Nissan to Offer Electric Car in 2010 - 7 Aug, 2008While Honda...

Nissan to Offer Electric Car in 2010 - 7 Aug, 2008

While Honda and Toyota prepare to battle for hybrid supremacy, Nissan has decided to simply skip that step and become the first major automaker to sell a mainstream electric vehicle (EV).

The AP reports, "Nissan showed on Wednesday a spiffy electric car packed with a battery developed by the Japanese automaker to deliver more power than the type common in today's hybrids. The electric vehicle, set for sale in 2010, carried a 300 kilogram (660 pounds) lithium-ion battery and still zipped around a Nissan Motor Co. test course, accelerating more quickly than comparable gas-engine cars."

We have no idea, however, what the production car will look like. The model shown to the press was a Nissan Cube -- a small wagon resembling a Scion xB that Nissan hopes to bring to the U.S. market in 2010. But the automaker said in a press release, "The production vehicle to be introduced in 2010 will have a unique body style and is not based on any existing Nissan model."

Note: ADY (RLL) owns 20% of the world's lithium carbonate deposits needed for lithium battery production.