Zoomi Life

Nissan’s officials have promised that their upcoming electric car will be a “real” car and not a neighborhood electric or limited speed vehicle.  The EV-02 test mule was only that, a test mule, and is not indicative of what the body of the vehicle will look like.

While not getting specific or even revealing a name for the eventual EV, Nissan has said that it will be a sedan, will seat five, and will be priced on par with mid-sized sedans on the market now.

Nissan says they are expecting to lose money on the first few production runs of the new EV (due out in 2010), but that it’s what must be done to get the cars on the street at a realistic price point for consumers.

Some in automotive circles are wondering if Nissan is using the word “sedan” as a red herring to take attention from their collaborative EV with Renault: the Kangoo be bop ZE.

Renault debuted this car in Paris earlier this week at a shareholder’s meeting. The prototype EV is called the Kangoo be bop ZE (the ZE stands for “Zero Emissions”) and is based on the Kangoo be bop petrol vehicle that goes on sale later this month in Europe.  The ZE uses a 44kW motor and a li-ion battery pack made in conjunction with AESC.

The Kangoo ZE has a range of 62 miles, but Renault says the production model will go 100 miles on a charge. The production EVs from the Nissan-Renault partnership are expected to hit the U.S. and Japan next year.  Renault’s sedan EV is to enter Israel next year with no stated plans for America.

So this makes people wonder if a production model of the Kangoo be bop ZE could come to America next year before it’s planned European debut in 2011?

Sources: 1, 2