Nissan’s Green Program 2010

As the global community become increasingly aware of the global warming threat, the auto industry is hard at work to develop new technologies to be used on automobiles to make them more environments friendly. Nissan, the third largest Japanese car manufacturer, has already taken steps to help protect the environment. The company has released its Green Program which covers the steps they will take until the end of this decade. While the said program was announced last year, this year saw the company taking the necessary steps to achieve their goal.

One of the developments being pursued by Nissan is the production of a three-liter vehicle. The number means not the displacement of the car’s internal combustion engine but the amount of fuel it will consume for every 100 kilometers. If Nissan can succeed to produce a car with fuel efficiency as that, they would pull in front of both Honda and Toyota in terms of fuel efficiency.

Converted to gas mileage, the proposed car will have a rating of a little more than 94 mpg. This may be an ambitious plan but Nissan has proven that they have what it takes to develop advanced technologies for their vehicles. While there is not a word yet from Nissan as to how the development of the three-liter car is going, the auto industry is waiting eagerly for the result.

With gas mileage such as that, even the fuel miser hybrid vehicles will be left far behind. The class leading Toyota Prius has a gas mileage rating of 51 mpg for city driving and 60 mpg for highway driving according to the Environmental Protection Agency or EPA. Even if that rating is true in real-world driving, it still falls short of the 94 mpg that the three-liter car will have. Aside from the three-liter vehicle, Nissan is also planning to add more flex-fuel vehicles to their current lineup. These vehicles will be able to run not only on gasoline but also on E85 - a combination of gasoline and bio-ethanol. Currently, most of Nissan’s flex-fuel vehicles are designed to run on E10, a fuel composed of ten percent bio-ethanol and 90 percent gasoline.

One Nissan vehicle already being sold in the United States auto market capable of running on 85 percent bio-ethanol is the Nissan Armada. In Brazil where bio-ethanol is abundant, Nissan will be marketing a vehicle which will be able to run on 100 percent bio-ethanol, eliminating its dependence on fossil fuels. In the United States, it would take a longer time for a Nissan vehicle capable of running on 100 percent bio-ethanol to be marketed. The reason for this is the scarcity of refilling station in the United States which offers bio-ethanol. In fact, this lack of refilling station is seen as a big problem for flex-fuel vehicles in the U.S. In fact, a recent study shows that 99 percent of flex-fuel vehicles on America’s road run on gasoline which beats the purpose of the vehicle.

Nissan is also committed to the development of technologies which will reduce carbon dioxide emissions. One of the technologies being used by Nissan to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases by their vehicles is the continuously variable transmission (CVT). This gearbox provides an almost infinite number of gear ratios between two preset gear ratios. This means that less power is wasted which translates to better fuel economy. Reduced amount of fuel being burned means lower greenhouse gas produced. The company also uses different exhaust gas filter s which treats the emission to make it safe for the environment in its route from the combustion chamber to the Nissan exhaust pipes.

Another technology being considered by the Japanese car manufacturer is the gas electric hybrid technology. While Nissan Chief Executive Officer Carlos Ghosn has expressed that hybrids are still impractical to both consumers and manufacturers, the company has already released a hybrid version of the Nissan Altima in the United States auto market. The powertrain used by the Altima hybrid is sourced from an independent supplier. Nissan is already developing a hybrid powertrain of their own and has announced that they will make it available in the market by the year 2010.

Further proof of Nissan’s commitment to the production of green cars is the opening of their new technology center in Japan. The said facility located in Atsugi at the Kanagawa Prefecture is where Nissan is developing advanced lithium-ion battery packs. The said battery technology will be use on their future hybrid vehicles. The said battery packs are lighter and more powerful than the current nickel-metal hydride battery packs that are used by hybrid vehicles. The former can also be used on fuel-cell vehicles although Nissan has not yet expressed their intention to build one. Ghosn said that diesel and flex-fuel vehicles are the most practical alternative fuel technology today.