Nissan Expected To Exit Lithium-Ion Battery Business - Will Likely Turn to LG Chem For Future Supply

Officially, the position right now for Nissan is no comment, but Renault-Nissan inside sources have told Reuters that Nissan will likely exit the business of battery making in the U.S. and UK as soon as next month.

Per Reuters (via Automotive News)




"Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn is preparing to cut battery manufacturing, people familiar with the matter said, in a new reversal on electric cars that has reopened deep divisions with alliance partner Renault."

"The plan, which faces stiff resistance within the Japanese carmaker, would see U.S. and British production phased out and a reduced output of next-generation batteries concentrated at its domestic plant, two alliance sources told Reuters."

It's further believed that Nissan would then follow Renault in securing batteries from South Korea's LG Chem (widely considered the world leader in lithium-ion automotive batteries).

Reuters quotes an executive on condition of anonymity as stating:

"We set out to be a leader in battery manufacturing but it turned out to be less competitive than we'd wanted. We're still between six months and a year behind LG in price-performance terms."


Largest Lithium-Ion Automotive Battery Plant In The U.S Belongs To Nissan And It's Located In Tennessee

One of the other insiders is quoting as stating:

"Renault would clearly prefer to go further down the LG sourcing route, and the Nissan engineers would obviously prefer to stay in-house. The write-off costs are potentially huge."



The final decision on this matter is expected next month and will be made public at that time.

For now, Nissan spokeswoman Rachel Konrad offers these statements:

"[Renault-Nissan] remains 100 percent committed to its industry-leading electric vehicle program."

"We have not taken any decision whatsoever to modify battery sourcing allocation."
["the alliance] does not confirm or deny procurement reviews."

Reuters adds that the inside sources claim Nissan is negotiating a deal right now with batter partner NEC Corp. The deal would be some sort of dual source effort in which both NEC and LG Chem would supply Renault-Nissan batteries. Reportedly, LG Chem could set up shop within either the U.S. or UK Nissan sites to produces batteries at one of the two locations.

Renault-Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn made this comments last week:
"We're in the process of opening up battery sourcing to a range of suppliers."

Ghosn admitted that "within the framework of alliance procurement" Renault-Nissan will likely outsource some battery contracts in the future. He added:
"What's important to us is that electric car performance fully meets customer expectations."

Of note: both the Renault Twizy and Renault ZOE feature LG Chem battery packs. Renault's tie with LG Chem dates back several years and recently Renault signed a joint agreement with LG Chem on next-generation batteries.



Source: Inside EVs & Automotive News

Global Nissan LEAF Sales Zip Past 75,000

As you’re reading this, sales of the Nissan LEAF are whizzing past 75,000 units globally.

Nissan has yet to shoot out an official announcement on this milestone achievement, but we know it to be the case that LEAF sales now exceed 75,000.

75,000 and counting, of course.

Nissan seems even more committed today to selling its LEAF to the masses.

As part of Nissan 360 (a month-long showcase of the latest breakthroughs in vehicle technology, sustainability and market expansion), the automaker will “re-emphasize its ambitions in zero-emission vehicles, where it is the global market leader thanks to the LEAF, the best-selling electric vehicle in history,” says Nissan.

How successful is the Nissan LEAF? To date, Nissan has sold more LEAFs than all other pure electric vehicle combined. How’s that for success?


Learn everything about the LEAF on WIKIPEDIA

Source: Inside EVs

NEW 2013 LEAF Pricing down to 17,290 EUR in France with Battery Pack Rental

Announced in Oslo, Norway, recently, this is the - good  - news of the day: The Nissan LEAF price tag drops to 17,290 EUR in France - after government incentive of 7,000 EUR - with the New battery pack rental option - New too -, and no CHAdeMO plug and no CARWINGS

It is half the price of the original LEAF (the one I have and paid 32,000 EUR after 5,000 EUR incentive) ... but it's ok, I got it among the first ones and more than a year and a half ago, so ...

