Pierre Loin, Nissan Development and Strategy Director General
Pierre Loin, Nissan CEO for Development and Strategy Pierre Loin, Nissan CEO for Development and Strategy - Mr. Loin, I’ll start with the most frequent, in my opinion, question about electric cars: when will we see an inexpensive electric car?
- It depends on what you think is inexpensive.
At least not more than 20 thousand euros
- The calculation of the cost of an electric car differs from the usual price of a car. It’s the same as if you bought a car and in addition to it a huge amount of refueling gas tanks.
This is not an argument for most buyers, at least for today
- Yes, today it is. And our role is to talk about the benefits of electric vehicles. Instead of coming to the gas station every ten days and spending a hundred euros, you charge the electric car almost for free. Because in the electricity bill of your home, the total cost of charging an electric car will not exceed 10 euros.
It turns out that all interest in electric cars will determine the cost of fuel?
- Of course. The higher the price of fuel, the more interesting this transport will be. In addition, we have our own approach to how we sell cars in Europe: we sell an electric car and a battery. This makes the visual price of an electric car lower. The Leaf price we are aiming for should be equivalent to the price of a Toyota Prius or a Volkswagen Golf diesel hatchback with a full range of options. And we are almost close to this, also do not forget that Leaf is well equipped.
Nissan Leaf
Nissan Leaf is one of the first mass-produced electric vehicles. An electric motor (80 kW) reports the torque to the front wheels, and it is located under the hood. 80 kW, whose torque reaches 280 Nm. Electric car drive - front. Nissan Leaf is one of the first mass-produced electric vehicles. An electric motor (80 kW) reports the torque to the front wheels, and it is located under the hood. 80 kW, whose torque reaches 280 Nm. Electric car drive - front.
Can we say that at the moment Nissan Leaf has its own buyer?
- The situation with Leaf is difficult to assess. Yes, of course, there are a certain number of people who want to buy this car in Europe, Japan or the United States (the first regions of the official sale of Nissan Leaf - ed. “Behind the Wheel. RF”). At the same time, we remember that a year ago there was an earthquake and tsunami in Japan. And the supply of this electric car was seriously limited, especially for Europe. Therefore, if you look at three large markets where we launched a car for sale, then Europe will be in last place. The United States leads, with Japan in second place.
If you look at consumers on a global scale, it seems that the picture is about the same: there are those who were originally adherents of "green" trends, and there are also fans of the technology of electric vehicles. At the same time, we began to notice an increase in the number of so-called “eco-conscious” citizens, especially in North America. They look at the figures of expenses, the features of the operation of their traditional car and come to the conclusion that buying a Leaf makes sense just in terms of economy.
Of course, those who sympathize with the environment will not make a stupid financial decision. And we understand why they want a “zero emission” car. But for a new category of customers who primarily consider money, the car meets all the requirements that they expect from a car. First of all, this is the power reserve, how it works and suitability for daily trips.
Nissan e-NV200
Another new Nissan on the electric theme is the e-NV200 concept minivan. And although this car still appears in the role of a prototype, its future is already predetermined: this car is selected as the official taxi in New York. Another new Nissan on the electric theme is the e-NV200 concept minivan. And although this car still appears in the role of a prototype, its future is already predetermined: this car is selected as the official taxi in New York.
What is the percentage of such “eco-conscious” people of the total number of buyers?
- Unfortunately, I can’t say for sure. There is too little data so far that we can build the right conclusions on them. And do not forget that I am talking about a global scale. And in Europe it is more difficult to analyze the market, because the car is sold in only a few countries.
Mitsubishi i-Miev
Winter test Mitsubishi i-Miev made us doubt such vehicles in the conditions of the Russian winter. Winter test Mitsubishi i-Miev made us doubt such vehicles in the conditions of the Russian winter.
For me it is obvious: so far electric cars are produced without taking into account countries with a cold climate, in particular Russia. We conducted a personal test of the Mitsubishi i- MiEV electric car. The battery charge of this car was enough for 26 km in the conditions of a "strong minus". It seems that electrification is bypassing us
“No, I think you are wrong if you think that cold or extremely high temperatures pose great difficulties for electric vehicle batteries.” We are currently working on a proposal for countries with a cold climate, which will initially be offered for such northern countries as Norway. In this country, it is quite cold, but historically electric cars are popular in it.
As for Russia, severe frosts occur there and road conditions are not always favorable. So for now, we have decided not to represent Leaf on the Russian market. But we know that the authorities, certain citizens and some Russian media have an interest in the car. At the moment, we are conducting our market research: several cars in Russia are being tested. Our goal in the future is to offer Leaf for Russia. Also, on the part of the Russian authorities, there is no assurance of potential support, as is happening in Japan, the USA and European countries. However, do not think that we completely refuse to supply Leaf to Russia. We can adapt Leaf to cold conditions, and we have solutions for this.
There is an opinion that electric cars are not so safe for nature. Until now, there is no normal understanding of how to dispose of all these batteries, which in droves will be scrapped. Is there such a problem in reality?
- I do not agree with this - this is not true. It all depends on the type of battery. Our cells - lithium-ion batteries - can be recycled. The whole car can be disposed of by 97% or dismantled. It is assumed that the battery life is 10 years, while it will keep 70% of its volume functional. This may not be enough for the normal operation of the machine, but it is enough to give the battery a second life. This promising line of business is already developing, for example, in Japan.
You know, in Japan there is a very strong program for the use of solar energy. And when you collect the energy of the sun, you must immediately save it - otherwise you will lose. So, the second life of lithium-ion batteries is used to accumulate solar energy. Batteries can also come in handy as a backup energy resource for data centers. This is what big companies do. So there are a lot of areas for consuming used electric car batteries.
What should be changed for electric cars to become popular?
- I will say this: our goal is that by the end of this decade 10% of the entire car market is occupied by “zero emission” cars. And if the entire world market is about 70 million cars, then 10% of it by 2020 should mainly be occupied by electric cars. A certain number of fuel cell vehicles will also be sold, but you should not expect high performance from this transport even after 10 years.
And even if the electric car has one out of ten customers, it still makes sense to produce them. Of course, an additional incentive should be a reduction in the price of an electric vehicle, the appearance of compact electric cars with improved characteristics, and a decrease in the cost of the battery.
