Nissan aims for 40% EV sales in the United States by 2030.
As the industry continues to shift more and more toward EVs, automakers need a plan to adjust not just to market demands, but a world of changing regulations and a broader push toward curbing emissions. Nissan is the latest company to join in on the trend of outlining its EV goals, with “proprietary all-solid-state batteries” by 2028 and a conversion to 40% electric vehicle sales in the U.S. by 2030. A large part of the automaker’s EV expansion — 23 new electrified models, including 15 fully electric vehicles.
Nissan says it will invest $17.7 billion (2 trillion yen) over the next five years to make that plan a reality. Our first actual look at the company’s goals beyond launching the Ariya crossover next year are four new concepts, with each covering different automotive lifestyles, from a small pickup to a full-on sports car.
Each of the concepts incorporates “enhanced experiences through sophisticated technology packaging”, including the company’s e-4orce all-wheel drive system, and eventually that solid-state battery tech. Nissan’s confident it will build its pilot factory for those new batteries online by 2024, with actual units ready for production vehicles by 2028. By updating and upscaling its output for those modules, the company thinks it can bring the cost-per-kilowatt hour for batteries down to $75, and ultimately lower to try and achieve price parity with gasoline vehicles. Charging times will also drop to one-third of what they are now, according to Nissan’s statement.
As far as the concept vehicles are concerned, we have the “Max-Out” convertible sports car front and center. Behind that, there’s actually a small, sub-Frontier-sized pickup called the “Surf-Out”. If Nissan heads in that direction, that won’t only bring in a new EV pickup, but another small adventure vehicle to take on the likes of the Ford Maverick and Hyundai Santa Cruz. The “Hang-Out” looks like a Leaf-sized crossover (makes sense, as the current Leaf is long in the tooth) with a reconfigurable interior, while the “Chill-Out” — another crossover — takes driving out of the equation completely and focuses on an entertainment experience.
More R&D and expanded driver assistance tech
We’ll see what actually comes of the concepts, but the general theme here centers around leaving the notions and technology of yesteryear behind. Expanded ProPilot capability through LiDAR will be on “virtually every new model”, Nissan says, by 2030. On the way, the automaker plans to incorporate ProPilot in over 2.5 million Nissan and Infiniti-branded vehicles.
To make its EV goal a reality, the company is also expanding its “EV36Zero” hub concept to core global markets, including Japan, China and the United States. Nissan claims it will will add more than 3,000 R&D jobs into the global mix, while “upskilling” its current workforce over the coming years.
While these forward-looking claims are always subject to major change, take a look at where Nissan’s at now in the video below from this year’s LA Auto Show:
