13 November 2001: Nissan is beginning a new research project at the University of California, designed to determine the marketability of non-polluting electric ‘city cars’.

University employees will be driving 15 small Nissan Hypermini electric vehicles around the campus as part of the research programme. During a 12-month period, university researchers will be collecting a wide variety of data from the users, who will keep logs of their reactions to various vehicle attributes including size, range, comfort and charging. The drivers will also note reactions of the local community to the presence of the vehicles. In addition, local Davis City residents will be surveyed and participate in focus groups.

In addition to donating the vehicles for the study, Nissan is providing most of the funding for the research led by the University of California Davis team of Ken Kurani, a research engineer at the university’s Institute of Transportation Studies, and Tom Turrentine, an ITS-Davis research anthropologist.

The Nissan Hypermini is 8.3 feet long and 5 feet tall. The two-seater ‘city cars’ have little cargo room, but can be parked easily. Since batteries are stored under the vehicle’s floorboard, the Hypermini has a low centre of gravity.

Key features of the Nissan Hypermini include: 24kW permanent magnet synchronous traction motor; lightweight lithium-ion battery with manganese electrode, offering high energy and power densities in a compact unit; recharges in up to four hours using a 200-volt AC inductive charger; real-world driving range of 30-35 miles; top speed of 62 mph

Nissan is involved in three car-sharing programmes using Hyperminis in Japan. About 120 Hyperminis have been sold to support these programmes in the cities of Kyoto, Ebina and Yokohama. BB