Stand by for sub-Leaf EV

Nissan has finally rolled out its LEAF electric vehicle worldwide – the culmination of more than two years’ hype. Fortunately, the car lives up to it. Now, what next? First, a LEAF-powered light commercial. Then, it looks set to get more interesting.

While other marques expand voluminously on their strategies and electric product extensions over the next decade or so, Nissan has been light on in detailing what lies beyond LEAF – despite its bullish predictions of global EV take-up this decade.

With good strategic reason, it turns out. It’s all about getting punters used to the idea of electric mobility first, and using the time to work on smaller, more efficient batteries. Past LEAF and the e-NV200 LCV to be launched in 2013, Nissan is still none too forthcoming. But the buzzword is ‘micro-mobility’, and it will find its first expression in a ‘creative city commuter’ in 2016 or 2017.

Nissan has made explicit its ambitions to own seven per cent of the global EV market – that means moving an estimated five million units a year – by 2020. It’s off to a decent start, too, with concerted marketing, publicity and lobbying campaigns helping sell more than 27,000 LEAFs worldwide since it was first launched in December 2010.

So why is the company so coy? As product strategy head Francois Bancon spelt out at the recent local LEAF launch, it’s not as if the Japanese giant and its French alliance partner, Renault, are short on plans.

Essentially, it’s all about not frightening the horses, Mr Bancon told the LEAF media gaggle. Nissan’s basic strategy runs counter to that of many of its industry counterparts, including Renault. That is, to get kick things off with a well-developed all-electric product of reassuringly conservative demeanour.

Mr Bancon suggests future Nissan EV offerings will get a little more radical in look and feel once the populace is inured to what is now a radical drivetrain technology. Initially, he told media at the LEAF launch, it’s about gaining credibility and consumer trust in the technology, rather than getting too out-there with the concept.

“You cannot rush forward suddenly in all sorts of directions – you have to reassure people. This is a new thing, this is a big deal, this will change everything. So at the start the car looks like a real car, competitive with anything else in the category. But you don’t need to be a genius to understand that will not last. Eventually, you have to add something new.”

Which means that by 2016 or 2017 we can expect the company not just to expand its zero-emissions line-up but to head into more avant garde concept and design territory. This will include what he called a ‘creative city commuter’, which could be a production version of the tandem two-seat Land Glider concept revealed at the 2009 Tokyo Motor Show.

Asked if ‘city commuter’ is code – as it so often is – for a two-seater, Mr Bancon was unwilling to unpack the idea any further than suggesting yes, it will likely seat two or maybe three. “It’s too early to talk about Australia, but for big cities in Europe and China, two or three-seater is enough.”

The primary challenge with what he called ‘micro-mobility’ remains balancing out weight with size. “The way things are, you’ve got a small car that’s pretty heavy.”

But the industry is recording steady improvement there - enough to push capacity beyond just a couple of seats. As a partial cue to what to expect from Nissan, Mr Bancon pointed to alliance partner Renault’s tiny five-door, five-seat Zoe EV.

Unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show in March and slated for launch in France in Q3 this year, the Zoe is fully 360mm shorter and 40mm narrower than the LEAF. Renault claims the 22kWh lithium-ion battery pack powering the Zoe’s 65kW/220Nm electric motor gives it a range of 210km.

But that’s a way away yet. Now the LEAF is launched, next cab off the rank – literally – is the e-NV200 electric van. Built on the existing NV200 platform chosen as New York City’s Taxi of Tomorrow, the e-variant uses a drivetrain technologically identical to LEAF. It’s still being trialled in Europe, but Nissan has slated it for commercial release in 2013.

The company is moving towards hybrid fare as well, albeit as slowly in this country as it is quietly. That’s under its own brand, at least. The company’s premium Infiniti line-up will hit local showrooms later this year with the M35h sedan, which comes with prominent claims to the title of the world’s fastest mass-market hybrid.

Nissan spokespeople are cagey about it, but they do say enough to infer that the drivetrain technologies developed for Infiniti product will percolate down to the Nissan brand. They will most likely turn up first in the form of a petrol-electric version of the upcoming Altima, set to replace the Maxima. But not before 2014.

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