In the process of getting there, Nissan has opened up a dialogue with its owners to help facilitate their early adoption of the car, and is working across the country to significantly increase charging facilities.

The car’s best sales month came just a couple months ago in March with 2,236 units sold, and last month’s 1,937 sold gave the Leaf its second-best month and a 423.5-percent year-over-year increase.

“From the beginning our goal with Leaf has been to bring affordable, zero-emission transportation to the mass market in a practical, fun-to-drive package,” said Erik Gottfried, Nissan director of electric vehicle (EV) marketing and sales strategy. “With more than 25,000 Leafs in the U.S. and 62,000 around the world, we’re seeing the adoption curve for EVs accelerate, and there is tremendous interest not only on the West Coast but in a number of new strongholds like Atlanta, Raleigh, Denver, Dallas, Chicago, St. Louis and many more.”

The first wave of people who are buying the Leaf are among the most well educated and informed people to be found. The car has spurred an active, connected, and of course growing community of owners who’ve jumped into the EV waters, with many saying they are comfortable with their choice.

Objections by those who are either neutral or opposed to electric cars include extended charging times and outright lack of infrastructure, and Nissan has been working on this as well.

“Nissan is taking a three-prong approach to bolster infrastructure by working with commercial charging partners to bring a variety of charging options to our customers, collaborating with businesses to encourage workplace charging on their campuses and engaging in pilots with our dealers to determine how to optimize the role they can play in EV infrastructure,” said Brendan Jones, Nissan’s director of EV infrastructure strategy and deployment. “This enhanced infrastructure—particularly with more businesses offering workplace charging as an employee benefit—builds range confidence and gives EV drivers better end-to-end charging ability, meaning they can leave home fully charged, plug in at work and be charged when they leave.”

Aside from the obvious need for placing more chargers where higher numbers of EVs are concentrated, Jones noted the company has found simply adding chargers to a given area is also a spur for sales. It is a new take on the “If we build it, they will come” adage.

Nissan has already installed about 50 additional chargers in the U.S. where concentrations are highest, and this is just the beginning, it says.

In January this year, Nissan announced plans within 12-18 months from that time to triple the number of EV quick chargers from 200 to 600.

The post 25,000 Nissan Leafs On US Roads And Counting appeared first on HybridCars.com.

The initial goal will be to deploy 48 super-quick, high-voltage DC chargers in California and strategic places on the East Coast. The exact placement in key markets has yet to be determined but Nissan projects the goal will have been met by the end of 2013.

“Nissan’s commitment to expanding EV charging infrastructure–including quick chargers with businesses such as CarCharging–not only supports today’s Nissan Leaf and other EV drivers, but also helps prepare communities for the increasing use of EVs,” said Brendan Jones, Nissan director for EV Infrastructure. “With more than 25,000 Nissan Leaf already on U.S. roads, bolstering infrastructure further accelerates the adoption curve as it provides range confidence and promotes additional zero-emissions driving.”

During a media presentation given at Nissan’s new Smyrna EV battery plant, one journalist had wryly asked Nissan “How long does Nissan plan to be in the charging business?”

The short answer was for as long as it takes, and indeed, if the so-called chicken-and-egg dilemma is to be fixed, and a new paradigm hatched, as Tesla is also showing with its Supercharger network, manufacturers are essentially doing the equivalent of establishing new fuel stations along with the new kinds of cars they are trying to see accepted.

This present initiative is therefore only one aspect of broader goals by Nissan to significantly expand the network in the not-too-distant future.

Part and parcel with the initiative to create a broader net of quick chargers will be a well-rounded consumer educational and awareness program.

“This campaign will include tools to communicate the charging opportunities for drivers without private garages, such as residents of apartment and condo communities; the ease and benefits of public EV charging; and charging subscription offerings,” said Nissan.

