Nissan Motor Co. Chief Executive Officer Carlos Ghosn said U.S. consumer demand for electric vehicles may exceed President Barack Obama's goal of 1 million plug-in models by 2015.
The automaker began a 22-city U.S. tour today to show its battery-powered Leaf small car. The model will sell for the same price as a similar-size gasoline-powered car when deliveries begin next year, with consumers paying a separate monthly fee to lease the Leaf's lithium-ion batteries, Ghosn said.
"There is absolutely no reason that you will not have much more than 1 million cars in the U.S. before 2015," Ghosn said at a briefing in Los Angeles. "What the president has said, we obviously want to come up with solutions that would allow us to make that a reality but move beyond it."
Nissan, Japan's third-largest carmaker, is preparing the Leaf to meet U.S. demands for higher fuel efficiency and reduced carbon emissions, as well as California rules requiring large auto companies to sell exhaust-free models. The likelihood that oil prices will keep rising will make battery cars increasingly appealing to U.S. drivers, Ghosn said.
Ghosn intends for Yokohama, Japan-based Nissan to become the global sales leader in the developing market for autos powered solely or in part by batteries that can be recharged at electrical outlets. He has forecast that electric cars will account for at least 10 percent of worldwide sales by 2020, with Nissan having an even bigger share of that market.
About 8 percent of U.S. customers surveyed say their next vehicle purchase will be an electric car, Ghosn said, citing company data. Nissan's U.S. unit, based in Franklin, Tennessee, has said it plans to get at least 20,000 initial orders for the Leaf by next year.
Nissan is using a $1.6 billion U.S. loan to retool its Smyrna, Tennessee, plant to make Leaf starting in 2012, as well as an assembly line to make lithium-ion battery packs for the car. The company has said it will be able to produce as many as 150,000 electric vehicles and 200,000 battery packs a year.
