Japan - The Renault-Nissan Alliance (the Alliance), Yulon-Nissan Motor (YNM) and Taiwan’s Taichung City entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to promote electric cars. The signatories for the MOU were Jason Hu, Mayor of Taichung City, Yasuaki Hashimoto, President of Nissan China Investment Co., Ltd and Jack Wu, the president of Yulon-Nissan Motor (YNM). Nissan, YNM and the city will work together to study the Electronic Vehicles (EV) Connection Program in Taichung City to make the city EV-friendly.

“Signing the MOU with YNM and Nissan means that Taichung City will take the lead to be the first ‘Low-Emission’ City in Taiwan,” said Mayor.

Studying how to make Taichung City more EV-ready is part of the city’s ongoing commitment to build a sustainable infrastructure that would include supporting a high speed railway and encouraging the use of electric bicycles and motorcycles. The city is planning to promote the popular use of EVs while developing supporting policies and structures, which will include using EVs as official vehicles, creating an EV promotional team, educating the public about EVS, creating purchase incentives, building charging stations.

The Alliance has formed partnerships with more than 60 governments, cities and other organizations around the world, including Japan, U.S.A., Europe, Asia and Australia, to advance the deployment of EVs worldwide. Many governments supporting EV technology are offering tax incentives and subsidies for those purchasing EVs and investing in building an EV charging infrastructure. As more public charging stations become available, the general acceptance of EVs will grow.

Source: http://www.nissan-global.com/EN/NEWS/2010/_STORY/100624-01-e.html