Additionally, CarCharging will offer a free app for Leaf owners that gives real time location info for all CarCharging EV charging stations, including ChargePoint(R) and Nissan’s quick chargers. The proprietary software will offer turn by turn directions, and available at participating Nissan dealerships.

“CarCharging is thrilled to enhance our products and services by including Nissan’s quick chargers in our public EV charging network and to offer our evCharge card to consumers who purchase a LEAF at a Nissan dealership,” said Michael D. Farkas, CEO of CarCharging. “Through our partnership with Nissan, we are eager to expand the EV market by educating consumers who don’t live in single-family homes and may not be aware of public EV charging services available today.”

Whether you drive a Nissan EV or another, and wish to pinpoint the new quick charger stations or CarCharging’s EV charging station locations, you can request CarCharging’s evCharge card at CarCharging.com.

The post Nissan and Car Charging Group Expanding EV Quick Charger Network, Educating Consumers appeared first on HybridCars.com.

The “solution” is an electric car itself, such as a Chevy Volt, Spark EV, Nissan Leaf, etc., but the “elegant solution” could be maximizing the value and fleshing out a complete cradle-to-grave and beyond paradigm for post consumer batteries.

As a case in point, Nissan and GM are working with ABB Group seeking ways to practically re-use EV batteries in energy storage systems which maximize value of an otherwise post-lifecycle car battery, and add to the renewable energy grid. By definition, EV batteries are deemed post life when their charge holding capacity is somewhere around 70-percent depleted and they cannot meet a sufficient range compared to the new EV.

At the same time, there may be a monetary payback for the depleted battery in years to come, thus lessening the sting of the EV’s price tag for the consumer who may even be able to sell off his old battery to offset the cost of a new one.

“From an environmental picture standpoint, you need to think about the sustainability of everything you’re doing. You need to focus on the broader picture,” said Pablo Valencia, GM senior manager of battery lifecycle management in an interview with Automotive News. “What we’re doing right now is preparing for that broader picture — getting awareness up, both from a customer standpoint and also an industry standpoint, so that the energy storage industry is thinking about secondary use.”

Valencia said he expects within 10 years time the bugs will be worked out of energy storage prototypes just now being demonstrated, and infrastructure will be in place to accept used EV batteries, check their level of performance capacity remaining, and re-purpose them into stationary energy storage units.

“That’s where the world will be,” Valencia said. “People will understand how to use them.”

One of the “bugs” will be software and algorithms to make it a reality.

“One of those key pieces is the controls and the ability to charge the batteries up evenly at cell level, at a section level and an overall system level. Keeping all that balance in place is really the secret sauce to making any battery system work whether it’s a new battery system or a secondary-use battery system,” Valencia said. “The bigger the system is, the more important it is to keep it playing like a good orchestra with all of the pieces in balance with each other.”

Those working in this research field say EV batteries will not be able to be mixed. That is, only the same type of battery must be used, and so you will not likely find a Volt battery mated with a Leaf battery, and a Tesla battery, for instance.

“Batteries that are going into the Volt, for example, are different than the ones going into the Leaf. They are different than what’s going into the Tesla,” Portland General Electric’s Allcock said. “Batteries have all kinds of characteristics. You can’t mix and match on battery packs from different vendors. It just doesn’t work that way.”

Automotive News

The post EV Batteries: Promise of An Afterlife appeared first on HybridCars.com.

The electric car, launched in December 2010, had its best sales month in March this year with 2,236 units sold and Nissan is set up to produce as many as 150,000 per year if needed – far more capacity than it yet needs.

The Leaf shares the line with Altimas and Maximas and putting things in perspective, one Leaf makes its way through the line every 15 minutes, or about four per hour, amidst a steady stream of the conventional models.

Last month the Altima sold 37,763 units – edging out the Toyota Camry as the U.S. best-seller by 100 units – so for now and the foreseeable future it is a priority to the Japanese automaker.

But the Leaf and other electric cars to come are expected to increase in importance and sales volume as the tide slowly turns.

