Nissan forges deals for electric vehicles

Tokyo: Nissan is rapidly forging deals with cities and governments on electric vehicles as soaring gas prices and worries about global warming make the green technology surprisingly appealing, a senior executive said on Wednesday.

While other car manufacturers are concentrating on fuel cells and hybrids, Tokyo-based Nissan Motor is going all out on electric vehicles, promising to mass-market the emissions-free cars globally in 2012, with the first models arriving in Japan and the US in 2010.

"We are feeling more strongly than ever that we must speed up our development of electric vehicles," said Nissan Senior vice-president Minoru Shinohara.

Nissan is also in talks with parking lot and railway companies on deals to put recharging stations near commuter stations, he told The Associated Press at the company's Tokyo headquarters.

Differing views

That's one of the main complaints about electric cars: Skeptics say electric vehicles will stay niche for some time because they can't be used for long drives without recharging, and recharging stations aren't widespread.

Proponents say tax breaks, preferential highways lanes and other incentives will boost their appeal.

"It's still a very new technology and so much remains to be seen," said Yasuaki Iwamoto, auto analyst with Okasan Securities. "It's unlikely people are suddenly going to switch in big numbers from gas-engine vehicles." Still, Nissan appears to be ahead of rivals in signing electric vehicle projects, Iwamato said.