What's this then?
Nissan has unveiled its first all-electric seven-seater, based on the e-NV200 van. There was already a five-seat e-NV200 but Nissan says that requests from various fleet users convinced it to pull forward plans to introduce the seven-seater.
It's a spacious thing too, with seats for seven and still a 440-litre boot even when all of them are occupied. The middle row can slide forward and the third row folds up to the sides to reveal a massive 2,900-litre boot should you need it. The new model is available with the CHAdeMO quick charging system, which gives access to the most widely installed rapid charging system in Europe today with over 1,500 accessible points. The quick charging option, says Nissan, allows businesses or drivers to extend journeys or do multiple short journeys in a day with a quick top-up. Already, users of the e-NV200, like Taxi Electric in the Netherlands and C&C Taxis in the UK, have installed their own quick chargers to increase utilisation and flexibility. The e-NV200 has a single-charge range of around 100 miles.
Nissan Europe's Director of Electric Vehicles, Jean-Pierre Diernaz, explains the introduction: "We have always planned to offer a higher-seating capacity version of the Nissan e-NV200. Marketplace demand has meant we have moved this introduction forward by several months to satisfy this need. Nissan has had requests from taxi companies, VIP transfer services, hotels and private motorists who are interested in buying this uniquely flexible and capable vehicle."
The van and five-seat versions of the e-NV200 were launched last summer and have already met with a very positive reception with orders from taxi companies across Europe in addition to large fleets like DHL Express in Italy, and APM, part of the Maersk group. Diernaz is unsurprised by this interest, commenting: "The benefits are clear, electricity as a fuel is much cheaper than diesel, even with the recent drop in prices. Maintenance is 40 per cent cheaper and the vehicle is quieter, smoother and faster than the diesel equivalent."
The new e-NV200 version is joined on the Geneva stage by a special edition of the Nissan Leaf, which has just celebrated a record sales year in 2014, with sales up 33 per cent. To celebrate its fourth year as the best-selling pure electric car globally and in Europe the limited edition has been given an eye-catching new 17-inch wheel design and additional standard equipment. This limited edition, based on the Acenta grade, gives customers two types of cable, enabling them to use charge points fitted with conventional domestic plugs or the faster type-two charging stations, also complemented by the standard fitment of the 6.6kW on-board charger, which allows the Nissan Leaf to go from empty to full in four hours on a compatible 32-amp supply.
Neil Briscoe - 3 Mar 2015