Nissan Motor Co. and its French partner Renault SA formally concluded Thursday an agreement with China's Wuhan city to promote the use of electric vehicles following the release of Nissan's Leaf electric vehicle later this year, the Japanese automaker said.
The alliance will study the possibility of marketing EVs in China by providing Wuhan city with 25 Nissan vehicles beginning in 2011, Nissan said.
The Wuhan government will build 250 EV chargers to support vehicle operations in selected areas, while Nissan and the Wuhan government will cooperate on education and awareness programs, the automaker said.
''The alliance believes that increased use of EVs will significantly contribute to reducing CO2 emissions, air pollutants and use of petroleum fuel,'' Hiroto Saikawa, executive vice president of Nissan, said in a statement.
Nissan will launch the Leaf in Japan, the United States and Europe in late 2010, Nissan said.
