Plug In The Next Big Thing

Sydney Morning Herald

Saturday May 31, 2008

Andrew Heasley

Nissan hopes we all go electric and save the planet, writes Andrew Heasley.

NEVER mind hybrid cars - and forget hydrogen power - because the future of the automobile is electric, Nissan says.

The company's best engineering brains told Drive last week the quest for environmentally sustainable private transportation in the coming decade will be plug-in, rechargeable electric cars.

Nissan is backing this thinking with a firm pledge: it will have an electric car in showrooms in the US and Japan in 2010, with a view to selling the cars globally in 2012.

Nissan's partner Renault (they share Carlos Ghosn as their chief executive and hold stocks in common) announced in January that electric cars - badged as Renaults but using the Nissan-developed battery drivetrain - would be sold in Israel by 2011.

Acutely aware of the concerns of consumers and environmentalists over carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and the implications for global warming and climate change, Nissan engineers think cars that run on electricity are the key to lowering greenhouse gas emissions, reducing pollution and easing the reliance for personal mobility on finite petroleum reserves.

What has the best potential, the engineers say, is a pure electric car, one that owners can plug in and recharge from their domestic electricity supply, just like a big mobile phone on wheels.

Electric cars have appeal because they generate no emissions (they don't have an exhaust pipe because they don't burn fuel) and are as clean to run as the way a nation's electricity supply is generated.

In Portugal last week, Nissan assembled about 60 models to demonstrate the breadth of its global portfolio - from quirky Japanese domestic microcars to its dinosaur Titan, a 5.6-litre V8, petrol-guzzling (19.6 L/100km, city) pick-up truck.

But the company also used the car-fest, called Nissan 360, to show two concept cars that provide a tantalising window to the future.

One is the Mixim concept, which was revealed at the Frankfurt motor show last year. It's an all-electric, rechargeable car.

The other concept, the EA2, shows the latest step in the company's thinking - drive-by-wire technology. Nissan calls this X-by-Wire, denoting wholly electrical operation of typically mechanical connection for essentials such as steering and brakes.

X-by-Wire electronics rid the car of mechanical linkages, such as steering columns, making the gear more compact, liberating cabin space and using less energy.