Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. is working with 4R Energy Corporation to develop a solar-powered recharging station for electric vehicles. The two companies have been testing the charging system at Nissan’s Yokohama global headquarters.
The tests have been using solar technology to recharge lithium-ion batteries. They have seven solar powered charging stations. Three of them are quick charge and four offer a normal charge. Each charging station has the ability to charge the batteries comparable to that of four Nissan LEAF electric vehicles. Nissan said that these seven charging stations could completely charge 1,800 LEAF electric vehicles every year.
The 4R Energy Corporation is planning to sell mid-sized electricity storage systems that would be made available to public facilities and commercial applications.
On July 4, Nissan announced that they have begun testing their NV200 based Electric Vehicles for commercial uses. They will be using on test vehicle for mail delivery in Japan for two months. Nissan said that the NV200 has been called the next generation taxi and is used for a wide variety of purposes. The NV200 has already been shipping in Japan and Europe since 2009. They have added China and Singapore for their 2010 product lineup. Nissan is working on launching the NV200 in the United States and India next.