At a recently-held advanced technology briefing, Nissan showed off its "Battery Lab" used for developing lithium ion batteries for electric and hybrid cars. This research facility is used to create different electrode formulations, as well as battery prototyping and testing. With all the battery improvement and electric car promises Nissan has been making, this is likely a very busy, very important place.

It is here that electrode materials are mixed and pressed onto aluminum sheets along with active materials, conducting aids and binders. The cells have different properties depending on the types and proportions of materials used. Nissan is working with lithium manganate as a positive electrode material as well as iron formulations. The challenge for battery makers is slightly different depending upon the application. For hybrids, scientists need the battery to be able to put out a lot of power, while for an all-electric vehicle, the amount of energy density is more important. They seem to be making some solid gains too. Nissan claims a power density of 2,500W/kg (English translation; lots of power) for a hybrid vehicle battery while its energy densities for an all-electric car battery have reached 140Wh/kg. That's not as good as the Tesla Roadster's numbers, but it is longer lasting with better thermal stability. As more advancements in batteries are made, we expect car companies to really start bragging about their products using increasingly technical language. If you want to understand what they are talking about, brush up on the science of modern batteries by clicking here.

[Source: Tech-On]

Until fairly recently, Nissan has been mostly quiet about its fuel cell development program. The Japanese brand recently became the first to run a fuel cell vehicle around the Nurburgring in Germany when its X-Trail FCV took to the circuit more typically populated by GT-Rs, Corvettes and Porsches. Now it looks like Nissan might follow the lead of Tesla with its first production fuel cell vehicle. Izuho Hirano, Nissan's fuel cell laboratory manager has told AutoCar that a sports car or luxury car would likely be the best place to introduce the technology. Using the same rationale as Tesla and Honda with the FCX Clarity, expensive new technology like lithium batteries and fuel cells would be accepted better in a more expensive car because other premium features could be packaged with it. A fuel cell car must have something to justify the price besides the powertrain. Nissan will make a decision in early 2009 about whether to proceed with a production fuel cell car for launch in 2014.

[Source: AutoCar]

Electronic nannies are all the rage these days, with many cars being equipped with lane-departure warning, adaptive cruise control and more. Nissan's got a new one in the works, though, that really seems rather intrusive: the ECO Pedal. Did the simple gas pedal really need to be tweaked? The pedal is programmed to push back at your foot when its computer decides you don't really need to accelerate as fast as you want. Nissan hopes that the pedal will teach overzealous drivers how to drive more efficiently, ultimately saving 5 to 10-percent on your fuel bill in the process.

We are all for learning to be better drivers, especially with the goal of reducing our environmental impact. Still, we'd greatly prefer a readout or a gauge which told us when we were lead-footing it a bit too hard. Fortunately, the system can be turned off.

[Source: The Detroit News]

Carlos Ghosn has some harsh-sounding words for alternative vehicles which still use some form of oil for their operation -- think current hybrids and future extended-range electric vehicles. "I want a pure electric car. I don't want a range extender. I don't want another hybrid. It's not going to be zero emissions in certain conditions. It's going to be zero emissions." Sounds like Ghosn is taking a little shot at today's hybrids like the Toyota Prius and even Nissan's own Altima, which uses technology licensed from Toyota. Also under fire from the Nissan chief would be the next generation of green cars like the Chevy Volt. Intriguingly, Ghosn also claims that Nissan's electric vehicles will be profitable right from the get go, unlike many other impending alternatives... again, the Volt.

Another interesting tidbit revealed by Nissan's head honcho is the fact that the EV's his company sells in America will have the ability to travel 100 miles before being depleted, while Europeans will only require half that range.

[Source: The New York Times]

While solar-powered cars have a long road ahead of them before there is any real chance that our daily driven vehicles will be powered by nothing more than the sun (not counting large arrays powering a single electric car), a small smattering of solar cells hooked up to a car battery is enough to keep the ancient lead-acid lump charged up. Some dealerships have chosen to purchase these small solar chargers individually, and now it appears as if Nissan as a whole will be doing just that for dealerships carrying its vehicles. All North American and European Nissans will be equipped with solar chargers from ICP Solar, as the two companies announced recently.

Tom Clark, Nissan's vice president of sales for the Americas said, "With the new generation of cars including more and more electronics embedded such as GPS navigation systems, DVD player, cruise control, hands-free cell phones, and voice activation, the battery drain on new cars will become more of an issue for major automotive manufacturers and car dealers." Considering how long Nissan's Titan truck is sitting unsold -- the company has an almost unbelievable 489 day supply -- perhaps this wasn't a difficult decision to make.

