Nissan plans electric and fuel cell double eco whammy

[jpak]

http://www.channel4.com/4car/news/news-story.jsp?news_id=15998

Nissan is planning to launch a production fuel cell car and an electric vehicle early in the next decade - and until then will be making its petrol and diesel engines ever-cleaner.

But that will not be enough to ensure that Nissan will meet the EU target for reducing carbon dioxide emissions from its range to an average of 130 g/km by 2012. 'This is too difficult; a very, very high level,' said Nissan head of technology Mitsuhiko Yamashita. 'We will ultimately have to meet this, but 2012 is too aggressive. The timing is too tight.'

He was speaking in London this week at the launch of Nissan's Green Programme 2010, a multi-faceted attempt to reduce the company's environmental impact, and that of its vehicles. In collaboration with partner Renault, Nissan aims to tackle the issue on many fronts. It will clean up its act at its manufacturing plants, reducing their emissions by an average of 7% and achieving 100% recycling of resources. It is also working on hybrids, electric vehicles, fuel cells, biofuel-compatible vehicles and improvements to existing internal combustion engines.

Although Nissan currently offers its Altima hybrid in the US, with powertrain technology sourced from Toyota, its own in-house hybrid will not come until 2010. This Europe-bound model will probably be an SUV, because a hybrid small car would be prohibitively expensive, and customers in Europe are still reluctant to pay for the technology. It's also likely to be sold under the Infiniti brand name.

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[Javaman]

1. Sigh. why doesn't someone produce a diesel electric plug in?

that would sell like hot cakes and the tech it already there.

:banghead: