some comments on Nissan EV Strategy

[cwerdna]

If I recall, they did experiment at some point in the early 2010s I think with a 2x24 kWh pack configuration but that never made it, at the time.

Indeed, but apparently, it may have not been that early.

https://www.alliance-2022.com/blog/labour-love-nissan-employees-build-48-kwh-leaf-prototype-their-spare-time/
http://www.newsroom.nissan-europe.com/EU/en-gb/Media/Media.aspx?mediaid=148277
https://insideevs.com/news/329841/nissan-employees-build-48-kwh-leaf-prototype-in-their-spare-time-video/

The above are dated in July 2016. Not sure when they started but by the time they announced it, the engineering work for Bolt was probably done as GM probably would've been working on pre-production builds and production prep/ramp up.

1st Bolt deliveries happened Dec 13, 2016: https://media.chevrolet.com/media/us/en/chevrolet/home.detail.html/content/Pages/news/us/en/2016/dec/1213-boltev.html.

GM gave Ghosn a peek at the Bolt, including the interior in January 2016: https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1101940_carlos-ghosns-face-shows-nissans-reaction-to-2017-chevy-bolt-ev.

They also talked up (around 2013?) Infiniti North America offering a luxury BEV, but it became clear (at least, in my view) that the leaders at Infiniti did not really understand what that nascent market was about and why it might be important for them to pursue it. I'm also not sure that Nissan thought it was capable of the battery pack technology to achieve ranges that customers would pay luxury sedan prices for. I don't know if this was a matter of having the vision to commit resources to that key point, at the time, or whether they did try to do that.

There was https://global.nissannews.com/en/releases/120405-03-e?source=nng&lang=en-US from 2012. I did go to Pebble Beach and Infiniti's tent/booth in 2012 (https://www.autoguide.com/auto-news/2012/08/infiniti-shocks-pebble-beach-with-emerg-e-le-concepts.html) and see the Infiniti LE concept. But, despite https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1093578_infiniti-le-electric-luxury-sedan-to-be-built-after-all-with-higher-range, it never shipped.

 

[jlsoaz]

If I recall, they did experiment at some point in the early 2010s I think with a 2x24 kWh pack configuration but that never made it, at the time.

Indeed, but apparently, it may have not been that early.

https://www.alliance-2022.com/blog/labour-love-nissan-employees-build-48-kwh-leaf-prototype-their-spare-time/
http://www.newsroom.nissan-europe.com/EU/en-gb/Media/Media.aspx?mediaid=148277
https://insideevs.com/news/329841/nissan-employees-build-48-kwh-leaf-prototype-in-their-spare-time-video/

The above are dated in July 2016. Not sure when they started but by the time they announced it, the engineering work for Bolt was probably done as GM probably would've been working on pre-production builds and production prep/ramp up.

[....[

Thanks, but I was not referring to any 2016 look at this.

this is probably what I was remembering.
https://cleantechnica.com/2013/10/24/nissan-tests-48-kwh-battery-leaf/
Nissan Tests 48 kWh Battery In Leaf
October 24th, 2013 by Nicholas Brown
https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1087812_dreaming-of-a-nissan-leaf-with-double-the-range-well
October 22, 2013


I don't know how seriously we should take "Nissan Tests" but this is in any event closer to what I was saying.

 

[jlsoaz]

A couple of basic pieces of information in reviewing Nissan Strategy:

https://www.foxnews.com/auto/nissan-renault-plans-to-build-500000-electric-cars-a-year-by-2013
Nissan
Published November 16, 2010
Last Update October 10, 2016
Nissan-Renault Plans to Build 500,000 Electric Cars a Year by 2013
"....WASHINGTON – Bullish on green cars, the chief executive of the Renault-Nissan automotive alliance said Monday they plan to produce and sell 500,000 electric vehicles a year around the globe by the end of 2013....."

"....Ghosn said the automaker's research has found that 10 percent of buyers around the world want an electric car. He said Nissan will be constrained only by its production capacity for the Leaf during the next three years. After that initial period, Ghosn said he was hopeful the cars could be competitive with traditional vehicles powered by internal combustion engines without any government incentives....."

https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1116648_nissan-ceo-carlos-ghosn-188-miles-is-enough-for-electric-cars-now-prices-must-be-cut
Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn: 188 miles is enough for electric cars; now prices must be cut
Eric C. Evarts May 9, 2018

"....“We have seen that consumers do not talk anymore about range or autonomy as long as you guarantee more than 300 kilometers (188 miles)," Ghosn said. “You could not have guessed this through studies. You had to have 500,000 (electric) cars on the ground to understand that consumers do not put autonomy on top of their concerns any more when you cross 300 km.”

".The debate over how much range is enough has raged among electric car advocates since before the first commercially available cars rolled out in late 2011....."