[Source: CNET]

Click above for a hi-res gallery of the X-Trail FCV on the Nürburgring

What's this? A Nissan-at-the-Nürburgring story that doesn't involve the mighty GT-R? Well, knock us over with a feather. We're accustomed by now of hearing about the GT-R's Nordschleife heroics, so when we saw a Nissan release touting a time of 11 minutes, 58 seconds, we thought, "Huh?" Then we saw that the vehicle recording the time was none other than the new X-Trail FCV. The 11:58 run is a record for a fuel cell vehicle on the graffitti-strewn Green Hell. Of course, it's also the only time a FCV has tackled the legendary circuit, so let's not go all crazy with the champagne just yet. Driver Frank Eickholt says that if the track had been dry, he likely would have recorded a substantially faster time -- perhaps by as much as 40 seconds. In any case, Honda, you now have a target to beat with your FCX Clarity. And GM, you're out on the 'Ring enough as is -- get Heinricy into a Fuel Cell Equinox and see what he can wring out of it. After all, it's not a real record until there's a little competition!


[Source: Nissan]

While Nissan/Renault has been very helpful to Project Better Place in Israel by offering to supply electric cars that will work with their recharging and battery swapping service, its cooperation with PBP may not be extending to its homeland of Japan. Not only has Nissan undertaken its own investigation to decide what business model is best suited for the island nation (Like the "Project," they are looking closely at the battery-lease model as a way to keep the initial vehicle purchase price low), its already begun putting together a consortium of companies to deal with everything from batteries to real estate.

Nissan, as well as Mitsubishi and Subaru, are also participants in a project sponsored by the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. This electric vehicle promotional effort, said to continue until 2015, will involve charging station testing, examine different insurance models, and attempt to get the public on-board.

Though there was talk of Project Better Place making a go of it in Japan, facing competition from its partner on their home turf will probably persuade them to concentrate their expansion efforts on some other island. Click the "read" link for more details.

[Source: Globes]

As we reported the other day, Chrysler is working as hard as possible to get its gas-guzzling fleet more in line with consumer desires. These days, that means fuel efficiency, so it comes as little surprise that Dodge is renewing its efforts to get the Hornet small car up and running. Up until this point, it had been assumed that the Chrysler joint venture with Chinese automaker Chery would produce the Hornet, but it seems that the Chinese company may not be quite ready for prime time. Instead, Chrysler's recent tie-up with Nissan is now expected to result in the new Dodge vehicle.

Chrysler still has plans to introduce a budget line of vehicles with its Chinese counterpart. Dodge's upcoming Hornet, though, will not be an entry level model at all. The Hornet is expected to compete with upper level small cars such as the Mini, which has seen excellent sales as of late due to its fuel efficiency.

[Source: Automotive News Europe - sub. req'd]

Click the new Maxima for a high-res gallery of 60+ photos

According to Yo Usaba, senior veep of powertrains for Nissan, the upcoming clean diesel engine for the next Nissan Maxima may be paired only with a manual transmission. Although the stick would likely be the most efficient transmission choice, it doesn't seem all that appropriate for the American market, where automatic transmissions are the rule. It seems that Nissan is concerned with turbo-lag, which is the lull before the turbocharger kicks in and delivers the power. For this reason, the new diesel X-Trail for the Japanese market will come only in a shift-it-yourself flavor.

Apparently, diesels have the same poor reputation in Japan as in the U.S. and many Japanese drivers are stick-shift neophytes. Since this information hasn't kept Nissan from launching its first diesel in its home market with a manual transmission as its sole option, many are concluding that the same could be true in the states. We hope not, as sales would surely be negatively impacted by such a decision. A CVT would likely be a decent choice for this application, and Nissan has proven rather adept at making its seamless transmissions sell in America. We hope that it can make that combination work.

[Source: Automotive News - sub. req'd]

The executive vice-president of Nissan R&D, Mitsuhiko Yamashita, expects the fourth-generation of lithium ion batteries to yield ranges of about 400 kilometers (248 miles) by 2015. According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, that's about four times what the current first-gen packs are capable of. Yamashita-san also says the second generation should arrive by 2010 and be good for 170 klicks (105 miles) while we can expect 300 km (186 miles) third gen by 2012.

To those of you who are saying to themselves right now, "What is he even talking about? The Tesla Roadster gets almost that kind of range now with the version 1.5 drive train." (Oh yes, I can hear you). Well, I assume he is talking about slightly different chemistry than Tesla is using as well as a pack small enough to fit something like the Nissan Mixim concept (pictured above). Had we been there in Paris with him, we would have asked how many watt hours per kilogram he was talking about but, alas, we were not. He did give some production numbers though, saying they would start making 13,000 units next year in their joint venture with NEC and ramp up eventually to an annual amount of 65,000 units.

