Nissan reveals electric vehicle plans

The Japanese carmaker previewed a prototype based on their Nissan Tiida, otherwise known as the Latio to local car buyers, family hatchback, but says that the car, which will be shown at Nissan's headquarters in Yokohama on August 2, will have a unique design.

The car will be entirely powered by electricity, using a 24kWh laminated compact lithium-ion battery that is capable of producing 109bhp and an impressive 208Nm of torque. The battery will be placed under the cabin floor, so as not to intrude on cabin or cargo space.

The new electric vehicle will also have a regenerative brake system to recharge the battery during deceleration and braking. Nissan claims that this can extend the driving range to 160km on a full charge.

The car will have a highly rigid body and platform structure that minimises vibration and external sounds. There is also a new EV-IT system which connects the vehicle's on-board transmitting unit to a global data centre to support EV driving 24 hours 7 days a week.

This new system informs the driver, via the in-dash display monitor, how many kilometres are left before the battery goes flat, whether the car will make it to a destination set on the sat-nav, and available recharging stations. There's also a timer function that enables the air-conditioner or battery charging to begin at a specified time. The driver can also monitor the state-of-charge of the EV via an online website or a cellular phone, with Nissan developing an application for Apple's iPhone that enables this function.