The Leaf will be an ideal car for driving around the city with its 100-mile range. It will also be good for car pooling programs. It seems that Hertz has a very good idea of the range capabilities of each member of their fleet and it might implement a fast charge system to the Leaf so it will be 80% ready to go in just 30 minutes.

A 24 kilowatt hour battery pack for an electric vehicle usually takes 8 hours of being plugged into a 220-volt outlet to be fully charged. It will take longer if you will be using 110-volt outlets.

The hatchback electric Leaf will initially be rolled out by the Japanese car maker by the end of 2010 and expected to go on full swing by 2012. Buyers will be given a fast charge equipment and a 220-volt charger. Nissan is set to monitor the usage of the Leaf owners.

At present, Nissan is among the most aggressive leaders in producing pure electric vehicles and other environmentally-friendly cars. The Leaf is just one of the four electric vehicles on the drawing board of Nissan. Most car producers will be using gas engines to address the range anxiety factor of pure electric vehicles like how the 2011 Chevrolet is designed.

The 2011 Nissan Leaf has been going around potential markets that will see its early launch. Nissan is pushing hard on educating the potential buyers of the car of its features and benefits. The car company is hoping to get about 20,000 reservations before the end of 2010.

Hertz is great for renting “special” things. They have a great Corvette ZHZ too – check it out!

Japanese carmaker Nissan reveals plans to bring to the U.S. shore two small cars priced under $10,000. These cars will derive its DNA from the Micra, a mini car sold in parts of Europe and Asia that is smaller than their current Versa.

At the moment Kia’s cheapest in the U.S. is a base version of the 2010 Versa. It has a sticker price kicking off at $9,990 and does well with a 1.6L engine coupled with a 5-speed manual transmission. The car also does not have electric windows and a standard radio.

The base price is just a very good headliner. A car below $10K.

In the U.S., a starting price point of $10K is next to impossible and Nissan might just get a slice of the market which is still trying to recover from an economic meltdown.

The competition for this Nissan subcompacts are definitely more expensive. BMW bred Mini Cooper sells for about $20,000. The two-seater Smart ForTwo was received well back in 2008 but not anymore last year even if it was priced at $11,990.

A big volume of production might allow Nissan to inject some much wanted amenities like air conditioning, stereo, and power windows. If they can do this they can breakaway from the subcompact notion that small is cheap but cheap is nasty. Let’s see what happens when the pair of subcompacts comes to the U.S. by 2012.

Mazda and Toyota are not very keen on making turbocharged speed monsters at the moment but Nissan is considering to resurrect the turbo Z mean machines.

Engineers and designers from Nissan are toying with the idea of using turbocharged powerplants in their next gen vehicles. Leading garages from Europe like that of the VW and BMW, and Ford in North America which have been making waves with their turbocharged vehicles have made Nissan think about the issue.

Nissan’s turbocharged units in the market today are primarily using diesel engines and are relatively focused on their low volume segment like the GT-R. Their series of VQ with 4-cylinder or 6-cylinder engines have variants that are turbocharged.

Nissan can also give their future vehicles with better fuel saving while maintaining the engine grunt through turbocharging. To fight off bad reviews which mention of vibrations during high rpm of their Infiniti G37 and 370Z, a new series of vehicles with smaller tuirbocharged engines might just prove critics wrong about the Nissan technology.

The plan of using forced induction technology like the platforms being used by leading automakers also gets the nod from their business partner, Renault. One issue that they are trying to study and look at is the emission of the vehicles. Some car makers have avoided turbo charging vehicles because of higher emissions especially when tougher laws are being put into place in different corners of the world.

The new Nismo 370Z is packed with a 350HP (261kW) for power output, tuned suspension, and Ray’s lightweight alloy wheels at 19inches each.

The Japanese car company Autech helped develop the new Nismo 370Z model in the United States, with the S-Tune model as reference. The fully equipped model is a 6-speed manual transmission that comes with the SynchroRev Match function.

The car is offered in one completely equipped model (no options) with a close-ratio 6-speed manual transmission and the SynchroRev Match function, which controls the speed of the engine automatically for a smooth throttle.

This feature improves overall performance as it successfully reduces the normal shock of the clutch, giving the car a smoother performance. The SynchroRev Match can be deactivated manually, anytime.

Nismo 370Z comes with a 7,400rpm and a 276lb-ft torque. Nissan’s exclusive H-configured exhaust, tuned mufflers, and optimized ECU give the model an added boost. The bi-xenon headlights and impressive full body kit set the new Nismo 370Z model apart from the old version.

The car interior bears the Nismo logo on the tachometer, steering wheel, and seats. There is also a plaque added to the center console. The new model is available in Solid Red, Magnetic Black, Brilliant Silver, Platinum Graphite, and Pearl White.

Nissan promised that they can come up with their first electric vehicle by 2010 and will initially service fleets for commercial use. Recently, the Japanese car maker reveals that they aim to mass produce EVs with zero emission by 2012.

During the shareholders meeting this month, Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn declared the company will unveil its first EV by 2 August. The EV will go on limited sale in their Japanese and U.S. market by April of 2010. Mass production of this EV due for released to the global market will be by 2012.

The EV for mass production will make use of the Nissan plants in Smyrna, Tennessee and an undisclosed factory in Japan. The Smyrna plant can produce about 100,000 units on a yearly basis.

The Nissan executive also revealed that the pricing for their EV will be very reasonable, with the company believing that the plans will not work if consumers cannot afford their new green cars.

