Friday, January 20, 2012
By Manoj Kumawat
Renault Nissan JV to pump in $5.6 bn on developing electric cars
With fuel prices taking new heights across globe and getting scanty day by day, expect the green wheels to take over the car industry. Sensing that the petrol or diesel cars have a meek future, car companies have starting channelizing their resources in the development of alternatively fueled cars. Electric cars and hybrids are among the most viable options presently. French car maker Renault in a joint venture with Nissan has allotted $5.6 billion for the development of electric vehicles.
The EVs have gradually appearing in the model line ups of car makers across the world but still these are insignificant in number to take over the petrol/diesel powered cars. Nissan Leaf which is an EV appeared at the Auto Expo in New Delhi recently while the Renault Fluence EV appeared in Portugal recently. In India, the only commendable effort in this regard is the launch of Mahindra Reva NXR which will be available this Diwali. Besides, Mahindra has also showcased a hydrogen powered three wheeler recently at the Auto Expo 2012.
| See More Nissan Leaf Pictures | Get Nissan Leaf Price |
You name it and it is there in the EVs, be it power, performance, mileage everything what lack it the CO2 emissions. However, the present EV technology is not able to get the cars out of the city as these have limited run per charge. Besides, in India we do not have necessary infrastructure to welcome electric cars. There are almost nil charging stations in the country compared to west which is soon adopting this technology as a viable option for intra city transport.
| See More Renault Fluence Pictures | Get Renault Fluence Price |
Despite these odds, the Renault-Nissan alliance is expected to build 500,000 electric vehicles and batteries at 11 factories in eight countries by 2013. However, what fate these EVs will have that only time will tell but it is certainly the ripe time to switch to a green wheels and save the environment.
