Could Nissan’s marketers have planned this any better?

Just as the carmaker is in the midst of a national tour of the LEAF, its much ballyhooed new electric plug-in, competitor Toyota finds itself in a tailspin over mysterious sudden acceleration events that now affect even its energy-efficient darling, the 2010 model Prius, according to several news reports. (Here’s one from the Christian Science Monitor; ABC News also reports Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has experience trouble with his Prius.)

The Prius, the nation’s best-selling and highest mileage hybrid car, looked to have a  fruitful  future — until lately, when its reputation was sideswiped, along with other Toyota brands, in a safety scandal that grows larger with every news cycle.

Car reviewers have noted that the Prius, even on a scandal-free day, has plenty of competition emerging from hybrids like the Ford Fusion and the Honda Insight.

The new kids on the block might now have a wedge to muscle in. The LEAF is not a hybrid, but part of the new generation of all-electric, plug-in vehicles (EVs) that will go head-to-head with hybrids already on the road. Their appeal: Zero carbon tailpipe emissions and increasingly better range.

Due in showrooms this coming fall/winter, the LEAF is riding the leading edge of this new technology. It will offer a clean carbon footprint (especially if it’s charged on electricity provided by renewable energy sources) and have a range of 100 miles, a big deal in this new world.

The LEAF and GM’s new plug-in offering, the Volt, can expect competition from leading hybrid vehicles like the Toyota Prius, the Honda Civic and Insight, and the Ford Escape and Fusion, among others. These hybrids are road tested, energy efficient and don’t lack for places to refuel.

But of all the hybrids you can even think of, the Prius is king. It is the top-selling hybrid, around the world, and last year it was the top selling car in Japan, bar none.

At this point, how Toyota’s problems will play out and affect the Prius is just conjecture. Car chatter has centered on how to deal with the immediate problem, if the Prius suffers from the same sticky acceleration issues of its cousins. Earlier models of the Prius are being recalled. News about the 2010 model, just out this winter, is still too fresh.

But if the Prius takes a long pit stop, that’s one less hybrid option at the top of consumers’ lists. Such a shift in the landscape could fuel more interest in the coming EVs, now less than a year away from appearing in showrooms.

If Toyota’s problems prove scarier than the worries related to electric vehicles — Where do I plug in? Will the battery wear out? — the race gets even more intense.

And Nissan is heavily involved in addressing concerns upfront. It is making sure charging stations are available in many major metro markets — working with charging station provider Ecotality in several test areas, and with a U.S. maker of home charging stations.

The LEAF’s U.S. debut tour winds up in New York next week, after a stop in Houston this coming weekend, according to a map of the stops posted by Nissan. But the car will likely make other appearances before going on sale in late 2010.

To see the list of Toyota, Lexus and Pontiac vehicles being recalled for gas pedal “entrapment” issues, see the U.S. Department of Transportation website. The models are:

• 2007-2010 Camry
• 2005-2010 Avalon
• 2004-2009 Prius
• 2005-2010 Tacoma
• 2007-2010 Tundra
• 2007-2010 ES 350
• 2006-2010 IS 250 and IS350
• 2008-2010 Highlander
• 2009-2010 Corolla
• 2009-2010 Venza
• 2009-2010 Matrix
• 2009-2010 Pontiac Vibe

Toyota, Lexus and Pontiac vehicles affected by the related, but slightly different, “sticky pedal recall” are:

• 2007-2008 Tundra
• 2008-2010 Sequoia
• 2005-2010 Avalon
• 2007-2010 Camry
• 2009-2010 Corolla
• 2009-2010 Matrix
• 2009-2010 RAV4
• 2010 Highlander
• 2009-2010 Vibe

The DOT has advice for drivers experiencing a problem with their Toyota’s gas pedal, a serious issue that has resulted in critical injuries, even deaths.

• Brake firmly and steadily – do not pump the brake pedal
• Shift the transmission into Neutral (for vehicles with automatic transmissions and the sport option, familiarize yourself with where Neutral is – the diagram may be misleading)
• Steer to a safe location
• Shut the engine off (for vehicles with keyless ignition, familiarize yourself with how to turn the vehicle off when it is moving – this may be a different action than turning the vehicle off when it is stationary).
• Call your dealer or repair shop to pick up the vehicle.  Do not drive it.