To show how the cars are being assembled now, The Tennessean put together this time-lapse video of the manufacturing process involved, and we’re passing it along.

There were several challenges involved in fitting the Leaf into the line including accommodations needed for the fact the Leaf is a smaller car, and its powertrain is altogether different.

The plant is now working three shifts 24 hours per day, and as you can see much of it is automated, reliant on robotic assembly.

The Tennessean

The post Video Shows Time-Lapse Nissan Leaf Assembly appeared first on HybridCars.com.

This week, timed with Earth Day on April 22, Nissan hosted a couple of waves of journalists to take carefully guided tours of its massive new battery plant in Smyrna, Tenn.

The 475,000 square-foot facility is adjacent to its newly online Leaf-assembly operation, and these plants are located an hour north from Nissan’s Decherd, Tenn. plant where the Leaf’s eMotors are built.

The major investment in more EV-making capacity than is yet being utilized is part of a broader goal to localize 85 percent of Nissan and Infiniti production by 2015, and to bring on more EVs in their due season.

Director and Plant Manager Jeff Deaton explains one stage of the multistage assembly process.

Nissan’s battery production can be scaled up to 200,000 complete battery pack assemblies annually. In calendar year 2012, Nissan delivered 9,819 Leafs to the U.S. Do you think the company which knows full well where it’s at has big plans for the EV future?

In any event, the new plant came online just in time to supply the modified 30-year-old Smyrna auto assembly plant where the Leaf now shares assembly line space with Maximas and Altimas.

The battery assembly facility is modeled on best practices learned at Nissan’s “mother plant,” the Zama battery assembly plant in the Kanagawa prefecture in Japan. The Smryna battery factory’s American workers were hand-picked for their skills and talents and sent to Zama so they could come back home and duplicate their Japanese counterparts’ efficiency.

We say the media tour was “carefully” guided because Nissan has developed manufacturing processes to which it staunchly denies access to prying eyes, let alone camera-wielding visitors to wander through and liberally snap images of, lest competitors also learn a trick or two.

In coming days and weeks you will see various media coverage and mentions of Nissan’s battery plant, including some video production, but none of it will be giving away industrial secrets if Nissan has anything to say about it.

Nissan’s stance is understandable given it aims to lead the EV race, and has invested several billion dollars around the globe in order to try and make it so.

A completed Leaf battery pack assembly receives final touches.

The Smryna plant is the largest lithium-ion automotive battery assembly plant in the U.S. and Nissan estimates once it reaches full capacity, it will represent a $1.7 billion investment – all in the name of getting as many all-electric vehicles on the road as possible.

The project is supported also by a U.S. Department of Energy loan for up to $1.4 billion. The taxpayer money was authorized under the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program by Congress as part of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007.

Lots of high-ceiling, open, organized, perfectly constructed, OSHA-compliant and relatively quiet automated work goes on continuously. Workers are not needed for much of it.

Led by Renault-Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn, the Japanese manufacturer is now well positioned in the center of the country to help America in its quest to 1) create vehicles and technologies that can increase U.S. energy independence, and 2) create cleaner means of transportation, and 3) stimulate the American economy.

Thus far 300 extra jobs have been created in the highly automated plant dedicated to zero emissions, and Nissan figures as many as 1,000 jobs could be derived assuming full production volume in coming years.

In It to Win It

In launching its well-under $40,000 all-electric Leaf, and developing manufacturing facilities in Japan, the U.S. and Sunderland, UK, Renault-Nissan is striking early and striking as aggressively as it can to proliferate battery powered transportation for the masses.

Through March 2013, Nissan counts 23,000 Leafs having been delivered in the U.S., and 60,000 globally.

As an already established manufacturer, Nissan can afford to do things in a bigger fashion than, say, Tesla Motors – which has lots of good ideas also, but its pockets are not nearly as deep.

