NISSAN TO START TESTING ITS ELECTRIC CAR LEAF IN INDIA
Nissan Motor Co. plans to work with “government bodies” and “private sector firms” to see if there is a market for its electric car Leaf in India, a top executive at the Indian unit of the Japanese automaker said.
“We will start a pilot project involving the Nissan Leaf this year which will help us in assessing the viability of electric vehicles,” said Guillaume Sicard, president, Nissan India.
Sicard claimed that Leaf is the world’s best-selling all-electric vehicle with over 250,000 units sold so far.
In India, the pilot runs are scheduled for later this year with the objective of testing the car’s (and especially its battery’s) performance in Indian roads and weather conditions, a person familiar with the developments said, declining to be identified.
This person added that Nissan may seek incentives to promote sales of the car and then look for ways to localise it. The idea is to stimulate demand and then assess whether the car can be assembled, or parts made for it, locally. “It is a long process.”
Local assembly of such vehicles will be a shot in the arm for the Indian government, which has plans to have an all electric fleet by 2030. Transport minister Nitin Gadkari wooed Tesla, Inc to manufacture electric vehicles, but the firm has been cool to India’s offer of land near a major port and other incentives.
Sicard did not comment on localisation. “Initially, we will look at how to adapt EVs (electric vehicles) to Indian needs.”
“Through our experience as pioneers in developing EVs in markets around the world, we have learned that government support for infrastructure and supporting demand for EVs is crucial,” he added.
According to a government official familiar with Nissan’s plans, the Japanese company’s biggest concern is the functionality of its battery in Indian conditions. “How will it function in a city like Delhi, where temperature shoots up during summer?,” the official asked.
Spokesmen for the department of heavy industries, the ministry of power and the ministry of new and renewable energy did not respond to e-mails seeking comment.