Nissan to launch electric vehicles in China in '11

Shanghai, July 10 (Gasgoo.com) Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. plans to launch its lithium ion battery-driven vehicles in the Chinese market in 2011, according to Yasuaki Hashimoto, president of Nissan (China) Investment Co., Ltd., China Youth Daily reported today.

The Renault-Nissan alliance signed an agreement for promoting the use of electric vehicles with China's auto industry regulator on April 10. Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei province, will be the first pilot city in Renault-Nissan's zero-emission vehicle program.

Consumers in Wuhan city, home to joint venture Dongfeng Nissan which will make the Nissan electric cars, are likely to use these vehicles first, in part of Nissan Motor's efforts to size up the Chinese taste. But the number of such cars to be launched has not been fixed.

After strict testing, the company has decided to use manganese as the electrode material of these electric cars' lithium ion batteries, as manganese-lithium batteries perform better than iron-lithium batteries in terms of stability and security.

With a maximum speed of 140 km/h, Nissan electric cars are applicable to expressways, said Mr. Hashimoto, adding that his company would produce electric cars in China, even without regard to the country's abundant rare earth.

In addition, Nissan lithium ion battery-driven vehicles will be released to the Japanese and the U.S. markets in 2010, and enter other markets in the world from 2012, said Yasuaki Hashimoto.