(Photo: Nissan)

From Green Right Now Reports

Secretary of Energy Steven Chu announced today that the Department of Energy has made a $1.4 billion loan to Nissan North America that will pay for the modification of the automaker’s Smyrna, Tenn., manufacturing plant to produce the new all-electric Nissan LEAF.

In addition to producing the zero-emission EV at the existing plant, a newly built plant will make the lithium-ion battery packs to power the next-generation car.

Nissan said the loan will result in the creation of up to 1,300 jobs when the plants are operating at full capacity. Modification of the Smyrna manufacturing plant, which will begin later this year, includes a new battery plant and changes in the existing structure for electric-vehicle assembly. At full capacity, the vehicle assembly plant will be able to build 150,000 Nissan LEAF electric cars per year. The new plant will have an annual capacity of 200,000 batteries.

The loan is part of the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program, a $25 billion program authorized by Congress as part of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. The program is designed to accelerate the development of vehicles and technologies that increase U.S. energy independence, create cleaner means of transportation and stimulate the American economy.

By Wayne Freedman
FREMONT, CA (KGO) — In Fremont on Wednesday night, workers at a startup celebrated a new deal with Nissan. Their company is just a short distance from the New United Motor Manufacturing, Inc., or NUMMI, plant owned by Toyota. The small startup hopes to play a big role in the car business. In a time and a place where manufacturing feels as if it’s disappearing, here is a reason for hope. >> Read the full story

Nissan has opened a chat room to discuss it’s newly unveiled all-electric vehicle (EV), the Leaf, with potential customers.

The car company’s also publishing more pictures of the family sedan, due out in 2010 and revealed this past weekend in Japan.

Many of the questions, predictably, center on the infrastructure to support electric vehicles. For instance, how does an apartment-dweller recharge the thing? There’s not a great answer for that, just yet; apartment building owners will have to get on board and provide parking lot charging stations. Nissan replies that urbanites might find some help at public facilities.

Tech firms that make charging stations, such as the Silicon Valley-based Coulomb Technologies, are just now pushing out the equipment that will support electric cars, with stations sprinkled across the West Coast. Once again, driving electric for early adopters may prove easier in San Francisco (where Coulomb’s ChargePoint  stations are already on the street) than in Kansas.

The US Department of Energy is working to extend EV infrastructure, and just this week awarded a grant of nearly $100 million to the Electric Transportation Engineering Corporation (eTec), a subsidiary of ECOtality, to install electric vehicle charging systems and deploy hundreds of Nissan EVs in Arizona , California , Oregon , Tennessee, and Washington.

Which brings us to the other question that turns up on the FAQ, and will likely linger: What about the Nissan’s 100-mile range? The answer, for now: “Our vision is to constantly improve our vehicles to meet our customers’ needs.”

The Nissan answerer behind the green curtain also notes: “98 percent of Americans don’t drive more than 100 miles a day.”

Nissan and the Pima Association of Governments, which represents the Tucson region, are forming a partnership to advance a zero-emission, electric vehicle (EV) charging network, the Renault-Nissan Alliance announced today.

ECOtality Inc. of Scottsdale, Ariz., a clean electric transportation and storage technologies company, also will participate in the partnership by working to facilitate the process of helping make the Tucson metro area EV-ready. Nissan has said it will introduce ZEVs in the United States in 2010 and will mass market ZEVs globally two years later.

“As a region, we are leading the way in developing a rich charging infrastructure to support cleaner modes of transportation,” PAG Regional Council Chair Lynne Skelton said in a statement. “This joint agreement will foster new jobs and opportunities in the Tucson region as we become a pioneer launch market for these advanced vehicles.”

As part of the agreement, Nissan will assist PAG and its member jurisdictions in EV acquisition as well as work with PAG to develop plans to promote a charging infrastructure for EVs. The region has committed to promote and aid in the deployment, operation and maintenance of the charging network.

The Renault-Nissan Alliance has agreed to ZEV partnerships in the State of Tennessee, the State of Oregon, and Sonoma County, Calif., to explore ways to promote zero-emission mobility and the development of an electric-vehicle infrastructure.

