Nissan brings the electric car revolution to Britain

Ray Hutton
NISSAN, the Japanese car giant, is poised to set up Britain’s first production line for electric cars at its plant in Sunderland. Last week it confirmed it would build a £200m battery production facility next to the factory but said it was still in negotiations with the government over whether to make the vehicles there.
However, senior Nissan executives have told The Sunday Times that Sunderland is almost certain to start making electric vehicles from 2012. “You don’t set up to make batteries if you don’t intend to make cars there,” said one source.
Nissan’s plans are a boost for the government’s vaunted – and criticised – blueprint for a low-carbon economy. Ministers have claimed that 400,000 green jobs will be created in low-carbon industries, and that Britain could become a centre for new industries such as electric vehicles.
The car likely to be made in Sunderland will be unveiled next Sunday by Carlos Ghosn, Nissan’s chief executive, at the opening of its new corporate headquarters in Yokohama. It is a five-door hatchback, the size of a Ford Focus or Volkswagen Golf, and will be available, initially to company and government fleets, in Japan and America at the end of next year.
The first cars will be supplied from the Oppama factory in Japan but the company is preparing for electric car production in America and Europe after volume sales begin in 2012. Nissan has only two car plants in Europe – in Sunderland and Barcelona.
The battery packs to be made in Sunderland are the latest lithium-ion type made in modular units, each with four laminar cells. They were developed by Automotive Energy Supply Corporation, a joint venture of Nissan and NEC, the electrical company.
Battery technology is the key to the acceptance of electric cars for everyday use. Nissan claims its 400-volt battery pack, housed at the centre of the car under the floor, will provide a range of up to 100 miles. A full recharge by plugging into a 240-volt domestic supply takes eight hours.
These batteries will also be used by Nissan’s alliance partner Renault, which will offer electric vehicles in 2011.
Renault’s approach is different to that of Nissan in that it will start with plug-in versions of familiar existing models, the Kangoo and Megane.
Nissan has developed a unique “E platform” to take full advantage of the layout of an electric car, where the batteries are bulky and heavy but the drive motor is more compact than a combustion engine and its ancillaries. It will run almost silently and produce no emissions.
Surprisingly, the first electric Nissan is designed to look “normal” and not stand out as an electric car. Toyota had more success than its rivals when it adopted a futuristic style for the Prius petrol-electric hybrid, immediately signifying its green credentials.
By the second half of the next decade, Nissan expects 10% of its new-car sales to be electric. To achieve this, it will have to address the cost issue and that will mean buyers reassessing motoring’s economics.
Nissan’s objective is to sell, or lease, the electric car at the same price as a diesel car of similar size and type, but to lease separately the battery pack for an amount equivalent to the monthly cost of petrol or diesel fuel.
Rather as mobile-phone contracts include a package of calls, the battery payment could include the cost of electricity required for a set monthly mileage. Nissan accepts the overall cost of ownership must be lower than that of a conventional car.
How the electric cars will be sold will This year, the government announced that, from 2011, there would be grants of up to £5,000 for the purchase of an electric car. Some other countries have even higher sums on offer as incentives. For this reason, Nissan expects Portugal and Denmark to be the European countries most eager to adopt electric cars.
The Renault-Nissan alliance is collaborating with states, cities, fleet operators and utility companies to establish an infrastructure of charging stations.
The first electric Nissans will be equipped with an internet-linked navigation system that will accurately predict remaining range and identify the nearest quick-charging points where the batteries can be brought up to 80% capacity within 25 minutes.
Nissan’s plan for electric-car production in Britain follows Toyota’s recent decision to build the Auris petrol-electric hybrid at depend on the region and the type of user. Burnaston, Derbyshire.