By Chris Stanton, Hassan Hassan and Armina Ligaya – ABU DHABI
Nissan is looking to bring the world’s first mass-market electric car to the UAE and is hoping for a partnership with Masdar, the Abu Dhabi Government’s clean-energy company to do it.
By December, Nissan will begin selling the Leaf, an all-electric hatchback with a range of 160km, in the US and Japan. The car “will change the image of transportation for the future”, Carlos Ghosn, Nissan’s chief executive, said in the capital on Monday.
“Strong international partnerships are valuable [for Nissan],” he said in a lecture at the diwan of Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces.
“I applaud the plans to develop the world’s first city powered by renewable energy, and we think there are a lot of possibilities for very objective and realistic collaboration in order to support, with our own technology … the development of this reality,” Mr Ghosn said.
The first stage of Masdar City, the carbon-neutral development at the edge of the capital, is scheduled to open this month. Later stages of the development are likely to see privately owned, all-electric cars used in the city, Masdar officials said this year.
“With Masdar City you are seeing the world as it could be and you are learning to realise that vision,” Mr Ghosn said.
“Vision without action becomes a dream, and action without vision just passes the time. We can connect the vision with action, particularly with a strong partnership.”
A spokesman for Masdar said the company had not had formal talks with Nissan. “We’re always interested in exploring new partnerships, but at this point in time I’m not aware of any discussions on this subject,” said the spokesman.
The Nissan Leaf is one of two electric cars to go on sale this year, a development that some observers say represents a breakthrough for the vehicles. The other car is the Chevrolet Volt, which also has a petrol engine that is used when the battery runs out.
Price is still a factor in the wider acceptance of such vehicles. The Leaf will cost about US$37,000 (Dh135,892), and the Volt, which has an electric range of 64km before the petrol engine is activated, will cost about $41,000. The cost of batteries remains the main barrier to achieving lower prices for electric cars, Mr Ghosn said.
The Nissan chief, who has been credited with turning around the car maker, Japan’s second-largest, said he believed electric cars could become commercially successful in the region but that such progress would hinge on the co-operation of local governments.
The technology is gaining traction in the US, in California in particular, because the state’s government has subsidised the sale of the vehicles and offered incentives to consumers.
Still, electric cars will not be coming to the region in the first wave of distribution, starting in December, Mr Ghosn said.
The Leaf will be delivered first to the US, Japan and Europe, where governments have pledged their support, he said.
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