Sunday September 21, 2008

Nissan starts PHEV plug-in hybrid development, to introduce electric car concept at 2008 Paris Motor show

greencarcongress.com [EV] :

Nissan has started development of a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV). In May, Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn said the company will introduce an all-electric vehicle in the US and Japan in 2010 and globally in 2012. In 2007, Nissan, NEC and NEC TOKIN Corporation established Automotive Energy Supply Corporation (AESC) to develop lithium-ion batteries for automotive applications including hybrids, plug-in hybrids, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and electric vehicles. Nissan will also unveil a new electric concept car at the 2008 Paris Motor Show. The Nissan Nuvu electric car concept is intended to be a "new view" of the type of car we will be driving in the middle of the next decade. Compact at 3 meters long, Nuvu offers 2+1 seating. The vehicle incorporates a dozen or so small solar panels across its roof.

- We have a couple of things to thank for the recent surge of car-maker announcements on plugin hybrid vehicles (PHEV's) and electric vehicles (EV's) : the record oil prices earlier this year, and the hype that GM managed to drum up for its upcoming Chevrolet Volt. And let's not forget the Tesla Roadster for resurrecting the EV revolution, and Toyota and Honda for their pioneering efforts in bringing hybrid cars to the market.

Despite all the hype and rush for announcements, let's not forget that these are still very early days yet. Toyota has been selling the Toyota Prius for over a decade and it was only in the past couple of years or so that sales have really picked up pace, and still, their hybrid sales continue to be a small part of the overall picture.

It takes time and money to change the global car fleet and support infrastructure, a process that will take at least 2 or 3 decades and trillions of dollars in investment. Humanity has been really late getting started - we've got about another 2 decades to go and global Peak Oil is looming in about 2 years. If you haven't already noticed, times are certainly getting interesting. Whether we can make it or not is a question that is still very much up in the air.

See also :

1. Nissan, NEC to mass produce lithium-ion batteries for cars
2. Toyota plans electric car and 2010 Toyota Prius plugin hybrid with lithium-ion
3. Detroit Electric in talks to partner with Malaysia Proton on electric car
4. Hybrid vehicle battery market to reach $2.3 billion by 2015

(2008-09-21 10:43:58 SGT) [Energy] Permalink

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