Here are the 3 levels of trim



and the Battery pack rental plans



For more details see the great post of Yoann on Automobile Propre (in French)



Source: Automobile Propre

Revenge Of The Electric Car [HD] (Full Documentary)

Revenge of the Electric Car is a 2011 feature documentary film by Chris Paine, who also directed Who Killed the Electric Car?. The documentary, executive produced by Stefano Durdic, and produced by PG Morgan and Jessie Deeter, had its world premiere at the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival on Earth Day, April 22, 2011.

Revenge follows four entrepreneurs from 2007 through the end of 2010 as they fight to bring the electric car back to the world market in the midst of a global recession. The protagonists are Bob Lutz from General Motors, Elon Musk from the American start-up Tesla Motors, Carlos Ghosn from Nissan, and Greg Abbott, an independent electric car converter from California.
Whereas the 2006 film Who Killed the Electric Car? ended with the destruction of nearly 5,000 electric cars from California's clean air program, notably the GM EV1, the new film features the birth of a new generation of electric cars including the Chevrolet Volt, the Nissan Leaf and the Tesla Roadster.

Carlos Ghosn at Detroit NAIAS about the LEAF

Nissan's CEO Carlos Ghosn talks about the LEAF price drop and the production facilities opening in the US and Europe along with customers expectations being taken into account - 2013 Detroit NAIAS

デトロイトで開催された2013年北米国際自動車ショーでゴーン社長はEV販売から経済状況まで、幅広く今年の展望について語りました。

More NISSAN LEAF US Battery Plant Pics

The brand new Smyrna, TE Nissan Battery Plant is open and running, producing Battery Packs for the LEAF which will also be built there soon

Carlos Ghosn is very proud to of this new biggest Battery Factory worldwide

and meets the plant new workers 

Battery Modules line

Battery Modules close up, show terminals

Jeff Deaton, Smyrna Battery Plant Manager tells us about the cutting edge technics used here, most of them remaining secret

Carlos Ghosn remains optimistic on Nissan's EV sales forecast

Nissan Motor Co. CEO Carlos Ghosn continues to be optimistic and ambitious about his company's mission to make Nissan and Renault electric vehicles (EVs) reach strong sales numbers in key global markets. In fact, he doesn't seem fazed that Nissan is selling fewer Leafs in the US this year compared to 2011. In fact, Ghosn retains the same mood and outlook for Nissan's overall EV sales in the US: hitting 10 percent market share by 2017 (eight percent globally), even though it's dropped to 7.9 percent in the US for the first 10 months of 2012, down from 8.2 percent at the end of 2011.

Ghosn sat down in Yokohama, Japan, at Nissan's headquarters, to answer questions from Automotive News Asia editor Hans Greimel, including how he sees the political strife between China and Japan causing anti-Japanese product backlash with Chinese consumers. It is an on-going concern, as is the financial downturn in Europe, but Ghosn sees the US market as a vital part of Nissan's near-term future.

Ghosn is not getting bummed out by lower-than-2011 sales for the Leaf in the US – reaching only 6,791 units sold through October versus the full year-target of 20,000 and the 8,048 sold in the first 10 months of last year. Global sales growth will come through mass marketing the electric Renault Zoe, three other Renault EVs, and "opening a lot of doors for the Leaf."

The Infiniti LE electric luxury car also plays into the marketing strategy.

Zero emissions, for me, is here to stay even though it's not selling as well as we thought... And this is totally normal, that we have at least one Infiniti car. It's obviously a flagship car, but it's also a car that will be developed and produced to sell. Ghosn isn't concerned that his company has overinvested in EVs. Nissan thinks it will be selling 500,000 electric vehicles a year. For the short term, he's not backing off the claim that Nissan will sell 1.5 million electric vehicles across its brands by 2015.

As for global markets, he does see other countries as being far ahead of the US when it comes to promoting sustainability:

"We're following carefully what's going on in China. We're following very carefully the new incentives that are in France to encourage electric cars. No matter what, the United States is going to have to embrace electric cars in a way that is more sustainable. Japan is already doing it.The Leaf is making the company more competitive and "putting our act together," Ghosn said.

