All electric, hybrid and high-efficiency petrol and diesel models are just a few of the many innovative technological solutions set to play major roles in helping Japanese manufacturer Nissan slash global emissions by 2010.
It’s not just tailpipe emissions Nissan aims to cut. By the end of the decade it plans to reduce the manufacturing CO2 per car by 7% of ’05 levels and increase the amount of parts capable of being recycled to over 95%, with an ultimate goal of a car that’s completely recyclable in the future.
On the technological front expect a shift to smaller capacity turbo petrols to help reduce emissions by 30%. Diesels, on the other hand, thanks to next-gen particulate filters and catalysts, will fall a huge 90% over the cars produced today.
That’s according to Nissan senior vice president Mitsuhiko Yamashita, who BusinessCar met last week at an exclusive roundtable discussion. Yamashita also slammed recent European targets, criticising the new mandatory 130g/km limit as “far too aggressive” and that Nissan would need time extensions to at least 2015 for the firm to stand a chance of meeting the tough limits.
The most exciting technological introduction will be the roll out of completely electric vehicles. Nissan claims to be the only car manufacturer that has persisted with the technology after high profile failures at rolling out electric cars by carmakers like General Motors. Businesses maybe the first to benefit from what could be the first zero-emission vehicle (if the electricity is developed from a renewable source), since early vehicles could be leased to city-based companies, before selling to retail buyers.
Nissan remains unconvinced by biofuel use within the UK since it believes the production cycle will need to be improved before the true CO2 reduction will be realised.
Finally, Yamashita unveiled plans to improve the road infrastructure itself, by licensing to other global cities an intelligent traffic management system that imbeds sensors in cars to measure congestion on an unprecedented level, helping others deviate around heavy traffic.