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Nissan sees its EV sales surging to 1 million annually by 2022

YOKOHAMA, Japan — Nissan announced plans to sell 1 million electric vehicles (EVs) annually by 2022, a six-fold jump from what it sold last year, and said it had no plans to stop testing its self-driving cars on public roads, calling them safe. Japan's No. 2 automaker and its rivals are planning to crank up development and production of electric cars in response to tightening emissions regulations around the world, even as demand for such vehicles remains limited due to their high cost and limited charging infrastructure. Launched as the world's first mass-market all-battery EV in 2010, Nissan's Leaf compact hatchback is the world's best-selling EV, though sales have been just around 300,000 units in its lifetime. The company now plans to focus its lower-emissions lineup on all-battery and gasoline-hybrid EVs rather than costlier technologies including plug-in hybrids. Nissan said on Friday it would develop eight new all-battery EVs over the next five years, including four models for China. Its luxury Infiniti brand would begin carrying new electric models from 2021, it added. Through 2022, vehicles powered by its "e-Power" gasoline-hybrid technology would likely comprise the majority of Nissan's electric line-up, it said. Such vehicles use gasoline to power the car's motor, requiring a much smaller battery than EVs and therefore are less expensive to produce. "The heart of our strategy in terms of electrification is battery EVs and e-Power technology," Nissan Chief Planning Officer Philippe Klein told reporters at a briefing. Concerns about EV battery costs and components have prompted many automakers to develop a variety of lower emissions technologies, but Klein said that Nissan would largely forego plug-in hybrids and hydrogen fuel cell technologies, given their low cost-performance at the moment. In 2017, Nissan sold 163,000 electric vehicles globally. Nissan and its automaking partners, Renault and Mitsubishi, together plan to launch 17 electric models as part of their strategy to achieve annual vehicle sales totaling 14 million units by 2022, compared with 10.6 million units in 2017. Self-driving tests to continue Automakers and technology companies are facing mounting pressure to prove that their automated driving functions under development are safe to use on public roads following a fatal accident involving a self-driving car operated by Uber Technologies [UBER.UL] in the United States earlier this week.

Nissan pokes fun at Tesla's New Jersey woes, then deletes Tweet

Ever have one of those moments when you release something out onto Twitter, only to think better of it a little while later and reach for that garbage can icon? If so, you are not alone. In fact, you're in the company of a certain Japanese automaker, who recently joined the ranks of those who've suffered an embarrassing bout of tweetus deletus. The Nissan Leaf social media team apparently thought it would be amusing to take a light poke at Tesla Motors and its New Jersey dealer fight woes on its Twitter feed and put together the cheeky graphic which you see above. It was originally published on the micro-blogging network accompanied by the text, "It's okay #NewJersey, you can still #GoElectric with the #NissanLEAF #EV." Funny, right? Not to everyone. The image attracted a bit of mild criticism which, to their credit, Nissan responded to saying, "It's all in #EV love." Soon, however, the original image disappeared from the @NissanLEAF feed. Luckily, we saved a copy for your edification. Rob Robinson, senior specialist of social communications for Nissan, told AutoblogGreen that the Leaf Twitter account is run by an agency, and that the tweet in question, "Was not a tweet that was reviewed or approved by Nissan. We saw it and asked them to take it down." As for the reasoning, Robinson said that, "We thought it was a discussion we didn't need to be weighing in on." While we can see the Nissan point of view, we also appreciate the attempt at being irreverent. Anything to break up the monotony of the stale toast the account usually offers up – "What would you nickname your Nissan Leaf if it was Ocean Blue?" which is the last undeleted Tweet available on the feed, as of this writing. We actually applaud the intention of the Tesla post. It all makes us wonder, though, if the social media team over there isn't in need of a little input on how they might improve its outreach. Since we know our readers are not shy in offering suggestions, we ask you to leave your thoughts and ideas for them in the Comments.

'Charge lock' on Nissan Leaf doesn't actually prevent cable theft

Is it a feature or a bug? According to AutoblogGreen reader Francois Viau, the locking mechanism that holds the 110V trickle charge cable to his Nissan Leaf is too weak, and that's a problem. That's because while he thought the cable was locked to his car during a charge session at work, someone stole the cable, and it cost him $2,200 to replace it (in Canadian dollars, from the Nissan dealer). To see just how easy it is to unlock the mechanism, Viau had a "small assistant" jimmy it open with a plastic comb on video (watch it below). "The charge lock feature on Nissan Leaf is not intended to prevent theft of the charging cordset." – Brian Brockman We wondered if this was a common problem and, through the magic of Facebook, we had AutoblogGreen reader Phil Tipper try it out on his 2013 SL Leaf. He said he used an insulated handle flat screwdriver and was not able to defeat the lock. "I admit that I didn't want to force the mechanism for fear of breaking it, it didn't look like that kid used much force at all," he said. "Maybe this guy's mechanism was damaged in the theft and now it's very easy to trip the lock out of the way." Fifty percent of a sample size of two isn't a reliable metric, but if you're worried about locking your cable in place, you can see some of Viau's anti-theft solutions here (in French, with pictures). Turns out, though, that the white plastic bit that prevents the cable handle from working during a charge isn't really an anti-theft device. Brian Brockman, senior manager of corporate communications for Nissan North America, told AutoblogGreen that, "The charge lock feature on Nissan Leaf is not intended to prevent theft of the charging cordset. It is designed to discourage someone from unplugging the vehicle while a charging session is in progress. The trickle charge cable features a small hole in the release button to allow the owner to insert a lock to reduce the chance of theft." So, now you know. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.