SAN DIEGO CHARGING UP FOR EV

Nissan in electric car tie-up with San Diego utility
Soyoung Kim (w/Brian Moss), March 23, 2009 (Reuters)

"Nissan Motor Co…has formed a partnership with utility company San Diego Gas & Electric to develop an infrastructure that would provide charging stations for electric car owners.

"Nissan and its Japanese partner have teamed up with several U.S. states including Tennessee and Oregon as well as governments in Japan, Israel, Denmark and Portugal over the past year to study the infrastructure needed to support the roll-out of electric cars starting in 2010."

Charging stations can look like this...(click to enlarge)

"Such initiatives are considered critical for electric car drivers so they do not have to return home when their vehicles are low on power.

"Nissan, which trails Japanese rivals Toyota Motor Corpand Honda Motor Co in hybrid technology, has made it a priority to become a leader in the still emerging market for fully electric vehicles."

...Or this...(click to enlarge)

"Under the latest tie-up, Nissan and San Diego Gas & Electric will develop plans to develop a charging infrastructure for electric vehicles and work to implement and maintain a battery charging network…

"Nissan plans to launch zero emission vehicles powered by lithium-ion battery packs in the United States in 2010 and market the vehicles globally two years after the U.S. launch…[C]ruising range for[Nissan’s] first generation of electric cars could be 100 miles…[and] near 200 miles by the second generation of the battery pack."