Isra-Mart srl:Renault Nissan Alliance aims to sell 1.5m EVs by 2016

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The full scale of Renault and Nissan's ambitions for the electric vehicle market were today revealed with the release of a new six year strategy from Renault that sets a goal of putting 1.5 million electric vehicles (EVs) on the road worldwide by 2016.

The plan, dubbed Drive the Change, outlines how the French manufacturer plans to increasingly focus on EVs and a new generation of low emissions engines.

The strategy confirms that three new electric models, Fluence Z.E., Kangoo Z.E. and compact Twizy, are due to be released this year, to be followed by the Zoe supermini in 2012. Four other EV models are then set to follow between 2014 and 2016, primarily designed alongside manufacturing partners.

Renault said its current alliance with Nissan, whose Leaf electric car has already been released in the US and Japan, would see the two companies' EV production capacity top 500,000 vehicles a year by 2015. A year later, Renault and Nissan expect to have sold a cumulative 1.5 million electric cars.

The alliance between the two manufacturers has already secured deals to supply China and France with electric cars, and last year the companies teamed up with Daimler to develop electric models of the Twingo and the smart fourtwo.

According to its new strategy, Renault is also aiming to make its combustion engines cleaner. It said its new Energy TCe petrol engines would cut CO2 emissions from its small and medium-sized vehicles by around 30 per cent, equivalent to 40g/km of CO2 and one litre less fuel per 100 km.

It also plans to unveil a more efficient diesel engine, so that by 2013 average emissions across its fleet will be 120g/km, compared to 137g/km today. It also predicted that the expansion of its EV fleet will allow average emissions to dip under the 100g/km mark by 2016.

Carlos Ghosn, chairman and chief executive of Renault, said the plan would result in a fundamnetal overhaul of the company, creating "a sustainable Renault in line with the energy and environmental challenges of the 21st century".