Nissan partner with Project Better Place in Israel, competitor in Japan
While Nissan/Renault has been very helpful to Project Better Place in Israel by offering to supply electric cars that will work with their recharging and battery swapping service, its cooperation with PBP may not be extending to its homeland of Japan. Not only has Nissan undertaken its own investigation to decide what business model is best suited for the island nation (Like the "Project," they are looking closely at the battery-lease model as a way to keep the initial vehicle purchase price low), its already begun putting together a consortium of companies to deal with everything from batteries to real estate.
Nissan, as well as Mitsubishi and Subaru, are also participants in a project sponsored by the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. This electric vehicle promotional effort, said to continue until 2015, will involve charging station testing, examine different insurance models, and attempt to get the public on-board.
Though there was talk of Project Better Place making a go of it in Japan, facing competition from its partner on their home turf will probably persuade them to concentrate their expansion efforts on some other island. Click the "read" link for more details.
[Source: Globes]
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