Nissan has unveiled its newest concept car, the NuVu, at the Paris Auto Show. Like the rest of the auto world, the Japanese company is focusing resources on alternative vehicles that reduce carbon emissions and save fuel costs. So it’s not surprising that this latest fantasy car employs an electric drivetrain. What I didn’t expect was the so-called “energy tree.” Read on.
With the NuVu, Nissan is showing its vision of a more crowded, urban world, where small yet stylish is highly valued. Hence the car is only 3 meters long (about 10 feet), 1.7 meters (about 5 feet 6 inches) wide, and 1.55 meters tall (about 5 feet).
The car will have two regular seats and a third folding chair. The optional chair will help designers add a luggage area—important for those urban shopping sprees.
What I like best about the concept—and remember this is just a concept—is the extended tree metaphor. Get ready. Take a deep breath: engineers plan to integrate into the glass roof a dozen or so small solar panels that will be “shaped like leaves on a branch.” These power-producing leaves will be connected to the lithium-ion battery pack via the energy tree’s “thin trunk” which rises from the luggage compartment floor to the roof behind the driver’s seat.
This artistic exercise is to remind drivers—and of course their impressionable yet hip, urban passengers—that this is one hell of a green car. So green in fact, that’s there’s a tree in the cab. Do you think they might offer a planter box option at the rear?
On a more serious note, Nissan engineers think the solar leaves could save one night’s recharge per month. They also say the NuVu will have a driving range of 125 kilometers (about 77 miles) between charges and a top speed of 120 kph (about 74 mph).
But don’t hold your breath for the NuVu to hit your local dealer. The Denki Cube, now available in limited number in Japan, should be Nissan’s first electric car to reach foreign markets.
Nissan says the Denki Cube will be introduced in the U.S. in spring of next year. But even that should be in limited supply. The company says it plans to mass-market globally an electric car in 2012, though executives haven’t said—and probably haven’t decided—which model that will be.