Don’t be fooled. Gasoline prices won’t be bumping around $2 a gallon for long. Driving a car with good fuel economy still makes sense. Higher mpg means lower operating costs for the household budget and fewer greenhouse gas emissions.

Happily, car shoppers today have a myriad of options among fuel frugal 2009 cars. You can find something getting 30 mpg or better on the highway at nearly every dealer lot. In some cases, you’ll have to settle for a trim line with a smaller engine and manual transmission to hit the 30 mpg mark.

Here are 30 with 30 mpg:

Audi TT

Gorgeous lines, 200-horsepower and a crisp six-speed manual transmission make the Audi TT a swell sports car. The fuel economy of the base 2-liter model makes it an earth-friendly sports car.
EPA estimated mpg: 22 city/30 highway

Jennifer Drukker expected people would stare at her new car. What she didn’t expect was this: “I was at the first stop light after I’d driven off with the car. It was literally the first time I came to a stop after driving off with the car,” she recalls. “The driver of the car next to me rolls down the windows and starts shouting questions.”

If it seems an extreme response to a Chevrolet Equinox, a fairly mainstream SUV, consider that the paint job includes the word “fuel cell” on the sides.

Fuel cell vehicles that turn abundant hydrogen into electricity are one promising alternative to gasoline-burning, toxic-fume-spewing internal-combustion engines. Widespread availability of such cars – which emit water vapor instead of greenhouse gases and stuff that’s flat out unhealthy – is years in the future.

But for Jennifer Drukker, Jamie Lee Curtis (yes, that one) and a handful of other drivers, the future is now.

General Motors has 100 Chevrolet Equinox Fuel Cell SUVs on the highways as part of “Project Driveway,” an extended research program that puts regular drivers behind the wheel of these costly cars for a few months.

Honda this summer began delivery of the FCX Clarity through a special leasing program expected to put another 200 fuel cell cars on the road over the next three years.

When you boil it down, fuel cell vehicles (FCV, for short) are electric cars. The juice comes from that single-proton gas once used to make zeppelins float. Hydrogen and oxygen are used in a chemical reaction that creates electricity. Think of it as the flip side to the electrolysis experiment you did in high school.

“We’re using hydrogen to store electricity,” says Mark Vann of General Motors.

For drivers, that means an electric car with the range of a conventional automobile. The range of the Equinox FCV is 160-200 miles between fill-ups. The Honda FCX goes about 270 miles.

Hydrogen as a fuel offers several advantages over gasoline. When used in fuel cells, the byproduct is water. It’s abundant. Industrial volumes of hydrogen are produced from natural gas and used to refine petroleum. Enough hydrogen is now produced globally each year to replace 56 billion gallons of gasoline, according to the National Hydrogen Association.

And hydrogen is a fairly cheap fuel. “The cost of operating the fuel cell Equinox is equivalent to getting 40 miles per gallon and paying $2.50 a gallon for gas,” say Vann.

The high amount of torque an electric motor offers compared to an internal-combustion engine means even an SUV like the Equinox is delightfully quick off the line.

“It goes faster than you legally need to go,” says Gates Clark, another Project Driveway participant. “There are no performance compromises.”

Quick and quiet. Low impact and low operating costs. Why can’t I have one now?

Pushed by the dwindling prospects for fossil fuels, the auto industry is undergoing changes not seen since the days of Henry Ford. Today’s innovators aren’t just looking to gear up production, they’re trying to dial back energy use, and that’s produced a bumper crop of wild and wacky (and some not so wacky) concept cars.

Here are eight of our favorites:

Air Car

It would cost less to manufacture (and buy), less to maintain, less to fuel and there would be no emissions. The makers of this car, Air Car Factories, are either on drugs or they’ve seized the Holy Grail. Their car would run on compressed air collected by see-saw devices on the road. Each car would be refueled through regenerative driving. The Barcelona-based company expects to begin with electric models, until testing is completed on the Air Car. A green dream? We hope it’s a reality.

Nike ONE

That’s right. This is a car designed by a shoe maker. It doesn’t much look like a shoe. More like…nothing you’ve seen before. The car is intended to be “athletic.” No joke. “An athlete training to drive the Nike ONE uses a physical resistance simulator, that mimics the vehicle’s controls, along with the digital simulation within GT4 to train their muscles and mind for specific tracks and competition scenarios,” explains Phil Frank, lead designer, who said his team was inspired by the principals of Nike founder Bill Bowerman. The long term plan is that any movement by the driver would be converted into electricity through nanotechnology using a “Spark Suit.” Frank calls it “the ultimate in convergent technologies.” We agree.