[Source: Wall Street Journal]

Click above for a high-res gallery of the Japan-spec 2008 Nissan Cube

The Nissan Cube is coming to the U.S. next Spring, and we'll get our first look at the U.S.-spec car when it makes its debut at this year's Los Angeles Auto Show. I recently had the opportunity to drive a Japanese-market edition for four days, and it's a very neat little car. Driving the JDM vehicle also illustrates how differently small Japanese cars are set up depending on their target market. Is the Cube an economy car? In Japan, it would certainly qualify, boasting a fuel economy rating of 16 km/l (some 37 mpg U.S.) according to the country's 10-15 mode test cycle. That's basically the combined cycle, and the test is done at low speeds. For Japan, where there's plenty of urban driving and road congestion, it probably serves as a fair indicator of what drivers will experience. For us, not so much. Read on after the jump.


All photos Copyright ©2008 Alex Núñez / Weblogs, Inc.

Nissan and Renault have already announced plans to start offering battery electric vehicles beginning in 2010 for fleet testing with retail availability a year or two later. However batteries aren't the only technology they are looking at for emissions-free running. Hydrogen fuel cells are also in the picture. Nissan has been testing fuel cell-powered versions of its X-Trail SUV for the past two years with examples leased to Japanese government agencies. Renault and Nissan are now jointly working on a fuel cell version of the Renault Grand Scenic compact MPV.

The Scenic ZEV H2 uses a Nissan-developed fuel cell stack, with high pressure hydrogen storage and lithium ion batteries for recapturing kinetic energy during regenerative braking. All the hardware is mounted under the floor of the vehicle, maintaining seating for five adults. Both the X-Trail and Scenic will be shown at a variety of green events around Europe this year.

[Source: Nissan]

Although the situation has improved in the recent weeks, Barcelona, Spain and its metro area is facing a severe drought, with water reserves that aren't expect to last until the end of the summer. The local governments made a plea to industries to reduce water consumption and Nissan, which has a plant in Barcelona's Zona Franca district and very close to the river Llobregat, is heeding the call.

Thanks to reusing water, the plant is expected to save 21.6 million liters of water in 2008 - a 20 percent improvement from 2007 figures. The main savings came from the paint section, where water is filtered and reused. This not only saves the precious liquid, but generates less waste water to be treated at the final filters before reaching the river and reduces electricity consumption from water pumps and the final treatment. Nissan claims that each car needs 51.5 percent less water to be produced than in 1998.

[Source: Nissan España]

click the Laguna coupe for a high-res gallery

Amongst the sun and stars of the Cannes Film Festival this weekend, Renault has unveiled the new Laguna Coupe with a pair of V6 engines. Each of the 6 cylinder powerplants uses a different fuel. One runs on gasoline, the other diesel. While Renault-badged cars haven't been available in North America for more then two decades, the Laguna's new diesel is of interest here because it is being co-developed with Japanese partner Nissan. The 3.0L common rail diesel will find a home in U.S.-market Nissan Maximas in 2010. The sparkless 6 cylinder is outputting 235hp and 331lb-ft of torque. That's 55hp shy of the 3.5L gas V-6 in the Maxima for 2009 but 70lb-ft more. Both engines will share a 6 speed automatic transmission in the front wheel drive Laguna which, unlike other recent coupes, actually only has 2 doors. Renault will release all the details on the new coupe at the Paris Motor Show in October. The initial Renault press release is after the jump.

Try to list all of the stories we've had recently about Nissan's work to bring electric cars to the masses. It's hard, because there have been a lot of them, covering the company's efforts in Japan, Israel and the U.S., to name just a few. We're not the only ones who've noticed what Nissan (and Renault) are up to; the non-profit group Plug In America (PIA) has issued a statement praising the company for the EV push. PIA president Linda Nicholes said in a statement that, "It's past time that people had the chance and the choice to get behind the wheel of an electric car. Nissan, through innovative leadership, will make that choice possible to people all over the world." PIA's laudatory release continues:

Nissan is the first manufacturer to say it will market all-electric vehicles worldwide. Its commitment to plug-in vehicles is sure to fan competition among rivals, ultimately reducing both greenhouse gas emissions and U.S. dependence on foreign oil.

The full statement is available after the jump. Now Nissan just has to deliver on these promises and we'll all have sometime to praise.