Nissan

Nissan’s LEAF electric car is being promoted in the Netherlands this week and EV charging system specialist Epyon is taking the opportunity to unveil its new TERRA fast charging station. If the claims are to be believed, its performance is pretty impressive - the TERRA can recharge a LEAF up to 80% within just 30 minutes. Considering that the LEAF can travel up to 160 kilometers on a full charge, and that most people drive less than 100 kilometers in a day, that half-hour recharge might be all that the average driver would ever need.  Read More

Nissan is to start taking reservations from US consumers later this month for its LEAF electric vehicle. A fully refundable down payment of just US$99 will ensure customers are given first crack of the whip when ordering starts for real in August, with nationwide rollout expected early 2011.  Read More

One of the criticisms often levied at the drive to get electrically-powered vehicles from the fringe into the mainstream is the current lack of a network of charging stations. Four car manufacturing giants have teamed up with a utility service provider to tackle this problem head on. The newly formed CHAdeMO Association is not only calling for a standard method for charging electric vehicles to be adopted but is also hoping to add some much-needed momentum to the global installation of fast charging solutions.  Read More

If you’ve been a sports car enthusiast for any period of time, this article may well make you feel old. The Z car has turned 40, middle aged for a human, but positively geriatric in automotive terms. The Datsun 240Z arrived in North America on October 22, 1969. Sports cars had previously been usually English, could be relied upon to break down regularly enough to become an integral part of your lifestyle and if you could afford to keep one, (accounting for the inflated price and an upkeep cost akin to a heroin habit), wealthy. The 240z sold at a ridiculously proletarian US$3,626, ran as hard as a Porsche and refused to break down, even when used as daily transport. It was a landmark car and did much to democratize sports car ownership. Nissan has created a limited (1000 units only) production 370Z 40th Anniversary Edition, available later this month at US$38,860.  Read More

If you’re planning on choosing a roadgoing car based on racetrack results, maybe you’d better think again. With the world’s greatest off-road race, the Dakar Rally, currently powering its way through Chile, it’s interesting to note that the leaders of the event (BMW and Volkswagen) are among the least reliable 4x4 vehicles on the road, where it really counts. Newly released and highly credible information from the U.K. has revealed the most and least reliable pre-owned 4x4 and SUV cars on the market (see the top 10 lists here). Honda’s CR-V won the crown of the most reliable 4x4 by a fair margin while Audi’s A6 Allroad is the most unreliable 4x4 on the road, with Volkswagen’s Touareg and BMW’s X5 placing second and third most unreliable. That’s right folks, despite performing spectacularly in race events such as the Dakar, the VW Touareg is the second most unreliable 4x4 on the market, according to Warranty Direct.  Read More

The Nissan V2G concept was has taken out the Los Angeles Auto Show's 2009 Design Challenge. Entitled "Youthmobile 2030", this year's Challenge asked designers to encapsulate what tech-savvy young Gen Z drivers will be looking to take to the freeway 21 years from now. The result was six fascinating design concepts from the Californian studios of major companies, with the Nissan entry given the nod for its "holistic approach in answering the future's design questions."  Read More

One of the stand-outs amongst a stellar field of automated and autonomous ingenuity on show at the IRex robotics expo in Japan this week was the Yurina Care Robot from Japan Logic Machine. Essentially a robotic bed, the 3.5 million Yen (around US$41,000) Yurina reconfigures electronically, on-the-fly, can be controlled by the user or a carer into many different configurations, has four separate sections which can all be angled differently, and can lift and make comfortable, a disabled person of up to 120 kilograms in almost any position. It gets along at 4kmh, can lower you into the bath and get you out again without giving anyone a hernia and comes with a range of optional extras you could only dream about if you are in need of such a device.  Read More

Each year as part of the Design Los Angeles Conference held at the LA Auto Show, creative types from major car companies get to stare into their crystal balls and let their imaginations run wild in designing the car of the future. In 2007 the theme was the car 50 years from today, last year the challenge was to envision how motor-racing will look in 2025 and this time around, the brief is to look at what young people will be driving in the year 2030.  Read More

Following on from the successful use of its Fuel Cell Vehicles (FCVs) in demonstration fleets in Japan and California, Nissan has announced its first commercial FCV lease in North America to Sacramento Coca-Cola Bottling Co., Inc. In an advantageous brand tie-in the zero emissions X-TRAIL FCV will be used by the bottler for sales calls and public events in the Sacramento area in promotion of its Coca-Cola Zero soft drink.  Read More