Nissan Condering Extended Range Electrics (ER-EV)

In brief: Brian Carolin, Senior Vice President for Sales and Marketing at Nissan, let it be known that Nissan is considering extended range electric vehicles (ER-EVs) for production.

The word

With the strong showing for the Leaf so far, Nissan seems ready to capitalize on its newly-found green credentials and continue marketing electrics. At last week's Automotive News Green Car Conference, Carolin specifically noted that Nissan is focusing on battery-electric vehicles like the Leaf.

This does not, however, preclude the automaker from also marketing range-extended electrics similar to the Chevy Volt.

While the initial interest and pre-purchasing enthusiasm for the Leaf is strong, some industry analysts think that this could be short-lived and that Nissan would be remiss to ignore the larger market.

Nissan is likely well-aware of this and planning accordingly, of course.

And so ...

Will the next version of the Leaf be a range-extended option with a gasoline, diesel, or CNG engine as backup?

Photo credits: Nissan