2006 Nissan 350z Grand Touring Convertible W/ Nav on 2040-cars

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Internal Nissan emails reportedly corroborate Ghosn's claim of a setup

An internal email trail reportedly supports former boss Carlos Ghosn's claim that Nissan orchestrated his ouster. The leaked emails have been corroborated by sources familiar with their contents, Bloomberg reports.  Emails going back to February 2018, a year before his arrest, allegedly describe a deliberate and multi-pronged effort — a "methodical campaign," Bloomberg said — to remove Ghosn from the company and in so doing, put Nissan in position to negotiate a more favorable relationship with alliance partner Renault.  The initial effort was apparently triggered by Ghosn's announcement in 2018 that he wanted to further intertwine Renault and Nissan, eventually to the point where their integration would be irreversible. Former Ghosn aide Hari Nada, who would appear as the whistleblower figure who outed Ghosn for his alleged financial misconduct, allegedly suggested to a Nissan senior manager that company executives should move to "neutralize his initiatives before itÂ’s too late." Nada would later recommend the termination of the agreement governing the Renault-Nissan Alliance. This would have granted Nissan broader freedom to purchase stake in Renault (or even ultimately take it over entirely), and reduce the French automaker's influence over Nissan's ability to choose its own executives.  The next day, Ghosn was arrested at Haneda Airport in Tokyo on charges of financial misconduct, including personal use of company money and under-reporting of income.  Ghosn, who was released and re-arrested multiple times, fled Japan illegally in January, taking refuge in his former home of Lebanon. Since, Japanese authorities have pushed for his arrest but have been foiled by the lack of an extradition agreement between the two countries.       Government/Legal Rumormill Nissan Renault

Bhutan asks Nissan, Mitsubishi for help with massive EV-only plan

Originally, the somewhat modest plan was to introduce 2,000 electric vehicles to the capital of Bhutan. Then things got bigger when Renault-Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn paid the country a visit and the Prime Minister of Bhutan, Tshering Tobgay, said his country, "will commit to a program to achieve zero emissions as a nation by a certain target date." Now we're approaching "holy huge" territory. Last week, Tobgay visited Japan to ask Nissan and Mitsubishi for help in possibly replacing every combustion vehicle with an all-electric option. "Gasoline is expensive and unfriendly to the environment." – Bhutan's Prime Minister At the very least, Bhutan wants to make more eco-friendly vehicles available. Tobgay told AsiaNews that, "Gasoline is expensive and unfriendly to the environment. Sustainable transportation will bring citizens happiness," which is something that a country that measures its Gross National Happiness is eager to track. Switching to electric vehicles makes complete sense in Bhutan, since the mountainous Asian nation produces more renewable hydro-electricity than it can use. Ninety-five percent of the zero-emission energy is exported to India, and Bhutan uses the profits to buy fuel from India to then power its vehicles. You can probably figure out for yourself how there's a simpler way to do this. News Source: AsiaNews.it Green Mitsubishi Nissan Green Culture Electric

Nissan's 'No Charge to Charge' is what incentives look like in the EV age [UPDATE]

Nissan knows that offering free charging can increase Leaf sales, so it only makes sense for them to expand the "No Charge to Charge" program. And that's exactly what happened yesterday. As previewed during the New York Auto Show, No Charge To Charge gives new Leaf buyers free charging at participating public charging stations – which is pretty much any public station – for two years. That's the kind of thing that simplifies the EV buying process, which can move units, Brendan Jones, director of Nissan EV sales and infrastructure, told AutoblogGreen. "There is an expectation that we'll get a sales increase out of this," Jones said. "All the dealer has to say is that we have one card that accesses all chargers and we have a promotion where you can get free charging. The more complexity we reduce, the more sales we get." "The more complexity we reduce, the more sales we get." – Nissan's Brendan Jones That all-access angle is important for the broader EV market, Jones said, calling the program, "The first valid step towards interoperability." Jones said there will be more surprise announcements soon. "The infrastructure companies really came together to support Nissan on this," he said, but added that, "What's good for the industry and EVs in general is good for Nissan." "Leaf customers are not shy about their ability to provide constructive criticism," Jones said, " and interoperability has always been a big concern." Now that many of the early adopters drive an EV, the next target audience are the people who are telling EV companies to "Make this easy for me and I will adopt," Jones said. "[Interoperability] is a necessity for the industry now. We know the experience is great once they drive it. This just takes away a barrier, that confusion at the dealership." And, in some areas in the US, No Charge To Charge is now live. There are 2,600 public stations (200 of them fast chargers) in the initial 10 markets, Nissan says. Those include: San Francisco, Sacramento, San Diego, Seattle, Portland (OR), Nashville, Phoenix, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston and Washington, DC. Nissan hasn't announced where the next 15 markets will be, but we know that they will likely be wherever the Leaf is selling well and there are a fair number of DC fast chargers. As we reported in April, each charging session in the No Charge To Charge program is limited to 30 minutes if you're plugged into a CHAdeMO fast charge station and to an hour at a Level 2 station.