Nissan’s EV onslaught continues with Townpod

Nissan’s Townpod will be the company’s third electric vehicle (a battery-powered version of the NV200 commercial vehicle will slot in after the Leaf) and is slated for a late 2012 arrival in the UK.

Looking remarkably like a character from Pixar’s Cars film, the Townpod takes the lithium-ion battery-powered drivetrain of the Leaf and cloaks it in urban friendly sheetmetal.

The long wheelbase and zero overhangs results in a huge cabin, accessed by some trick doors – rear-hinged rear doors and a vertically split rear door. The lack of B-pillar means it’s perfect for loading families and flatpacked furniture. Or pallets – the layout could easily be adopted for an urban-based delivery van.

There’s no detail yet on range and performance, but expect it to better the Leaf in all areas, given the leaps and bounds in battery technology we can expect over the next 24 months. Bear in mind though, that this will be pitched and sold as a pure urban vehicle, so expect performance to make way for range.

Key to the Townpod’s urban integration is its advanced digital interactivity – as well as letting you know your range and the location of the nearest recharging stations en route, the Nissan’s touch-screen connectivity system will sync with your smartphone so it knows where to take you for your first appointment of the day and even juggle meetings should congestion delay you. Clean and <itals> clever.

Nissan also showed off a luxury version of its giant-slaying GT-R. Complete with a swish burgundy leather interior (looks better than it sounds) and an awesome new sound system, the car also previewed the design changes expected on the 2011 model. Which as far as I could make out were restricted to the subtlest of subtle tweaks to the front and rear.

Which seems a lot of money for the anticipated £10k price increase, but there’s also a raft of suspension and mechanical tweaks that gently boost power and soften off some off the Nissan’s sharper ride qualities.

Although it’s a goer in Japan, Nissan Europe is still umming and ahhing over whether to greenlight the luxury model, which in turn will determine whether it will appear in UK showrooms. If it doers it will be in limited numbers and will be very expensive. Go with the standard car – even at £10k more than before, it’s still an absolute performance bargain.

By Ben Whitworth