http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/07/09/business/EU-Portugal-Nissan-Electric-Cars.php
LISBON, Portugal: The Nissan-Renault auto alliance has won the support of the Portuguese government for its efforts to demonstrate that a mass market for electric cars is possible.
Carlos Ghosn, chief executive of the French and Japanese automakers, and Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates on Wednesday presided at the signing of a memorandum of understanding which aims to lay the groundwork for use of electric vehicles in Portugal and dispel doubts about their feasibility.
Ghosn said the public-private agreement represented a new business model that seeks to "develop the necessary conditions for zero-emission vehicles to become a viable, attractive and popular" mode of transport.
Socrates said Portugal is willing to act as "a laboratory for future electric cars."
Ghosn said zero-emission vehicles are "one of the main business priorities in the short and long term" for the automotive giant, which aims to sell them worldwide by 2012. Rival manufacturers are also planning electric vehicles.
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However, electric car projects have for years been dogged by doubts about their feasibility. One of the main complaints has been the lack of widespread recharging sites which could limit their use.
The drawback of high costs and other technological hurdles have kept electrical vehicles at the experimental stage so far.
"It's still a very new technology and so much remains to be seen," said Yasuaki Iwamoto, auto analyst with Okasan Securities Co. "It's unlikely people are suddenly going to switch in big numbers from gas-engine vehicles."
The government and Nissan-Renault are to undertake four months of detailed studies before announcing measures. Nissan has not yet unveiled the electric car it is developing but says it will be able to carry five adults about 160 kilometers (100 miles) before recharging its lithium-ion battery. It will have a top speed of 145 kilometers per hour (90 mph.)
Ghosn conceded that the main obstacles were access to energy for recharging and the need for economic enticements that might encourage consumers to change their habits.
The Portuguese government says it will help develop a national network of recharging sites and will encourage the adoption of zero-emission vehicles by offering tax breaks for those who buy them.
Portugal has no oil of its own and imports more than 80 percent of its energy needs. As high oil prices have further squeezed an already pinched economy, the government is pushing hard for the development of renewable energy sources.
"So that we are not at the mercy of others," Socrates said.
Tokyo-based Nissan Motor Co. and alliance partner Renault SA have previously announced deals with Project Better Place, based in Palo Alto, California, which promotes electric vehicles, to mass market electric vehicles in Israel and Denmark in 2011.
Major automakers are all working on ecological technology.
Fuji Heavy Industries, which makes Subaru cars, and Mitsubishi Motors Corp. plan to offer their electric vehicles in Japan next year.
In California, Nissan's Japanese rival Honda Motor Co. is leasing out a few of its fuel-cell powered FCX Clarity vehicles, which run on hydrogen and emit only water.
U.S. automaker General Motors Corp. is developing a plug-in electric vehicle called the Chevrolet Volt, which it hopes to launch in 2010. Ford Motor Co. has a demonstration fleet of 20 plug-ins through a partnership with Southern California Edison.
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LISBON, Portugal: The Nissan-Renault auto alliance has won the support of the Portuguese government for its efforts to demonstrate that a mass market for electric cars is possible.
Carlos Ghosn, chief executive of the French and Japanese automakers, and Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates on Wednesday presided at the signing of a memorandum of understanding which aims to lay the groundwork for use of electric vehicles in Portugal and dispel doubts about their feasibility.
Ghosn said the public-private agreement represented a new business model that seeks to "develop the necessary conditions for zero-emission vehicles to become a viable, attractive and popular" mode of transport.
Socrates said Portugal is willing to act as "a laboratory for future electric cars."
Ghosn said zero-emission vehicles are "one of the main business priorities in the short and long term" for the automotive giant, which aims to sell them worldwide by 2012. Rival manufacturers are also planning electric vehicles.
Today in Business with Reuters
Pentagon to reopen tanker contract won by Northrop and EADSFed concludes economic woes likely to spill into 2009Ex-EADS financial chief detained by the police
However, electric car projects have for years been dogged by doubts about their feasibility. One of the main complaints has been the lack of widespread recharging sites which could limit their use.
The drawback of high costs and other technological hurdles have kept electrical vehicles at the experimental stage so far.
"It's still a very new technology and so much remains to be seen," said Yasuaki Iwamoto, auto analyst with Okasan Securities Co. "It's unlikely people are suddenly going to switch in big numbers from gas-engine vehicles."
The government and Nissan-Renault are to undertake four months of detailed studies before announcing measures. Nissan has not yet unveiled the electric car it is developing but says it will be able to carry five adults about 160 kilometers (100 miles) before recharging its lithium-ion battery. It will have a top speed of 145 kilometers per hour (90 mph.)
Ghosn conceded that the main obstacles were access to energy for recharging and the need for economic enticements that might encourage consumers to change their habits.
The Portuguese government says it will help develop a national network of recharging sites and will encourage the adoption of zero-emission vehicles by offering tax breaks for those who buy them.
Portugal has no oil of its own and imports more than 80 percent of its energy needs. As high oil prices have further squeezed an already pinched economy, the government is pushing hard for the development of renewable energy sources.
"So that we are not at the mercy of others," Socrates said.
Tokyo-based Nissan Motor Co. and alliance partner Renault SA have previously announced deals with Project Better Place, based in Palo Alto, California, which promotes electric vehicles, to mass market electric vehicles in Israel and Denmark in 2011.
Major automakers are all working on ecological technology.
Fuji Heavy Industries, which makes Subaru cars, and Mitsubishi Motors Corp. plan to offer their electric vehicles in Japan next year.
In California, Nissan's Japanese rival Honda Motor Co. is leasing out a few of its fuel-cell powered FCX Clarity vehicles, which run on hydrogen and emit only water.
U.S. automaker General Motors Corp. is developing a plug-in electric vehicle called the Chevrolet Volt, which it hopes to launch in 2010. Ford Motor Co. has a demonstration fleet of 20 plug-ins through a partnership with Southern California Edison.
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