Nissan aims for 20% EV sales

Nissan’s EV boss says up to 20% of its sales in Europe will be of electric vehicles within the next five years.

“We believe that by 2020, where the market conditions are right, we’ll be selling up to 20-percent of our volume as zero-emissions vehicles,” Gareth Dunsmore, head of the Japanese manufacturer’s European electric vehicle division.

Dunsmore told hybridcars.com that the pace of EV adoption in Europe supported this belief, pointing at sales of its Leaf and eNV200 in Norway, the top plug-in electric market in the world.

For March the two electric Nissans made up 6% of the company’s overall sales there.

“The tipping point is starting to happen,” he said, “and it’s going to happen city by city, country by country.

“This gradual pace of change means we’ll still build vehicles for everyone, but step by step you’ll see the electrification of the Nissan range and you’ll see us heading towards a zero-emissions future.”

Nissan Japan’s Hiroto Saikawa said last year that the company was increasing its electrification programme, and that it would boost EV sales by at least 10% by the end of this decade.

He said the two factors that would make EVs the mainstream vehicle choice were that strict emission targets would be in place by 2020 and battery costs and capability would improve, with potential for 400km-range EVs by then.

Dunsmore says ongoing development would one day mean keeping a battery from one car to the next.

“We’re continuously evolving what metals we’re putting into the battery,” he said, “but you’ve got to remember it’s also about how you manage that battery once it’s finished its life within the car.

“We believe the battery will outlast the life of the car, and it’s about reusing that battery afterwards, rather than recycling.”