Nissan To Unveil ESFLOW EV Roadster at Geneva

by David Kiley (RSS feed)
Feb 19th 2011 at 6:02PM

Japanese automaker Nissan has a bold plan for electric vehicles. It was the first major automaker to launch an all-electric car, the Leaf, with broad availability last year. At next month's Geneva auto show, Nissan will unveil the ESFLOW, a premium priced roadster concept car whose principal competitor would be the Tesla.

The ESFLOW has a look reminiscent of Nissan's iconic 370Z. The roadster makes use of the electric propulsion system found in the Nissan Leaf, but it has been re-engineered to deliver sportier performance.

The EV sports car features a lightweight aluminum body and roll cage, twin rear electric motors and lithium-ion batteries mounted low for better weight distribution. The ESFLOW, says Nissan, is capable of zero to 62 mph acceleration times of less than 4 seconds.

The batteries, says Nissan, should give the car a range of about 150 miles, which is much higher than the Leaf's 73 miles of range.

Nissan and its partner French carmaker Renault have promised to put some 1.5 million electric cars on the road by 2016 with seven models planned.

Tags: Geneva Motor Show, Nissan esflow, nissan esflow concept, Tesla, tesla motors