Other renewables

ESFLOW shows what Nissan is doing with electric vehicles

Nissan has just announced it’s bringing a new sports electric car concept called the Esflow to the Geneva Motor Show. The released images show a electric vehicle with classic sporty proportions, but we’re advised its potential for shrieking rubber has been tempered by the environmental credentials that electric propulsion can bring.

The Esflow uses tech developed for the mass-market Leaf EV hatchback, but uses a separate motor to turn each rear wheel and should hit 60 miles per hour from a standstill in under five seconds. The laminated lithium batteries are mounted low to help out the center of gravity and are said to be good for 150 miles (240 km) per charge. Any weight penalty of the energy storage system is offset by an rollbar-integrated aluminum chassis swathed in a composite shell.

While we doubt this particular concept will find a home in dealerships or driveways, it’s nice to see Nissan isn’t just concentrating their electric efforts on its more pedestrian platforms, and it could point the way to a sportier EV future for the brand. Hit the jump for a little video of the concept cruising the rendered road in animated action.

Now we are talking with Victor Nacif. Victor is responsible for design at Nissan Design Europe. Victor, we are standing in front of the Nissan ESFLOW concept electric car, which has been created in Japan. What are your first impressions?

Victor Nacif: There are many things that I really, really like about it. I love the concept of doing a 100 per cent efficient car yet is a sports car.

A sports car is meant to be very light weight, it’s meant to be very agile, it’s meant to be minimalist and that’s exactly what ESFLOW does.

RNAT: ESFLOW shows what Nissan is doing with electric cars with lithium ion batteries, but what does it tell us about Nissan’s future design?

VN: The language of the forms and the surfaces is something that I believe is very typical of what we are doing at Nissan. It has very expressive lines, forms and surfaces which make the car look very animated, happy and very agile even when it’s standing still. Those are the elements that we are trying to capture in our products.

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