Nissan and Barcelona City Hall have signed a memorandum of understanding to promote the use of electric vehicles as taxis and as delivery vehicles by improving the quick charging network and looking at a range of privileges for zero-emission operators.

Nissan will contribute to the installation of the necessary charging infrastructure for the city by providing CHAdeMO quick chargers. Nissan claims that the chargers can recharge any compatible electric vehicle from 0-80% battery in 30 minutes. These quick charger units are part of the over 1,200 planned for installation across Europe by March 2014.

The Nissan e-NV200 will be manufactured at the factory located in the Zona Franca in Barcelona from mid-2014 with an investment of €100 million and will create over 700 new jobs. The factory in Barcelona will be the single global manufacturing plant for the e-NV200 and vehicles will be exported worldwide to a range of international markets.

The deal is expected to pre-empt the global roll-out of the new e-NV200 100% electric taxi to other major cities around the world. 

Nissan and the City of Barcelona also plan to encourage electric vehicle use in goods delivery. As part of the agreement the City Council is committed to provide specific places for loading and unloading goods and to enable electric vehicle charging points, as well as promoting a specific identification for electric vehicles. They will also consider the creation of goods delivering zones and schedules exclusively for zero-emission vehicles and to introduce tax cuts such as reducing business taxes to companies with fleets of electric vehicles.

The incentives to encourage the use of electric delivery vehicles is something that is expected to be replicated in many cities, with several also considering restricting access to central locations to only zero-emission vehicles.

Talking about the new electric taxi initiative, Ghosn commented: ‘We applaud Barcelona city for making this clear commitment to integrating the revolutionary Nissan e-NV200 electric vehicle into the city's taxi fleet. We are delighted that the city where we will build this new vehicle is leading the way in promoting clean transportation for the benefit for all its citizens and visitors. The e-NV200 is a revolutionary product that will make zero emission taxis and goods delivery vehicles a reality in cities across the globe from next year.