Every other headline with Madrid and Barcelona this weekend will be about the El Clasico and the fierce rivalry between the rival clubs and cities, but here’s something they have in common. Nissan has delivered electric taxis to both cities – the Leaf to the Spanish capital and the e-NV200 to the Catalan hub.
The latter is an important step in the execution of an agreement between the Japanese manufacturer, the City of Barcelona, and the Barcelona Metropolitan area. The e-NV200 is built in Barcelona for the world. Production started in May this year.
Madrid has now its first electric Nissan Leaf taxi. The Leaf is the best-selling EV in the world with more than 142,000 units sold globally so far. The handover event was held at the city’s Puerta del Sol, where the “zero km” measuring starting point of all Spanish roads is located.
“Declining air quality levels are a top concern across Europe and it’s great to see Madrid and Barcelona taking such positive steps in improving air quality through the incorporate of Nissan’s all-electric cars into their taxi fleets,” said Jean-Pierre Diernaz, director of EVs for Nissan Europe.
“These taxi bring a huge benefit not only residents but also for the drivers – thanks to the ultra-low running costs only an electric car can offer. This scheme demonstrates that sustainable transportation is easy and affordable for everyone,” he added.
The Renault Zoe EV will be available for rent under the COMOS programme from next month
Staying on the topic, Nissan’s alliance partner Renault is currently the most active brand promoting the electric cause in Malaysia, together with Cohesive Mobility Solution (COMOS). The latter’s executive chairman (and former Proton boss) Datuk Seri Syed Zainal Abidin recently told us that his EV car-sharing programme is on track to begin operations early next month.
The public will be able to rent the Renault Zoe (funky Twizy to come later) for RM15 for the first half-hour and RM5 for every subsequent 15 minutes, with four downtown KL charging stations expected to be ready when the service rolls out. Read the full story.
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BYD clinched Brussels. Renault claimed Madrid and Barcelona. Fight fight fight, competition is good!
Whereas in Malaysia, there are plenty of old and lousy proton taxis around. This is a big embarrassment to our country. Government tak malu ke? What might tourists say of our public transportation?
Tourist would say “What an ugly taxi, I rather ride on rental bicycle than unsecured illegal taxi”
U r right, should follow msia 1st class mindset. Use 20yrs old lousy dirty small car with samseng attitude and no meter ah long ride fee rmxxx like iswara, saga, etc…
u suppose said that to state govt..look Spain the city do that themself not central govt. here central govt had to do every single d**n thing..just look new LRT3 in selangor that just announce that central govt effort..what about state govt? they saving billion ringgit for what?
They couldn’t careless; just talk big, to achieve ‘develop country status’ by yr 2020. As they don’t have to use our mafia taxi service, cos they drive their own super luxury cars.
Yes, a lot of improvement to be done on our public transportation. Albeit slow but don’t overlook the government, GLC or public concerted effort to improve it in the form of Commuter, Monorail LRT, MRT and the latest, COMOS. Lets celebrate the ‘small wins’ too…