Toyota Fine-S/ Fine-N

These aerodynamic hydrogen fuel cell cars would employ motors in the wheels, thereby opening up space in the cabin for passengers. The designs have been out for a while. No word on when such a car could be in production.

Honda Puyo

Honda has already hit the road with a hydrogen vehicle, the FCX Clarity, a few select models of which are being test driven by celebs in California. The concept Puyo, though, still seems from another planet. This hydrogen fuel cell car actually glows in the dark, not due to any radioactive fuel on board, but because the body is luminescent to enhance maneuverability. But that’s just where the fun begins. The whole Puyo concept is to produce a cuddly car. “‘PUYO’ is a Japanese onomatopoeia that expresses the sensation of touching the vehicle’s soft body. It is meant to convey a warm, friendly impression,” Honda reports. Looks cool too.

Chevy Volt

This much discussed plug-in is expected to be available by the end of 2010. GM promises that its lithium-ion battery will allow it to run around 40 miles on a single charge – without using any gasoline. Past 40 miles, the engine will be able to use gasoline or ethanol working along with the battery. Unlike some of the cars on this list, the Volt appears very close to production, and no wonder, GM has assigned more than 200 engineers and 50 designers to the project.

Nissan Pivo2

The electric Pivo 2 is not just a car, it’s an “intelligent life form design,” which means…we’re not sure what. But there is a “Robotic Agent” on the dashboard, a sort of alien friend who talks to you. The car is intended to be more like a living creature and less driven by mechanical design. One problem, though, while this three-seater can twirl 360-degrees, it’s not easy to envision a successful double date in this mini-car, unless one in the party is content atop the cabin.

Saab BioPower100

This turbo-charged sedan would use 100 percent biofuel in a production 2.0 liter engine, which with modifications, could produce a surprising 300 hp. The car debuted at the Geneva show in 2007. The concept explores maximizing power within an environmentally responsible vehicle.

Toyota RiN

This literally green car remains shrouded in mystery as to how it’s green, that is, how it will be powered. Toyota has much to say, however, about how the car will work to improve passengers’ awareness of their natural surroundings, improve their posture and overall health. The car’s “meter cluster” would change colors depending on your mood, which would presumably be more “serene” in this car. And…it’s cool looking.

Copyright © 2008 | Distributed by Noofangle Media

Nissan Motor Company took the occasion of its financial-results stock exchange reporting (nearly $7 billion in profits from $90+ billion revenues in fiscal 2007) Tuesday in Tokyo to make an announcement of interest to those of us who don’t own stock. In 2010, the company plans to release an all-electric car in the United States and Japan, which should make it the first major auto company to do so.

That car will be part of a five-year plan dubbed “Nissan GT 2012″ — the letters standing for “growth” and “trust,” 2012 being the final fiscal year in which plans are to culminate — in which the company intends to lead the industry in zero-emission vehicles.

“Nissan GT 2012 reflects the determination of our company to play a major role in the development of a sustainable mobile society…We are convinced that the mass availability of affordable zero-emission vehicles is the most significant breakthrough our industry could deliver,” said President and CEO Carlos Ghosn in a company statement.

As a New York Times story on the move notes, Ghosn appears to have caught the green bug only recently: The paper points out that as recently as 2005 “he called gas-electric hybrids ‘niche products’ useful only to meet strict fuel-economy and emission standards in states like California.”

Rising oil prices and an undeniable wave of consumer sentiment have evidently changed the executive’s mind. “What we are seeing is that the shifts coming from the markets are more powerful than what regulators are doing,” he told the Times this week. Though he admits the number of all-electric cars moving through showrooms in 2010 will be measured in the hundreds, not thousands, the new model is still a step beyond that planned by GM, whose Chevy Volt (intended for 2010 introduction as well) will be a gas/electric hybrid, although one whose plug-in charging capability is an improvement over today’s hybrid cars.

Copyright © 2008 | Distributed by Noofangle Media