Source: Auto Blog Green

Carlos Ghosn and Andy Palmer at the Paris Motor Show

2012 Paris Motor Show

Carlos Ghosn was interviewed at the Paris Motor Show for Renault Zoe's launch

He said that the future of the automotive industry will be Electric, there is no doubt about it, it is just a question of percentage and how fast it will grown

He also mentionned the poor count of charge infrastrutures and his will to accelerate this key point for EV adoption

He repeated that there is zero problem with the Nissan LEAF battery: "Z-E-R-O Problem", look at his hand ;-)

He is happy with the French government incentives encouraging and helping people to buy electric cars 

Andy Palmer presented the Terra Fuell Cell Prototype but did not say a word about the LEAF battery capacity loss problem (or did I missed something ?)

LEAF - Phoenix Range Test Wrap up by Tony Williams

Back in San Diego, Tony Williams explains the LEAF range test he organized in Phoenix, AZ last week end

Time line:
- Several LEAF owners from hot weather locations, mostly in Arizona, reported battery capacity loss, up to 30% more or less for the worst one
- Nissan took some cars back to study them and sent some engineers from Japan to the US for that
- Andy Palmer, Nissan's Executive Vice President in the US, said, in Australia last week, that it was a instrumentation problem
- Carlos Ghosn, Nissan's CEO, on his side is saying there is no problem at all and that a new battery, with more energy density and less weight, is on the way
- Tony Williams conducted a precise test with 12 LEAFs (including his, the one on the picture) in Arizona to demonstrate that Nissan is wrong and that there is a battery loss issue



But, but, but .... Jack Rickard from EVTV has something very interesting to say about this problem, and the outcome could be that it is really an instrumentation / BMS (Battery Management System) problem: "LEAF people are talking in terms of Bars and Turtles"  (referring to the LEAF battery gage showing 12 bars fully charged and the Turtle sign coming on when the battery is completely depleted) ...



and that a current sensor (hall effect), damaged by too much heat, could get a wrong reading of used kWh used, because voltages in turtle mode was very different from LEAF to LEAF in this test ...
More on this soon ....

Pope Benedict XVI gets a Kangoo ZE

Pope Benedict has a rather diverse car collection, which includes everything from a BMW X5 to a Volkswagen Phaeton, but his latest acquisition is a little more eco-friendly.

Personally presented to his holiness by Renault Chairman Carlos Ghosn, this specially-designed Kangoo Z.E. was jointly created with French coachbuilder Gruau. It features a white exterior with Papal graphics, rear-hinged doors, electrically folding steps and a retractable roof. There's also an upgraded interior that has four individual seats.

Motivation is provided by lithium-ion battery which powers an electric motor that develops 60 HP (44 kW). It enables the "ecological" Popemobile to travel up to 170 km (106 miles) on a single charge.



Source: WorldCarFans

Carlos Ghosn visits Zama Battery Production Plant in Japan

Carlos Ghosn @ Nissan battery plant in Zama, Japan :
- They are the biggest producer of batteries
- Zero problem with customers about battery since the beginning of production
- The best level of quality and reliability
- They are trying to reduce the cost of batteries (the main part of the cost in an EV)
- Sumitomo joint venture and the use of batteries even after the car life is over (Secondary usage as Storage for wind and solar energy)

Battery Modules production line

Nissan DC Quick Charger

Nissan CEO Says Leaf Electric Car Sales Will Pick Up Mid-Year - NY Auto Show

Nissan Motor Co. Chief Executive Officer Carlos Ghosn said sales of the company’s Leaf electric car will rise by the middle of the year.
“The Leaf will get a boost from local production in the United States starting this summer,” Ghosn said at the New York International Auto Show. “Not only the environment but also economic concerns will move people to the Leaf.”

 
April 4 : Carlos Ghosn, chief executive officer of Nissan Motor Co., talks about production of the Leaf electric car and Nissan's business strategy. Ghosn speaks on Bloomberg Television's "InBusiness with Margaret Brennan" from the New York International Auto Show. (Source: Bloomberg)


Ghosn also repeated his prediction that electric vehicles will capture 10 percent market share by 2020 in the markets where they are on sale.
“I am not at all changing my very bullish approach to zero-emission cars,” Ghosn said. “The electric car will hold its promise. All the stars are lining up to make it a very important segment.”