The company is the second in Japan to trial the battery-electric van, following a trial last July by the Japan Postal Service in Yokohama. Nissan in the UK has also recently carried out pre-launch testing with Fedex Express and has just completed a trial with British Gas, with all data gathered being fed back to develop a production version.

Nissan Motor Company's Corporate vice president Hideto Murakami, head of the Global Light Commercial Vehicle Business Unit, explained: ‘The evaluation results we will get from the AEON Retail testing will assist us in the development of compact EV commercial vehicles. Based on input, the future production version of the e-NV200 will allow us to leverage our investment in electric vehicle technologies, contribute to expanding our EV business globally, and move toward a more sustainable society.’

The e-NV200 is based on the conventionally powered NV200 van, using same electric drivetrain as the Nissan LEAF sold globally.