headquarters here.
Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen said the state would study ways to support the introduction of electric cars, such as charging stations, in the central Tennessee region around Nashville.
“The state of Tennessee is proud to join Nissan, Tennessee Valley Authority and others in promoting use of zero-emission vehicles,” he said in a statement.
With gas prices hovering around $4 a gallon and concerns mounting about climate change, interest in cleaner vehicles is growing rapidly. All major automakers are developing environmentally friendly models — from General Motors Corp.'s Chevrolet Volt extended range plug-in to BMW AG's electric Mini — even though it is not clear which technologies will become dominant, or when.
Compared with its Japanese rivals Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co., Nissan has lagged in marketing hybrids and other clean vehicles powered by alternative technologies. But Ghosn announced last October that the alliance partners would focus their efforts on producing zero-emission, battery-powered electric cars. In May, he said his objective was to make Renault-Nissan a world leader in zero-emission vehicles, a category that also includes fuel-cell cars.
Earlier this month, Renault concluded a partnership with Portugal similar to Tuesday's deal with Tennessee. The Portuguese government agreed to study ways to set up a nationwide network of charging stations by 2011, when the French automaker will begin selling electric vehicles there. Ghosn said the public-private agreement represented a new business model to provide the conditions to allow zero-emission vehicles to become “a viable, attractive and popular” mode of transport. Nissan and Renault previously announced deals with Palo Alto, Calif.-based Project Better Place to mass market Renault-brand electric vehicles in Israel and in Denmark in 2011.
“We are currently negotiating with other entities in North America, Europe and Asia,” Ghosn said.
Nissan and Renault will each produce their own electric cars but share the drivetrain technology. Tokyo-based Nissan expects to start selling electric cars in 2010, initially in Japan and in California, which is requiring major manufacturers that sell cars in the state to also offer zero-emission vehicles that year. Nissan expects its electric-vehicle sales to number in the hundreds in 2010, rising to the thousands in 2011 and tens of thousands in 2012.
Ghosn has said he hopes the alliance will sell 1 million electric cars a year but has not specified when.
Electric cars are not new. They were developed more than 100 years ago at around the same time as gas-fueled cars with internal combustion engines. GM revived the technology in the 1990s with its famous EV1 but sold the car for only a few years. Electric cars didn't take off because they were less practical than conventional cars. They had shorter driving ranges than cars with internal combustion engines, and their batteries took a long time to recharge. Gas-electric hybrids are popular because they have eliminated those drawbacks, but they aren't as clean. The dual-powertrain is also fueled by gasoline and emits pollutants.
But several automakers are now working with battery specialists to develop smaller, yet more powerful batteries that can suffice as the sole source of power.
“The advantage, compared with a hybrid, is that you're not using a fossil fuel. You're reducing dependence on oil. Another advantage is that is you're using one powertrain, instead of two,” said Mike Omotoso, senior manager of global powertrain forecasting at J.D. Power and Associates. “The disadvantage is that they're still working on the driving range of the vehicles. Most electric vehicles I've heard about have a driving range of 200 miles or less,” compared with 300 to 600 miles for gas- and diesel-powered vehicles, he said.
The Renault-Nissan Alliance has sought public and private partners to help it clear another obstacle to the widespread adoption of electric cars — the lack of recharging stations. In Israel and Denmark, Renault-Nissan is relying on Project Better Place, a venture-backed group that promotes electric cars, to set up enough recharging outlets to make electric cars viable. Fuel-cell cars face the same challenge: Where do drivers go to refuel? As a result, Honda leases its hydrogen-powered FCX Clarity only in southern California, where drivers have access to hydrogen stations.
In the United States, where reliance on foreign oil is a hot issue, both the Republican and Democratic presidential candidates are proposing tax breaks to encourage Americans to buy electrically powered vehicles. Speaking to GM workers after a recent tour of the design facilities for the U.S. automaker's Chevrolet Volt plug-in, Sen. John McCain said: “I would propose tax credits for Americans who choose to buy the Volt and other automobiles that put us on the track to energy independence.”
Tax breaks, preferential highway lanes, public parking privileges and other incentives helped fuel demand for hybrids.
Nissan has not revealed the electric vehicle it plans to sell in the United States, but it has shown a second-generation Pivo electric concept car at recent motor shows. The automaker has formed a venture with Japan's NEC Corp. to produce powerful lithium-ion batteries and has invested $115 million to build a facility that will start producing batteries for hybrids and electric cars in 2010.
