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By
EWAN KENNEDY
24 November 2008
Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn is one of the most respected figures in
the automotive world, and has been since he assisted that company
from the brink of total disaster late last century. At that time
he was working with Renault on what became a successful alliance
with Nissan. Today he's the President and CEO of both the French
company and the Japanese one.
When
Ghosn discusses the future of the automobile a lot of people
listen very carefully.
He
recently gave an interview to a select group of Australian
motoring journalists. His chief topic was naturally the huge
downturn in car sales worldwide. In the USA it’s as much as 35
per cent, a staggering drop that’s causing a lot of heartache.
Ghosn
says his immediate concern has to be the near future, yet he's
already thinking beyond that – and says that while many other
existing automotive projects may have to be slowed or even
discontinued, the one thing that will not suffer is Nissan's
electric vehicle program.
He
is confident the long-term future of the individual transport
depends on auto companies developing vehicles with no tailpipe
emissions.
However,
it must be kept in mind that generating electricity produces
carbon dioxide emissions in most countries. This certainly applies
to Australia where most of our power comes from coal. Indeed, at
the current state of power generation in our country some small
electric vehicles may actually result in more pollution than would
the econo-diesel modes being sold by makers such as Audi.
Solar,
wind and nuclear power allied to electricity generation would
greatly reduce the emission problems.
Ghosn
says it’s up to the car makers to produce the best possible
electric cars. And up to individual countries to come up with the
cleanest sources for them.
An
infrastructure for electric recharging would also have to be
developed. This could become the territory of existing oil
companies, which would have battery charging and fuel on sale at
the same sites.
In
the early to medium term it’s unlikely that more than about 10
per cent of vehicles would run purely on electricity. Nissan hopes
to have an electric option in each vehicle in its range by 2015,
with the first models appearing in 2010.
Batteries
for electric vehicles will have to undergo a lot of improvements
to make electric cars a long-term proposition. For that reason
Nissan, and presumably other makers as well, would lease batteries
to customers rather than sell them. Thus the car would have its
battery replaced by later, more efficient, units as these were
introduced.
This
would also solve the problem of the disposal of old batteries, as
Nissan would recycle them to gain access to the expensive
materials they contain.
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Marque Publishing Company
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