Saturday, December 17, 2011

Nissan Analyzes Candidates for Fourth Electric Vehicle

Nissan is currently analyzing alternatives for its fourth electric vehicle. It appears to be a tough decision, since there are four eligible candidates and different opinions and demands.

Image comment: Nissan's futuristic Pivo 3, one step closer to hitting the roads
Image credits: Nissan via Autoblog

Some authorized voices say that the US market would welcome an electric sports car, represented in this case by Esflow Concept car, showcased during the Geneva auto show, Automotive News informs.

Others think clients want a pocket size green car, smaller than a Nissan Versa, but bigger than a Smart car. This option would definitely be more popular in China and Europe than in the US.

Rumor has it the Townpod EV Concept would rank third in the list of options. It supporters say the small minivan presented in 2010 during the Paris auto show has real changes of becoming popular on the American market, due to its utility.

So far, all we know for sure is that the new electric vehicle is going to be a “city car,” according to Andy Palmer, Nissan Motor Co. executive vice president for vehicle planning and program management.

Its price is obviously very important to attract a larger segment of buyers. Nissan plans to come up with a vehicle equipped with a smaller battery, to keep the costs under control. Moreover, such a strategy, once implemented could feed the potential clients' “range anxiety.”

"It will be in the A/B segment. The car would have to be low-cost. It would be a vehicle where you could potentially accept less range, so you could have a smaller battery. And that would bring the price down," explains Palmer.

Selecting the most appropriate candidate appears to be quite a difficult mission, since manufacturers plan to conquer the global market with their fourth electric car, refusing to limit their influence to the American market.

If they were to decide to select a car innovating the whole vehicle architecture, the commuter concept Pivo 3 would be one of the most suitable options.

The prototype has only three seats and displays an amazing futuristic design, but somehow it is considered too “wild” to become popular at this point in time. However, Shiro Nakamura, Nissan's global design chief, suggests Pivo 3 has what it takes to become a future commercialized electric vehicle, but not necessarily the expected fourth.