Leafs charge under a small solar canopy outside the main battery plant entrance.

Tesla’s angle has been to connect with its customers and hopefully future customers, but its strategy to tattoo its brand onto the soul of its well wishers has involved proffering such creations as its already discontinued Roadster and now its Model S – cars costing two- to four-times more than the $30,000 or so average new car price.

The California start-up has amassed a wide range of enthusiastic fans – even many who cannot afford its products – by cavalierly beginning what some have said isn’t possible in the face of established U.S. auto sellers – it’s an unfolding saga and sort of akin to a new rendition of a David vs. Goliath story.

Tesla has delivered comparatively few products, but they’ve been perceived as sizzlingly hot creations, and Tesla has all the while promised everyone who cannot yet swing a Tesla to hang on, as the 99 percent is not forgotten even if the 1 percent is presently being served first.

Fear not, says Tesla, plans are to make more affordable cars ASAP, and its plausibility has been deep for many a person who does not subscribe to Sarah Palin’s Facebook page.

Naturally, Nissan had the 2013s lined up for media to take a 20-plus mile drive.

Meanwhile Nissan is making more affordable cars now. They may have less visceral appeal than other upmarket creations, but they work, cost very little to operate, and are more affordable than ever.

The major manufacturer this year took a knife to the MSRP for its updated Leaf SV and SL trim model packages and introduced a base-level S trim level $6,000 less than the lowest priced Leaf from 2012.

The 2013 model year Leafs were only mildly improved in a host of ways, not radically overhauled, and their 24-kwh batteries remain close to the original spec, albeit now made in USA.

“Sshh! Don't tell anyone a gas-powered Honda was occupying one of the EV-only spots at Nissan's Leaf assembly plant. (Actually it belonged to a Blink technician servicing the chargers, and there were extra spots available).

But Nissan has no actual head-to-head competitors selling a truly similar product in all 50 states. Granted EVs are coming along, such as the Honda Fit EV, the more modest Mitsubishi i-MiEV, and other manufacturers like GM and Ford have come out with or are in process of coming out with EVs for limited markets.

Aside from its limited-market RAV4 EV, Toyota has shied away from EVs altogether for now, content to sit back and let others do the heavy lifting while it tries to expand its small hybrid empire against increasing competition. Other automakers too have displayed more hesitancy and conservatism than Nissan.

By itself, Nissan has almost whittled its prices down to other economy cars, or at least to the national average new car price if not much less with incentives.

Another day at the office … building li-ion batteries at America’s largest battery assembly plant.

At the extreme, counting a $7,500 federal tax credit, some people in states where additional subsidies are offered – such as California, Pennsylvania, and others – are taking home the least expensive Leaf for under $19,000.

Despite the maverick appeal of what Tesla is doing on the wild and under-developed EV frontier, the fact is, Nissan’s cars – most notably the Leaf S model – can be had for a fraction of a Tesla Model S.

But Tesla, GM, Ford, Mitsubishi, BMW, and several others have plans for the not-too-distant future, and Nissan knows it, so it continues onward, putting its money where its mouth is.

For the most part.

Last fall, the company announced an enhanced battery warranty retroactive to 2011 and 2012 Leafs, as well as 2013 models. The skinny on this was Nissan will cover battery degradation for 5 years or 60,000 miles which ever comes first for cars that show nine out of 12 possible bars on their power display.

Nissan proudly shows its cutaway Leaf battery pack at the opening of its factory tour.

This roughly equates to 70 percent remaining power – thus significantly degraded range in cars that may only go 73-90 miles more or less to begin with.

It was a concession following a loud outcry from Nissan’s highly vocal early adopting owners, particularly in hotter states such as Arizona, Texas and California where some said extreme range loss was occurring too soon.

Nissan’s move followed despite it not admitting any actual product defect with its non-liquid-cooled battery packs, but the company says it was listening to its Leaf owners. It agreed to an independent Leaf battery probe, among other actions, and in the process, settled a class-action suit with some of its most disgruntled Leaf customers.

