Nissan Begins Japan Sales of New Quick Charger for Evs

Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. announced that it is commencing sales of its new quick charger on November 30 at Nissan parts companies throughout Japan.

The newly-developed quick charging unit retains the high performance of the current quick charger manufactured by Nissan, but is nearly half the size (by volume). It offers many safety features for safe charging, such as monitoring against a potential short circuit when the charging unit is interfacing with the EV. It complies with CHAdeMO*1 protocol and is compatible with Nissan EVs as well as EVs manufactured by other companies. The new charger unit's smaller size will take up less space and enable easier installation.

Thanks to the adoption of new electric circuit technology*2 and by harnessing technology used in Nissan manufacturing and R&D, the new unit features a simple and efficient design that costs 598,500 yen (including tax) for the base grade, which is below half the price of the current unit, but maintains the overall level of quality. Moreover, customers can apply to a government incentive system *3 for charging units to be reimbursed for approximately half the cost (without tax) of a unit. The actual cost is would then be upwards of a very affordable 318,500 yen.

Nissan continues its efforts to assure LEAF customers of a comfortable and convenient electric vehicle driving experience, and contribute to the ongoing development of the EV quick charging infrastructure in Japan. These efforts include the installation of the new charging units at an increasing number of its dealerships nationwide and the introduction of the new units at local government facilities in regions throughout Japan. The company plans to install the new charging units at about 400 of its dealerships nationwide by the end of fiscal year 2011 (March 2012), which will be double the number of units which have already been installed.

Nissan is also proactively seeking partner companies for sales as part of its efforts to aim to sell 5,000 of the new quick chargers by the end of fiscal year 2015 (March 2016)

Specifications

Suggested retail price (including tax, excluding installation cost)

*1 CHAdeMO: CHAdeMO is an abbreviation of "CHArge de MOve", roughly meaning to "charge for moving." It is an association of companies committed to the development of EVs by facilitating the expansion of EV charging station infrastructure and aiming at standardized charging methods.

*2 The new electric circuit technology: developed in cooperation with Nagaoka University of Technology

*3 This system has been identified by METI as for "Government incentives to support Clean Energy vehicles and related equipment". In order to obtain it, an application must be submitted to the Next Generation Vehicle Promotion Center application by the customer. The customer should retain 8 years to obtain incentives. Local governments may conduct their own original incentive system.

*4 Sales of cold weather specification units will start in December 2011.

*5 JEVS G105-1993: The Japan Automotive Research Institute (JARI) has created a new organization for EV technology standardization, the Japan Electric Vehicle Association Standard (JEVS). G 105-1993 is the connector to be used at eco-station for EV quick charging systems.