Ghosn predicts electric car scramble
By John Reed and Richard Milne in Geneva
Renault and Nissan are between them installing enough capacity to build about 150,000 such cars in Japan, 200,000 in Europe, and more than 200,000 in the US. “We’re putting the system in place – who else is doing that?” Mr Ghosn said.
The French and Japanese carmakers are the industry’s two big producers pushing most aggressively into pure battery electric vehicles, despite widespread doubts among their competitors and industry analysts that they will be more than a niche product.
Mr Ghosn said Israel had ordered 100,000 units of Renault’s Fluence sedan as part of a scheme to roll out electric cars and recharging infrastructure. France’s government has spoken of putting about 100,000 electric cars in its fleet.