Nissan to sell global electric car by 2012

Although Nissan may be lagging behind its cross-country rivals in hybrid technology, the Japanese automaker is moving full steam ahead with with its electric vehicle plans. Last week at the Geneva Motor Show, Nissan officials announced that the company will have an all-electric vehicle on the road by 2010.

The first batch of electric vehicles -- expected to launch in 2010 -- will be exclusively test fleet vehicles, and will be testing in Japan and the United States. After that test period, Nissan will begin selling the vehicle worldwide in 2012.

"The first production vehicles will be for regional areas like California," Masahiko Tabe, Nissan's manager of advanced vehicle engineering, told Automotive News. "We will later expand the EV all over the world."

Nissan is currently testing its lithium-ion technology in the Japanese-spec Cube, but failed to mention if the all-electric vehicle would be based on the Cube. The next-generation Cube will be sold here in the U.S. and several Cubes have been spotted in the U.S. over the past few months, indicating that an EV Cube is a strong possibility.

Although Nissan is keeping tight lipped about its upcoming EV, the automaker will unveil an all-electric concept at next week's New York Auto Show that should hint at the production version. The production version of the EV will reported have a range of 100 miles -- with a full charge taking 8 hours -- and a top speed of 75 mph. Nissan unveiled its all-electric Mixim concept at last year's Frankfurt Motor Show.

With 90 percent of commuters driving 62 miles or less per day, Carlos Tavares, Nissan's executive vice president for global product planning, feels "there is a huge, huge potential there for EVs."

Check back for more info and live pictures of Nissan's EV concept at next week's New York show.