Have
you ever walked down the sidewalk in a major city in a third world country with
diesel trucks and buses driving by with untuned engines? The thick dark exhaust
is putrid and sickening.
Nissan
Joins California Fuel Cell Partnership; Nissan to Provide Demonstration Fuel-Cell
Vehicle in California
CARSON, CA, PRNewswire - March 2, 2000 - Nissan Motor
Co., Ltd., today announced its intent to join the California Fuel Cell Partnership
to contribute to the development of fuel cell technology. As part of the partnership
agreement, Nissan will demonstrate its fuel cell electric vehicle program in California
in 2001.
The partnership
is a voluntary effort to advance a new automobile technology that could move the
world toward practical and affordable environmental solutions. By demonstrating
fuel-cell-powered electric vehicles under real day-to-day driving conditions,
the partnership will focus on raising consumer awareness and explore the path
to commercialization of fuel cell technology.
The partnership will place about 50 fuel cell passenger cars and fuel cell buses
on the road between 2000 and 2003. A headquarters facility based in the Sacramento
area will be constructed for the partnership and will serve as an operations base
for up to 16 fuel cell vehicles beginning late this year.
"Nissan's proven environmental track record and years of experience in alternative
fuel technologies will complement the partnership. We're excited to have them
on board," said Alan Lloyd, chairman, California Air Resources Board and
a member of the partnership.
The partnership, a public-private venture, includes Nissan and four other automakers
(DaimlerChrysler, Ford, Honda, Volkswagen); energy providers (ARCO, Shell, and
Texaco); a fuel cell company (Ballard Power Systems); and government agencies
(the California Air Resources Board, the California Energy Commission, and the
U.S. Department of Energy). The partnership also has added a global leader in
methanol production to its team of associate partners.
"This partnership provides us an opportunity to explore ways to develop environmentally
beneficial technology," said Debra Sanchez Fair, vice president, corporate
communications, Nissan North America, Inc. "Fuel cell technology holds a
great deal of promise and the partnership will help us to realize its potential."
In addition to Nissan's fuel cell vehicle development, Nissan has a long history
of environmental accomplishments. Nissan's most recent and notable activities
in this regard include: The first automobile manufacturer in the U.S. to install
the equipment for recovery and recycling of chlorofluorocarbons (CFC-12) and hydrofluorocarbons
(HFC-134a) refrigerants at all its U.S. dealerships.
Among the first automakers worldwide to eliminate the use of CFCs as a foaming
and cleaning agent in manufacturing processes. Nissan was the only automaker to
receive the EPA's "Best of the Best" award for protecting the stratospheric
ozone layer. Nissan is curbing HFC emissions in Japan where there is no government
regulation regarding HFCs.
The first automobile manufacturer in the world to introduce a powertrain system
combining direct-injection gasoline (DiG) engine with a continuously variable
transmission (CVT). These vehicles emit far less pollution yet maintain high power
and improved mileage ratings of 50 percent. The DiG-CVT technology was honored
with the Energy Conservation Prize from the director general of Japan's Agency
of Natural Resources and Energy. Nissan was the only automaker to receive the
prestigious 1999 Climate Protection Award from the United States Environmental
Protection Agency.
Nissan
received the award for its aggressive steps to address global warming, to reduce
hydrofluorocarbons and to improve fuel economy in Nissan and Infiniti vehicles.
Development of a gasoline-fueled 2000 model year Sentra CA (for "clean air")
which emits about one-fourth of the unburned hydrocarbon and one- tenth of the
oxides of nitrogen and is the world's cleanest gasoline- powered car.
In North America, Nissan's operations include automotive styling, engineering,
consumer and corporate financing, sales and marketing, distribution and manufacturing.
More information on Nissan in North America and the complete line of Nissan
and Infiniti vehicles can be found online at www.nissandriven.com
or contact the corporate media line at 310-771-5631.
Contact: Fred Standish,
248-488-4227, or Scott Vazin, 310-771-3455, both of Nissan Corporate Communications.
Flight
(Props,
Jets, Helicopters, Gliders, Dirgibles, & Space craft)
Too bad that
NASA has ignored their mandate to make their technology available for public consumption
by being offered up for commercial use as were the original stated founding intentions.
Too bad that NASA
has ignored their mandate to make their technology available for public consumption
by being offered up for commercial use as were the original stated founding intentions.
January
12, 2000 TOKYO (Reuters) - Nissan
Motor Co on Wednesday staked its claim to having the world's cleanest gasoline-engine
car, saying its new Sentra sedan model had met emission standards previously held
only by electric vehicles.
"The Sentra CA, driven 10 miles to work
and back, emits less harmful vapors than an ordinary car sitting in a driveway
all day with its engine turned off," Jun Teranuma, general manager of Nissan's
powertrain planning department, told a news conference.
Cars can still
emit vapors after the engine is turned off and when left outside in the sun.
Nissan said the California Air Resources Board, which imposes many of the
world's toughest emission rules, had awarded the 2000 Sentra CA "super ultra
low emission vehicle" status.
Californian authorities, which have
mandated that 10 percent of all vehicles sold in smog-ridden state have zero emission
levels from 2003, had also given the Sentra CA partial zero emission credits --
a first for a gasoline-engine vehicle. This means that Sentra will be given one
fifth of an emission credit normally given to an electric vehicle.
Nissan
plans to start selling the Sentra CA, a five passenger four-door sedan with a
1.8 liter engine, in California from February, targeting sales of 500 vehicles
in the first year.
Sales of the Sentra CA in the United States will first
be limited to California which is the only U.S. state to offer low sulfur gasoline.
The Sentra CA may be driven on higher sulfur content fuel without change in performance
although emission levels may be higher.
Company officials said they have
not yet decided the sticker price for the new car but its price would reflect
the cost of the new engine, estimated at around 10 percent more than an engine
for an ordinary Sentra. A 2.0 liter Sentra retails from $15,200.
In the
race for cleaner cars, recent attention has focused on fuel cells -- a cleaner
form of power that eventually could replace combustion engines.
But expecting
that it may take decades before a mass-marketable car using fuel cell technology
is available, Japanese automakers have taken the lead in improving gasoline-engine
vehicles.
Toyota Motor Corp and Honda Motor Co have launched hybrid cars
that use both gasoline and electric motors. These cars slash emission levels but
do not need outside recharging like an electric vehicle.
Honda's popular
Accord sedan has also attained super ultra low emission vehicle status although
it does not qualify for zero emission credits.
