Nissan North America (NNA) is predicting electric vehicles will account for 10% of its global sales by 2020.
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The bold claim comes after the automaker yesterday (13 January) named AeroVironment to supply and install home charging stations in the US for its new Leaf electric car launching later this year.
“If you think about it, we are going to mass market with this vehicle – it definitely has the potential to be the largest electric adoption, absolutely,” an NNA spokeswoman told just-auto from the Detroit show.
Nissan’s view of the market followed comments by AeroVironment chairman and CEO Tim Conver that “Our selection as the preferred charging equipment and service provider, for what we believe will be the largest adoption of battery electric cars in history is a great opportunity to [establish a nationwide EV charging infrastructure].”
The car manufacturer is confidently predicting it will sell 50,000 Leaf units in the first year after launch in the US and Japan later this year, followed by the UK and other global markets.
“[US] west coast markets such as Seattle, Portland, Oregon and San Diego have people who are waiting for it – there is already the eager consumer base there,” added the spokeswoman. “We are highly confident the US will adopt this electric system.”
California has a loyal base of EV fans who snapped up the small number of electric RAV4 SUVs Toyota offered some years ago and GM’s EV1 – drivers whose leases were cancelled staged protests outside GM facilities as the cars were shipped off to the crusher after the automaker decided not to continue with the pioneering model line.
Nissan conceded the 100 mile (160km) range following eight hours of battery charging is something it “has to talk to people about, consumers say it is a potential issue” – but maintains that for most commuters the capacity will be sufficient. “It covers almost 90% of the population’s daily drive.”
Nissan is also confident Americans will view the eight hour charge period on a 220V domestic supply as convenient – “it is like coming home and plugging in your cellphone,” noted the spokeswoman, adding the prevalence of garage ownership amongst potential US customers would help home plug-in become the primary charging method.
The Leaf would be the first in a series of Nissan electric cars. “We are highly confident the US will adopt this electric system.”
Nissan sees Leaf outselling hybrids