In the courtyard between the security entrance and the plant’s front doors.

The enhanced warranty coverage – announced last September on the MyNissanLeaf.com forum in advance of its approximately spring 2013 effective date – does not necessarily promise to restore 12 bars, but is something positive and has been taken with mixed reactions by Leaf owners.

As noted, Nissan did not substantially re-engineer its Leaf’s battery for 2013, and its battery is still not liquid cooled or heated. But the car is expected to score higher in its EPA rating due to efficiencies implemented, and Nissan is saying it should conservatively be good for 84 miles range – if not farther – compared to 73 miles EPA-rated range for the first couple years.

It’s an altogether improved car that saw several customer recommendations come to fruition in its update, and it’s better backed now too.

Back to the Future

Bumps in the road aside, Nissan is leading a pioneering effort as it keeps churning out domestically made batteries assembled according to an elaborate and careful multi-stage process.

One of the steps in battery production (see infographic) involves aging the batteries to let complex chemical reactions take place prior to putting batteries into service.

The Smyrna battery plant has actually been operational for several months now, but full Leaf production only got rolling toward the end of February.

Click on image to expand.

And now we shall see how Nissan’s gambit in electric cars continues to play out. Certainly it was a carefully thought-out business decision, intended to pay dividends if not instantly, then over time.

The yen-to-dollar exchange rate, and costs to ship Leafs from Japan have led Nissan to say the long-term investment on American soil was worthwhile.

Nissan has not said what it would do if Leaf sales remained static, and one insider told us we may see sales on par with the end of last year for a while, but the goal is to grow the business as word gets out that EVs can make sense, and more buyers warm up to them in time.

Also implied, but not stated is Nissan is planning more all-electric models with Nissan and Infiniti badging, and aimed at a variety of demographics.

Do you think the Leaf’s looks might turn off the aesthetic tastes of some buyers? The Leaf comes across like the proverbial ecocar even more than Toyota’s Prius. This styling was based on early adapter preferences expressed, but Nissan knows other people will want an electric car that blends in better. No specifics on this, but stay tuned.

Also, there is no talk at present of subcontracting excess manufacturing capacity and it is designated only for Nissan vehicle requirements.

For now, the plant’s production is scaled down, and Nissan is content to plod along with Leaf demand still the only reason for having built America’s largest EV battery factory.

But you can be sure it won’t be this way any longer than is necessary. Nissan has plans within plans and has shown willingness to push them into being with more boldness than just about anyone.

The post Nissan’s New US Battery Plant Shows Major Dedication To EVs appeared first on HybridCars.com.

The Tesla Model S took second for March with an estimated 1,950 – and it also placed number one in sales for the first quarter. The Chevy Volt finished March a distant third with 1,478, and placed second for Q1.

According to Travis Parman, director, Corporate Communications for Nissan Americas, the Leaf’s 2,236 units sold in the U.S. was the best it has done since launching December 2010. In a brief phone interview, Parman credited U.S. production and a major price slash for the robust sales performance.

In the first couple months of 2013, Parman noted Leaf inventory was constrained, accounting for lower sales numbers of 650 in January and 653 in February.

With the supply pipeline now open, Nissan solidly trounced the Chevy Volt which finished March with 1,478 sold – down from 1,626 in February which had been enough to place it in the top spot among plug-in cars.

We do not have numbers in yet for the another contender in the plug-in market, Ford’s C-MAX Energi. Total C-MAX sales including the regular hybrid version were 3,769, so we are guessing somewhere around 500 of the plug-in Energi were sold, and will probably know the actual number tomorrow.

Since its launch around the same time as the Leaf, the Chevy Volt has more often than not beaten the Leaf in sales, particularly during 2012. Industry observers have noted GM now has a gauntlet thrown down against it by the reduced sticker price for the Leaf.

