Chinese automaker partners with Nissan to design 20 electric vehicle designs.
Nissan has just announced New Energy Automotive—the company’s 50-50 joint venture with Chinese automaker Dongfeng—to co-develop electric vehicles (EV) in China. The partnership is slated to combine the strengths of both companies, harnessing the full potential of the Nissan EV and the energy industry resources of Dongfeng.
“The establishment of the new joint-venture with Dongfeng confirms our common commitment to develop competitive electric vehicles for the Chinese market,” said Carlos Ghosn, Chairman and CEO of the Renault-Nissan Alliance.
The companies plan to design a new EV that will draw from the latest in EV technology, apply cost-effective car design experience, and use intelligent interconnectivity.
Rising to Meet Expectations
The joint-venture expects to produce over 20 EV models—one of which will be the Nissan EV—in the next two years, wrote Fred Lambert. The Dongfeng plant at the City of Shiyan, Hubei Province in central China, which has a sales capacity of 120,000 vehicles a year, will produce the electric vehicles. Production is slated to begin in 2019.
China’s plan to increase EV production—considered the most aggressive in the world—is in-line with the ambitious plans of the joint venture. More specifically, China’s plan states automakers need zero-emission vehicles to represent 10 percent of new car sales by 2019 and 12 percent by 2020.
It’s evident that Nissan is slated to become one of the biggest EV manufacturers in the market.
“We are confident to meet the expectations of the Chinese customers and to strengthen our global electric vehicle leadership position,” added Ghosn.
There is no question that the joint-venture has its sights set on meeting the particularly high expectations set by the Chinese EV market, noted by the 256,879 EV batteries that were sold in China in 2016—a 121 percent increase from the sales of 2015.
A Suited Investor
Nissan is no stranger to the EV market, in fact the newest Nissan EV is already available in the U.S. market and features an extensive amount of today’s top technology that “features a suite of technologies that inform, connect, and entertain,” states Nissan’s EV webpage.
Nissan EV
The latest Nissan EV—the Nissan Leaf—allows drivers to check their range with features such as:
- Rear cross traffic alerts
- Blind spot warnings
- Intelligent Around View Monitor, featuring four cameras for a virtual 360 degree bird’s-eye view
- Hill hold assist
- Intelligent trace control, which reads the situation to react accordingly, breaks each wheel individually to help steer corners
Apart from the high-tech features, it’s the rush of driving a vehicle that is fully electric that Nissan assures is the top reason to own one. The Nissan EV offers the same feel of driving a gasoline powered vehicle—directly responding to accelerating and braking. Its floor-mounted battery pack allows for a low center of gravity.
“Harnessing the power of zero-emission technology, e-POWER, Intelligent Driving, and Intelligent Integration, we’re well-positioned for the competitive and rapidly motoring landscape in China,” said Jun Seik, President of Dongfeng Motor.
The Global Movement
The demand for electric vehicles is showing to be a global movement. With automakers like Tesla garnering the spotlight, many other car companies have begun an electric vehicle programs and intent to expand their EV fleet in the coming years. China has over a billion people and a strong shift towards electric cars will have a positive impact on the country’s environmental health and the threat of climate change.
