Nissan Plans EV Motoring Network

Washington DC March 3, 2009; The AIADA newsletter reported that to make the country a friendly place for electric vehicles, Nissan will ask fast-food restaurants and other roadside stops to install EV recharging stations.

Thirty minutes on a commercial charger could provide an 80 percent battery charge — enough for about 80 extra miles in the Nissan electric car scheduled for 2012, the automaker says.

Nissan also will ask dealers to install recharging stations as a courtesy to drivers who pass through town, says Mark Perry, Nissan's director of product planning and strategy.

According to Automotive News, the proposals are part of an effort to create a nationwide recharging infrastructure as Nissan prepares to put EVs in U.S. showrooms in 2012. "The enabler for adoption of electric-vehicle technology is the charging network," Perry says. "It will take three layers of charging: home chargers in the garage; workplace charging, including parking lots and garages in downtown business areas; and a public infrastructure built around the normal transportation areas, shopping malls, movie theaters, restaurants, and airports."

Nissan's first EV will be a five-seater that uses a new-generation lithium ion battery to deliver a driving range of 100 miles per charge.