Yuri Jingshan, AP Business WriterTOKYO, Friday, April 13, 2007-Nissan Motor Company, Japan's No.
3 car manufacturers and NEC
Invest 0. 49 billion yen ($4 ).
1 million) set up a joint venture by the end of this month to produce lithium-
In a statement, they said that by 2009, the ion batteries of green cars, including electric cars and hybrid cars, were available.
Nissan lags behind Japan's rival, Toyota Motor.
Honda Motor Company
In developing hybrid and other eco-friendly technologies to reduce gas emissions from global warming. Tokyo-
Nissan has already started selling hybrid vehicles, including Altima, but has received a technical license from Toyota.
The hybrid switches between the gas engine and the motor to provide better mileage and reduce CO2 emissions.
But executive vice president Carlos Tavares said Nissan has developed a superior automotive battery technology with NEC.
Nissan plans to launch its original hybrid car by 2010 and launch an original hybrid car next year
He said the next generation of electric vehicles will be launched early in the next decade.
"Nissan, together with NEC's engineers, addresses key challenges such as cost, performance, safety and reliability.
We believe we have breakthrough technology.
We will produce ion batteries . "Lithium-
Ion batteries are common in gadgets such as laptops and mobile phones, but have not yet fully adapted to the stricter requirements of car engines.
Hybrid cars from Toyota and Honda use nickel
Although automakers, including General Motors, are using metal hydrogen batteries. of the U. S.
Is studying lithium-
Ion batteries for vehicles.
Nissan says battery products from NEC and Nissan will be available to all car manufacturers. "Co-
With the development of Nissan to make a superior-
Kashima Konosuke, executive vice president of NEC, said: "We expect this first-class battery to spread in the market at an unparalleled speed . ".
Nissan will have a 50% stake in auto energy supply.
The newly established joint venture, as well as its subsidiaries and NEC Tokin Corp. , a battery manufacturer . .
50% in total
Although the sales of hybrids and cars with other eco-friendly technologies are still a small part of the Standard Model, Toyota and Honda have seen an increase in their brand image from promoting this progress, such as Toyota Prius and Honda Civic Hybrid.
Sales of Toyota and Honda's small cars have soared in the United States. S.
Recently, in the context of soaring oil prices, other overseas markets.
Nissan, which was on the verge of bankruptcy before its 1999 alliance with France's Renault SA, is now gradually reversing the situation.
Renault and Nissan chief executive Carlos Ghosn have played down the importance of hybrid vehicles in the past, which are expensive to develop and take time to catch up.
Instead, he highlighted innovation in gasoline engines and said Nissan was working on its own hybrid technology.
Toyota is the first car manufacturer to sell cars on a large scale.
And Prius produced hybrid cars to consumers in 1997.
Toyota, which has dozens of patents on the technology, sells more hybrid cars than any other automaker.
Nissan's share price has fallen since earlier this year, and Tokyo's stock market has fallen nearly 2% to close at 1,228 yen ($10 ).
3), while NEC dropped by 1.
2% to 642 yen ($5. 4).
Associated Press copyright 2007.
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