Clean slate: design and production of electric vehicles

However, some of Nissan’s concepts on the way to the Leaf made much greater use of by-wire technology, taking advantage of the system’s ability to decouple the power system and the motors from the driver. For example, the Pivo city car concept included a cabin that rotated, so the driver didn’t have to face backwards when reversing. Another concept vehicle uses hub-mounted electric motors - an increasingly common idea for electric vehicles - in an innovative way, allowing the wheels to rotate so that the vehicle slips into parking spaces sideways and changing the car’s centre of gravity when it corners.

Nissan decided against incorporating such radical changes into its first full-EV offering, but there is a feeling among industry observers that it’s been too conservative. Paul Niewenhuis noted that other hybrid and EV manufacturers, such as Toyota and GM, had deliberately gone for a more outlandish design. ’A few years ago, Honda tried to compete with the Toyota Prius with what was essentially a conventional Civic with a hybrid-electric powertrain, and the feeling was that they missed out because it didn’t look different enough. We think that people like driving a Prius because it looks different and it lets everyone know they’re driving a hybrid.’