Renault-Nissan Alliance to Work With Sonoma County, CA on EVs and Infrastructure

21 November 2008

Nissan North America, Inc. will work with the Sonoma County community of governments to promote electric vehicles (EVs) and develop an EV charging network throughout Sonoma County, in northern California. The Renault-Nissan Alliance this week also announced similar partnerships with the Principality of Monaco and the state of Oregon. (Earlier post.)

Nissan as part of the agreement has committed to make available a supply of EVs to Sonoma County community of governments, as well as to work with the parties to develop plans for the creation of an EV battery-charging network in the county. The Sonoma County group will work with Nissan towards realizing these objectives, particularly through the development of methods that encourage the purchase or lease of EVs as well as the establishment of an EV charging network.

Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. has committed the Alliance to be a global leader in ZEVs. Nissan will introduce ZEVs in the United States and Japan in 2010 and will make them available to the mass market, globally, two years later. The Sonoma County community of governments has committed to a greenhouse gas reduction target of 25%, with the goal of bringing greenhouse gas levels to below those of 1990, by 2015. The encouragement of a transportation shift to smart transit, including EVs, is key to the plan’s execution.

The Renault-Nissan Alliance has begun ZEV initiatives in Israel, Denmark, Portugal, Monaco, Kanagawa Prefecture (Japan), and with French electric utility company EDF. In the United States, the Alliance also has agreed to a ZEV partnership with the State of Tennessee the Tennessee Valley Authority, and other partners, to explore ways to promote zero-emission mobility in Middle Tennessee.