Nissan Hopes to Cash In on Electric Batteries

By Dena Cassella November 3, 2009

Nissan hopes to accelerate the production of electric batteries even without government support, offering a timeline of three years before the cost-cutting effort showed results noticeable to auto buyers.

However, Nissan and Renault plan to offer its new electric battery technology in countries that have state subsidies available for consumers.

“We have the loans, we have the agreements with different governments and we are engaging 500,000 batteries,” according to Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn. “I will not sell an electric car that is 25 percent more expensive than a gasoline powered one.”

Although Nissan would like to reach the 500K platform, it’s unknown when the company expects to be able to do so.

In the future, technological improvements and better agreements with governments will allow the electric batteries to become available for a lower price. Nissan hopes to become the leader in electric vehicles, planning to launch battery-run cars in the next three years. The Japanese automaker will release its Leaf battery-powered vehicle sometime next year in the United States, Japan and parts of Europe.

Until the electric battery market matures, Nissan hopes to price Leaf towards compact gas-powered vehicles, according to press reports. If the price of gasoline remains high over the coming quarters, according to Nissan, the demand for electric vehicles could greatly increase as consumers look for more environmentally friendly cars.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Haole built. O'ahu grown

Cars

Nissan employs certified smellers to check the odor of its new cars

nissan uses certified smellers to check the odor of new cars smeller

Can you remember what your car smelled like before the odors of fast food, infant regurgitations, dog mess, and the desperate efforts of fading air fresheners started to dominate?

Auto giant Nissan takes the odor of a new car very seriously, so much so that it employs “certified smellers” to ensure its customers have a pleasant olfactory experience when they climb inside one of its cars for the first time. And hopefully the second and third time, too.

Cars

Nissan’s Z goes back to the future with retro styling, modern tech

Rear three quarter view of the 2023 Nissan Z.

No car has tested the maxim “if it’s not broken, don’t fix it” like the Nissan 370Z. The two-seat sports car has had one of the longest production runs of any vehicle in recent memory. It was unveiled in late 2008, and has soldiered on with only minor updates since then. Even in old age, the 370Z wasn’t a bad car, but Nissan needed to keep pace with modern tech to prevent one of its most hallowed nameplates from getting stale.

Unveiled in New York City today, and scheduled to go on sale in the United States in spring 2022, the 2023 Nissan Z (the numerical prefix has been dropped) inherits a legacy that goes back over 50 years. The new Z is the successor not only to the 370Z, but also to the Datsun 240Z, which became an instant classic when it was unveiled in the Big Apple in 1969.

Cars

2022 Nissan Pathfinder first drive review: More tech, more toughness

Front-three quarter view of the 2022 Nissan Pathfinder.

It’s hard to think of a better name for an SUV than Pathfinder. It has adventure and military connotations (pathfinder paratroopers were the first American soldiers to put boots on the ground during the World War II D-Day landings) and was also very appropriate for the original Nissan Pathfinder. When it launched in the 1980s, the Pathfinder was one of the first modern SUVs, taking the auto industry down a new path.

Fast forward three decades, though, and the new 2022 Nissan Pathfinder is no longer a trendsetter. Three-row family SUVs like this redesigned model are common now, with vehicles like the Ford Explorer, Honda Pilot, Hyundai Palisade and Kia Telluride twins, Subaru Ascent, Toyota Highlander, and Volkswagen Atlas crowding school parking lots.