Nissan yesterday unveiled its first all electric car, the Leaf, vowing to open a new chapter for the troubled auto industry and take a lead over its bigger rivals in “green” vehicles.
The mid-sized hatchback, which will go on sale late next year in Japan, the US and Europe, represents a bold bet by Nissan that hybrids are merely a passing fad on the road to pure electric vehicles.
The Leaf, described by Nissan as “the world’s first affordable, zero-emission car,” can travel more than 160km on a single charge at a top speed of 140kph, the company said.
PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
It will “lead the way to a zero-emission future, opening a new era in the automotive industry,” CEO Carlos Ghosn said, unveiling the car at the group’s new headquarters in Yokohama, southwest of Tokyo.
“The Leaf is totally neutral to the environment: There is no exhaust pipe, no gasoline-burning engine. There is only the quiet, efficient power provided by our own lithium-ion battery packs,” he said.
The price was not announced but Ghosn said it would be “very competitive.”
Nissan plans to sell the car at a similar price to a comparable model with a petrol-powered engine. The battery, which will be stored under the seat and floor, will be leased separately.
“The monthly cost of the battery, plus the electric charge, will be less than the cost of gasoline,” Ghosn said.
Owners will be able to recharge the battery at home through the domestic power supply in about eight hours, or top it up to 80 percent capacity in around 30 minutes at planned electric recharging stations, it said.
Among other features, users will be able to use their cellphones to turn on the air conditioning and set the battery-charging functions.
If they need help finding the nearest charging station, the navigation system will point the way.
Nissan, Japan’s third-largest automaker, was slower than Toyota and Honda to embrace fuel-sipping petrol-electric hybrids, but it is determined to steal a march on its larger competitors in electric cars.
The dream of an electric car has so far failed to break into the mainstream because of limited battery life and high costs.
But after technological breakthroughs in the development of lithium-ion batteries, soon it may not just be Hollywood stars who are zipping around in electric cars.
Nissan sees a mass, not niche, market for electric cars, Ghosn said.
“Hybrids are not mass market. They represent 2 percent of the global market after many years,” he said.
The stakes are high for Nissan, which lost about US$2.5 billion in the year to March and is slashing 20,000 jobs.
“We need to invest a lot of money to build the car plants and the battery plants at a moment where all the auto companies are saving investments,” Ghosn said. “But there is such a high potential that we [will] go ahead with it.”
The Japanese maker, which is 44 percent owned by France’s Renault, plans to produce the Leaf in Japan and the US and manufacture some of the batteries at plants in Britain and Portugal.
The carmaker has signed agreements with various governments including Israel, Portugal and Singapore, as well as communities in Japan and the US to set up electric recharging stations.
The Leaf will not be the first electric car on the market. Mitsubishi Motors recently rolled out its “i-MiEV” minicar, while Fuji Heavy Industries launched the Subaru Plug-in STELLA.
Meanwhile, in other developments, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFJ) has put together a syndicated loan worth US$5 billion for a sovereign wealth fund in Abu Dhabi, a report said yesterday.
Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, part of the MUFJ group, has arranged the multi-bank credit for International Petroleum Investment Co (IPIC), the business daily Nikkei Shimbun reported, without citing sources.
The syndicate also involves 15 other banks, including Santander of Spain, HSBC Holdings Plc of Britain and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp of Japan, the report said.
Japanese banks are hoping to increase their presence in the Middle East, the Nikkei said, adding that many Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds need large loans, which major US and European banks have grown cautious about providing.
IPIC will most likely use the loan to acquire Canada-based Nova Chemicals Corp and take a stake in CEPSA, Spain’s No. 2 oil company, the Nikkei said.
FIREPOWER: On top of the torpedoes, the military would procure Kestrel II anti-tank weapons systems to replace aging license-produced M72 LAW launchers Taiwan is to receive US-made Mark 48 torpedoes and training simulators over the next three years, following delays that hampered the navy’s operational readiness, the Ministry of National Defense’s latest budget proposal showed. The navy next year would acquire four training simulator systems for the torpedoes and take receipt of 14 torpedoes in 2027 and 10 torpedoes in 2028, the ministry said in its budget for the next fiscal year. The torpedoes would almost certainly be utilized in the navy’s two upgraded Chien Lung-class submarines and the indigenously developed Hai Kun, should the attack sub successfully reach operational status. US President Donald Trump
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to start construction of its 1.4-nanometer chip manufacturing facilities at the Central Taiwan Science Park (CTSP, 中部科學園區) as early as October, the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) reported yesterday, citing the park administration. TSMC acquired land for the second phase of the park’s expansion in Taichung in June. Large cement, construction and facility engineering companies in central Taiwan have reportedly been receiving bids for TSMC-related projects, the report said. Supply-chain firms estimated that the business opportunities for engineering, equipment and materials supply, and back-end packaging and testing could reach as high as
ALL QUIET: The Philippine foreign secretary told senators she would not respond to questions about whether Lin Chia-lung was in the country The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday confirmed that a business delegation is visiting the Philippines, but declined to say whether Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) is part of the group, as Philippine lawmakers raised questions over Lin’s reported visit. The group is being led by Deputy Minister of Agriculture Huang Chao-chin (黃昭欽), Chinese International Economic Cooperation Association (CIECA) chairman Joseph Lyu (呂桔誠) and US-Taiwan Business Council (USTBC) vice president Lotta Danielsson, the ministry said in a statement. However, sources speaking on condition of anonymity said that Lin is leading the delegation of 70 people. Filinvest New Clark City Innovation Park
DEFENSIVE EDGE: The liaison officer would work with Taiwan on drones and military applications for other civilian-developed technologies, a source said A Pentagon unit tasked with facilitating the US military’s adoption of new technology is soon to deploy officials to dozens of friendly nations, including Taiwan, the Financial Times reported yesterday. The US Department of Defense’s Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) is to send a representative to collaborate with Taiwan on drones and military applications from the semiconductor industry by the end of the year, the British daily reported, citing three sources familiar with the matter. “Drones will certainly be a focus, but they will also be looking at connecting to the broader civilian and dual-use ecosystem, including the tech sector,” one source was
RSS