Questions remain if GM will look to reduce its pricing. Already the Volt is discounted by various dealers, depending on the market, but the corporate-level price reduction by Nissan has begun to show its effect.

Tesla #1 For Quarter

And all this said, perhaps the most impressive momentary star is the Tesla Model S.

The electric car placed second behind the Volt’s sales in January and February, and was in the running for top spot in March, but Nissan quashed that possibility.

Nonetheless, the Model S costs a good two-to-three times more than the Japanese family EV and is from a relatively new and definitely maverick U.S. automaker.

What’s more, its sales tallied for January through March of 4,750-plus place it as the top-selling plug-in for Q1. The Volt’s numbers add to 4,244 and the Leaf’s add to 3,539.

To place so well in this nascent plug-in market is a notable accomplishment. Tesla’s actual sales numbers are an approximation, as Tesla does not divulge its month-over-month sales.

If ever it had bragging rights that could prompt it to open up with more disclosure, that time is now. Tesla is at its peak production capacity however, so whether it can sustain the top-ranked numbers against lower priced offerings from more established makers is in doubt. So far the spotlight is still shining brightly on Tesla’s sales performance.

And as for Nissan, with the price now lower and U.S. manufacturing opened up, its potential to run higher has certainly increased.

The post Nissan Leaf March Sales Are its Best-Ever appeared first on HybridCars.com.

These are the words from a video produced by Nissan describing a new reality for employees at Evernote in Redwood City, Calif.

Evernote is a company focused on building apps that help people remember things; Nissan said it is also a company that is intent on retaining the best and brightest employees.

People in California who drive electric vehicles, like the Nissan Leaf, qualify to drive in the HOV lane even when only one person is in the car. That can translate into a significantly faster commute.

That is why Evernote CEO Phil Libin says he offered each of his employees a monthly $250 allowance to lease or buy any vehicle that qualifies them to get a California carpool lane sticker.

If they get the Nissan Leaf their allowance completely covers the cost of the lease as Evernote negotiated a special deal with Nissan.

“The math really works out. We have a lot of very talented and very valuable people and they waste a lot of time in traffic. So if we can save them a half hour a day, and that is very easy to do, a lot of people save much more than that, very quickly that winds up adding up to a whole lot more than what we pay for the car so it just makes economic sense,” said Libin.

On top of the allowance, Evernote installed ten Level 2 charging stations and one DC fast charger to accommodate their employees who want to plug-in at work.

Today, more than 30 major companies in the U.S. have committed to installing EV charging stations in at least one of their locations.

The deal is part of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Workplace Charging Challenge. High-tech companies like Google, FedEx, Dell and Facebook have signed on.

The post Video: EV Car Perks At Evernote appeared first on HybridCars.com.

The program is a partnership between the Rio de Janeiro City Government, Nissan do Brasil (NBA) and Petrobras Distribuidora.

In the first phase, two Nissan Leaf taxis will be available in Rio. By the end of the year, 13 more units will be added to the fleet.

Nissan said the first two electric taxis will be available at the Santos Dumont airport stand. Their batteries will be recharged in two Petrobras service stations at the Rodrigo de Freitas lagoon and in the Barra da Tijuca area.

NBA was the only manufacturer to submit a proposal to the Rio de Janeiro City Government to select vehicles to serve as electric taxis.

The delivery ceremony was held today at Nissan do Brasil’s new headquarters in Rio with mayor Eduardo Paes.

Since its commercial launch in the U.S. and Japan in 2010 and in Europe in 2011, 50,000 units have been sold worldwide. The Nissan Leaf seats the driver and four passengers and offers a 160-kilometer range. The 48 lithium-ion battery can be recharged in up to eight hours or only 30 minutes via the quick chargers to be installed by Petrobras.

Through the initiative, the City Administration is encouraging clean and low emission technology, as electric vehicles produce no tailpipe pollution or greenhouse gas and are a sustainable alternative compared to cars powered by oil products.

