Renault and Nissan’s family of electric cars will be price competitive with conventional cars at sales levels between 500,000 and 1m vehicles a year, CEO Carlos Ghosn told reporters in Washington.
This is lower than the level previously cited by the Alliance partners of 1m annual sales without government subsidies.
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Work on battery technology and vehicles had reduced that to “somewhere between 500,000 and 1m,” he said, adding it was important for the Alliance’s electric car programme to become profitable without government subsidies because of moves by many Western countries to cut back on government spending.
“We are conscious of the fact this [the subsidies] cannot last forever,” he said.
Ghosn was upbeat about the prospects for Nissan’s Leaf which goes on sale in the US and Japan in December before being rolled out in other markets during 2011.
“We are going to be capacity-constrained for the next three years,” he said, mainly because Nissan and its suppliers won’t be able to make enough batteries to meet demand.
“Practically all the cars we can build are being pre-ordered,” he added.
Nissan currently plans capacity to assemble 500,000 EVs. To reach 1m vehicles a year would require further investment and include a decision about whether to build electric vehicles in China, Ghosn said.
He also had a word for GM which is launching its Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid car later this year.
In its advertising, GM raises concerns about the limited range of all-electric vehicles, under the slogan: “It’s more car than electric.” The Volt uses its petrol engine to power the car under certain circumstances.
Ghosn countered the Leaf is the only mass-market, truly electric car. “What kind of electric car is this if it’s using another fuel to move the car?” he asked.
The Alliance chief also added he is not interested in buying shares in GM’s IPO later this week.
