Nissan to expand EV line-up to five

Nissan has announced a long-term plans for electric vehicles and autonomous drive technologies with announcements of a two-vehicle expansion to its EV line-up and plans to have multiple self-drive vehicles ready for the retail market by 2020.

In a move Automotive News suggests is aimed at taking wind from the sails of US media speculation that it was losing interest in the slow-moving EV segment, US R&D chief Carla Bailo countered her company’s standard line that it’s currently limiting its plans to three models based on the LEAF platform.

The LEAF hatch is already available, the NV200 cargo van will make its global debut in Europe shortly, and the company has already confirmed an upmarket Infiniti interpretation is on its way.

“We haven’t announced what models they will be, but we have plans for five,” Ms Bailo told media at a recent product review. “The others will come in due time.”

The company also looks to be expanding its plans for future use of wireless inductive charging. To date, it has said it will be using the technology as a differentiator in the upspec Infiniti model.

The company announced earlier this year that it’s delaying the launch of the car because it wasn’t yet satisfied with the charge system was market-ready. Now it appears that by market-ready, Nissan means ready for all sectors of the market.

Ms Bailo mentioned at the event that once it is ready, “we’ll use it across our brands”.

On autonomous drive, the company says it will have commercially available vehicles loaded with the technology ready by 2020.

CEO Carlos Ghosn released a typically bullish statement on his company’s commitment to it this week.

“In 2007, I pledged that – by 2010 – Nissan would mass market a zero-emission vehicle. Today, the Nissan LEAF is the best-selling electric vehicle in history. Now I am committing to be ready to introduce a new ground-breaking technology, Autonomous Drive, by 2020, and we are on track to realise it,” he said.

Quite pointedly, Nissan’s release did not go so far as to claim those vehicles will ready for full use – there are way too many infrastructural and regulatory factors beyond its control for it to go that far. But the company’s expressed goal is to have every model across its line-up set up with it and mass-market affordable within two vehicle generations.

To that end, it’s begun investing heavily in the technology, opening a new advanced tech lab in Silicon Valley, partly for its proximity to start-up action in the field. Plus it’s involving itself in research projects with multiple universities facilities around the world: MIT, Stanford, Carnegie Mellon, Oxford and The University of Tokyo.

Work is progressing, too, on a dedicated proving ground set for completion by the end of 2014. That facility incorporates realistic townscapes designed to emulate the real thing, right down to masonry buildings, with a view to “[pushing] vehicle testing beyond the limits possible on public roads to ensure the technology is safe”.

It helps, of course, that Nissan is a fair way towards being able to equip its vehicles for autonomy already. The company will comprehensively demo its Safety Shield system at next month’s Nissan 360 showcase event, being held in Southern California to mark its 80th anniversary.

Safety Shield sensors provide 360-degree monitoring around the vehicle, providing audio-visual warnings and activating the car’s drive, steering and braking systems to avert accidents when things get dire enough. It’s developed on a philosophy of self-containment, eliminating the need for the car to be connected with external sources of data.

As the company plans to demonstrate at the 360 event, it enables complete autonomous drive already, without mobile or GPS connections. But it’s already sufficiently developed for integration with GPS systems as well, allowing it to map out and drive routes as well.

Read the latest news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at carsales' mobile site...

Don't forget to register to comment on this article.