The goal of the Rio de Janeiro Municipality, according to the city’s climate policy, is to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases by 16 percent by 2016 compared to emission levels of 2005.

“In view of the major events to be held in Rio, we can improve the visibility of clean-energy vehicles so that production and consumption models can be changed to a sustainable system,” said Carlos Roberto Osório, Commissioner of the City Department of Transportation.

Two Petrobras service stations will be setup to offer fast charging to electric taxis: Posto do Futuro, at Barra da Tijuca, and Posto Escola da Lagoa, in the Rodrigo de Freitas lagoon region.

Electric taxi recharging at Petrobras service stations is the result of a Memorandum of Understanding signed in 2012 between Petrobras and NBA to study the infrastructure expansion for electric vehicle recharging in Brazil.

The Nissan Leaf taxi delivery ceremony coincided with the official inauguration of Nissan do Brasil’s new headquarters in the modern Porto Brasilis building, where the company has been established since January.

NBA has chosen Rio to establish its new headquarters because of its investment in the construction of a new plant in Resende and sponsorship of the Rio 2016 Games.

Downtown Rio is a privileged location where the City Administration is promoting a revitalization project, including the old harbor area, known as “Porto Maravilha.”

The post 15 Nissan Leaf For Rio de Janeiro Taxi Duty appeared first on HybridCars.com.

Although the brand as a whole is down, the Leaf electric vehicle is performing well, with a total of 37 units sold in February 2013. This is more than double the number of sales for February 2012, which stood at 18 units.

The Rogue continues to be the most popular vehicle in the line-up with sales of 1,022 units, followed by the all-new Sentra and Versa with 918 and 661 units, respectively.

Leaf February sales are a good sign of things to come for the summer, with a reviewed second generation on the horizon as well as more clement weather.

The post Canadian Leaf Sales More Than Double In February appeared first on HybridCars.com.

The project’s objective is to showcase the car’s technology while building experience and evidence of the Nissan Leaf potential under various driving conditions in Mexico.

“The car is extremely easy to drive, a completely automatic car with no shifting of gears. The steering is very soft with no problem whatsoever. The mirrors are functional. The seats are very comfortable. It is a new car,” said Mexico City taxi driver Cristóbal Reynoso, about the Leaf.

There are 20 Nissan Leaf taxis in central Mexico City and another 50 in the Mexican state of Aguascalientes.

Charging infrastructures are also growing to support operations of EV mobility in both locations – including the first public electric vehicle quick-charging station in Latin America that was celebrated late last year.

“The reaction is 100 percent positive, once again, because it is a new car, and there are only 20 Nissan Leafs in Mexico City, a big difference. People ask you why is it so different compared to other cars? How do you charge it up? How many hours can you drive? How fast is it? How were you chosen to drive it? All these questions are very pleasant for me, so it is very fun,” said Reynoso.

The Leaf taxis are part of a program called Zero Emissions Taxis. Nissan said the 70 electric taxis have prevented about three tons of CO2 emissions from going into the atmosphere. That’s about how much would be released from that number of conventional gas cars.

“I think the Mexican people have very good acceptance with the Leaf. I mean they are very proactive with electric cars, with green cars. They are very proud to be part of this kind of initiative here in Mexico,” said Alejandro Viveros, leader of the Zero-Emission Business Unit for Nissan Mexico, Latin America and the Caribbean.

http://youtu.be/Q0fI-u3utvk

Nissan’s mid-term strategic global plan, known as Nissan Power 88 includes the objective of driving leadership in electric vehicles. This reflects the long-term perspective of the company, which plans to launch three new electric vehicles, besides the Nissan Leaf, including a light commercial vehicle, a premium Infiniti car and a new model for the entry-level segment.

The post Mexico’s Leaf Taxi Pilot Program Well Received appeared first on HybridCars.com.