The Japanese car maker Nissan joined other manufacturers gearing up
for future antipollution legislation by launching a prototype electric car
last week.
Nissan鈥檚 future electric vehicle, or FEV, has a range of 250 kilometres
at the modest speed of 40 kilometres per hour, though it can reach 130 kilometres
per hour. It uses nickel-cadmium batteries which are lighter but more expensive
than the usual lead-acid batteries.
The company has cut the charging time to 15 minutes by designing the
batteries to have a low internal resistance and making them thin so that
they quickly release the heat that builds up during charging. By contrast,
General Motors鈥� Impact electric car takes between two and eight hours to
recharge.
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