The Japanese car maker did not release the specifics about the electric vehicle but car industry experts assume that the package will include a 35kW/hr battery that will be leased to the consumer so prices can be trimmed down and make replacement of the battery pack easier.

The battery will supply power to the electric motor that will move the front wheels using a single gear. The car is expected to have a 367mpg-e.

The bold statement aims to hold water to distinguish the first all electric car from Nissan from the hybrid cars roaming the roads today. According to Nissan insiders, the EV will be veering away from the wedge design followed by the Honda Insight and the Toyota Prius.

It will be striking as promised. The first noticeable thing of the EV will be the absence of the grille. There is no need for one. The size of the engine will also be a lot smaller so the hood can be expected to be diving down the line of sight for better aerodynamics of the vehcle. Of course, there will also be a plug for recharging the Nissan NuVu to remind everyone that it is not just like any other vehicle on the road.

So far, the drag coefficient of the Nissan EV is at 0.30. The figure is a bit higher than the 0.28 of the Honda Insight and the 0.25 of the Toyota Prius. The design team of Nissan is still tweaking the design to improve the number, but hey, at least it’ll look better than the Honda or the Toyota, right?

The designers of the all electric Nissan vehicle were not given the free reign on how the car should look. It will still follow the platform of Nissan to keep the cost of production down to optimal.

The production of the all electric vehicle also made Nissan the first beneficiary of the $1.1B loan from the US Department of Energy. This will come from the set aside funds amounting to $25B for the development of vehicles using advanced technology.

Dubbed as Krom (pronounced like “chrome “) will be under the Nissan’s Specialty Vehicles Group that aims to pour in thousands of dollars in accessories to produce variations of the different models in their fleet.

Krom will be focused in helping car owners expressed themselves through added car features and accessories focused on trim packages. The existing Nismo line will cater to the demand for performance packages.

A high end model of the Nissan Cube serves as the kick off for the Krom brand set to excite the market this May. Nissan sales executives foresee 10% of the sale of Cube coming from the Cube Krom version.

Designers of Nissan are also considering playing the designs of the Sentra and Altima to have Krom versions.

The Krom of the Nissan Cube comes as extra to an already packed cross over vehicle that comes with 40 options for buyers. Cube which attracts the young market presents a wide range of choices for its colored interior, grilles, mirror covers, lighting, spoiler, and other added features.

The basic Cube sells for $14685 with some of the custom features selling for $50 or lower. The Krom version of the cube will have a sticker price of around $20065.

Nissan Cube enters the market with fierce accessorizing competition from the likes of Kia Cars that markets Soul with around 50 add on options.

Nissan Motor Co., and Chrysler LLC have postponed their plans of sharing a small car that is constructed at North America and a full-sized pick-up until they can finally cut down costs.

In their statement, Chrysler will sell a model of Nissan’s compressed Versa sedan as a part of their third vehicle-sharing venture and will continue as planned.

The postponement of the companies’s plans was made because of the declining economic situation, and that includes the dollar-yen exchange ratings. And due to this, Nissan and Chrysler are still working on the other two projects and is making sure that the financial needs for both car companies will be met before the two projects step up into the next level. This information is released by Nissan North America Inc.

The arrangements between Nissan and Chrysler was made last year in response to Chrysler’s seeking out for a global partner in terms of technology after their unsuccessful partnership with Daimler AG of Germany. Meanwhile, Nissan is also needing at that time a support for their full-sized pickup models.

But with today’s worsening economic situation, both automotive giants are facing the worst of all situations. Chrysler is facing a tight deadline to submit their viability plan to the US Treasury in order to attain the $4 billion loans and Nissan is about to post a $2.9 billion loss and is about to cut 20,000 Nissan jobs globally.

Presently, both teams are now working hard to improve their financial status in order to launch the vehicle sharing project.

If you look at the electric car’s exterior profile, you would think that the NuVu is a front drive platform. But what it actually has is a drive motor located on the back which powers the rear wheels. The automaking company is still a bit tight-lipped about the exact specifications of the NuVu, but word has it that the drivetrain is a fully functional mobile test bed of the new technology that Nissan plans using in the production of the electric vehicle slated for launching in 2010. What consumers can expect, however, is that the NuVu will be able to run at the top speed of around 75 mph and has a 77-mile range. The NuVu will use a lithium-ion battery pack that is capable of 140 watt hours per kilogram.

The production of the electric car will be a collaborative venture between Nissan and NEC Group, with the Automotive Energy Supply Corp. producing the battery pack to be used. The NuVu’s roof is made entirely of glass and will have photo voltaic solar panels in the shape of leaves. The energy tree located on the driver’s rear cargo floor reaches through the roof and is responsible for gathering energy that can be used to recharge the car.

Nissan is planning to seek government’s financial aid, aside from cutting down jobs and delaying establishments of new factories and model launches.

The car company is anticipating a 265 billion yen or $2.9 billion net loss this fiscal year up to the month of March. This would be CEO Ghosn’s first loss since he took charge of the operations of Nissan in the year 1991. Aside from Nissan, other massive Japanese corporate companies are cutting down jobs and foreseeing yearly losses. These companies include Toshiba, Sony and Toyota.

Nissan Motor Co. had already survived a yearly net loss that lasted on March 2000. Their alliance with Renault SA of France helped the car company survive from the brink of economic collapse.

CEO Ghosn had already put on hold the midterm business plan of the Nissan GT 2012 that was revealed last year and its goal of reaching a desirable 5 percent on its revenue growth up to the year 2012.

The car manufacturing company’s priority as of now is to preserve cash, as other Japanese market competitors are struggling to do in order to survive the deteriorating global economic condition.