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Nissan expands US EV test market for e-NV200 to Portland

Of course, it's going to be Portland. Oregon's largest city, known for its green-friendly vibe and policies, will be where Nissan will next test of its all-electric e-NV200 cargo van. And we hope those vans have cup holders for the inevitable java. The Japanese automaker is working with local utility company Portland General Electric (PGE) on a six-week trial program. Nissan and PGE will record data to better measure how the concept of battery-powered driving works within the local services network. The location makes sense, as Portland is one of the five best-selling US cities when it comes to sales of the Nissan Leaf, which shares its powertrain with the e-NV200. Nissan kicked off its "No Charge to Charge" free-charging program for new Leaf owners in April. Nissan, which had already been testing the e-NV200 with FedEx in Germany, Japan and Singapore as of late last year, said at the Washington Auto Show in January that it would start testing the electric van in the Washington, DC, area. Nissan said at the time that it helped install about 570 fast-charging CHAdeMO chargers throughout the US since last year, including 200 in December alone. Check out Nissan's press release about the Portland project below. LEADING EV MARKET PORTLAND BECOMES TEST BED FOR NISSAN E-NV200 ELECTRIC COMMERCIAL VEHICLE PORTLAND, Ore. – Portland, already a top breeding ground for electric vehicle (EV) sales, is now the proving ground for Nissan's prototype electric commercial vehicle – the Nissan e-NV200. Nissan is working in collaboration with Portland General Electric (PGE) on a six-week trial to help determine the viability of an electric commercial vehicle in the U.S market. PGE has assigned the e-NV200 into its fleet of vehicles with an underground crew, replacing a larger, diesel-powered van. "Oregon has been a top five market for Nissan LEAF sales in the U.S. due to proactive policies at the state level to encourage EV adoption, as well as robust charging infrastructure championed by the state and others like PGE," said Toby Perry, Nissan's director of EV Marketing in the U.S. "If we determine that e-NV200 fits into the U.S. commercial vehicle market, we expect that Portland would be a leading driver for sales as well." This year, Nissan is deploying two e-NV200 prototypes with companies such as PGE and FedEx in top U.S EV markets including California, Georgia, Oregon and Washington, D.C.

Nissan's Nismo celebrates 30th year with video retrospective

Nismo, the motorsports and high-performance arm of Nissan, has a lot of racing success to celebrate in its history and possibly even bigger accomplishments to look forward to. The company is commemorating its 30th anniversary with a video looking back at its most important milestones from each year of its past.
Nismo's job first and foremost at its genesis was to excel at motorsports. It wasn't too long after the division was founded in 1984 that the company made its first of many attempts to take an overall victory in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. It never quite succeeded in that goal, but still managed to do well in long-distance competition elsewhere. At the same time, Nismo was racking up wins in touring car races in Japan.
Eventually, the division's engineers started dipping their toes into tuning road cars, in addition to going racing. What began as something sporadic has become a growing part of the Nissan lineup with Nismo-branded models of the 370Z, Juke, Note in Europe and the GT-R.

Renault-Nissan to build EVs in China with Dongfeng

BEIJING — Nissan and its partner Renault will build electric cars in China in a new venture with Dongfeng Motor, as global automakers scramble to get ready for stringent electric vehicle quotas being introduced by the nation. China, the world's biggest auto market, wants all-electric battery cars and plug-in hybrid vehicles to make up at least a fifth of the country's auto sales by 2025, as part of its solution to tackle alarming pollution levels in major cities. Ford announced earlier this month it was exploring setting up a joint venture with car maker Anhui Zotye Automobile Co to build electric vehicles in China under a new brand. Tesla, Daimler, Volkswagen and General Motors have already announced plans for making electric vehicles in China, The new joint venture, called eGT New Energy Automotive Co, will be owned 25 percent each by Nissan and Renault with Dongfeng owning 50 percent, Nissan and Renault said in a statement on Tuesday. They said eGT will design a new electric vehicle on a subcompact crossover SUV platform of the Renault-Nissan alliance. "The establishment of the new joint venture with Dongfeng confirms our common commitment to develop competitive electric vehicles for the Chinese market," Carlos Ghosn, chairman and chief executive officer of the Renault-Nissan alliance, said in the statement. The statement did not give details of financial commitments of the joint venture partners or say by when the vehicles will be launched. Dongfeng already partners Nissan in China. Both Nissan and Renault already market electric cars. Nissan's Leaf compact hatchback has become the world's top-selling electric car since its launch in 2010, while Renault began selling its Zoe model in 2012. The game changer for global automakers, many of whom until recently have resisted an industry shift to heavily electrified vehicles, is China, an auto market with strong potential for growth where stringent policies favoring cleaner energy cars are being aggressively pursued. Under China's latest proposals, electric vehicle sales quotas, which are expected to take effect as early as 2018, are due to require 8 percent of automakers' sales to be battery electric or plug-in hybrid vehicles by next year, rising to 10 percent in 2019 and 12 percent in 2020.