The news today (Sept 22) that the city of Amsterdam has become the latest zero-emission partner of the Renault-Nissan Alliance is indeed welcome and further evidence that the Alliance’s holistic approach to a zero-emission future is one that has broad appeal.

We now have worldwide partnership agreements in more than 20 countries and more than 30 cities where the administration is determined to do everything they can to ensure a cleaner, greener future for their citizens without having to sacrifice mobility. The countries include Portugal, Ireland, the US, China and many more.

Amsterdam is being particularly ambitious and has agreed with the Alliance that it wants to register at least 1,000 EV sales by the end of 2011. This will start with the Nissan LEAF from February for fleet customers followed by individual customers from June while Renault Fluence and Kangoo deliveries will start soon after.

European journalists have been driving the Nissan LEAF and first reviews are beginning to appear – “a great idea and potentially a great car” was one comment we obviously liked.

One interesting theme emerging from these initial test drives is that journalists are going to have to find new ways to assess electric vehicles.

We have yet to launch them in the showrooms but our electric cars are already winning awards.

The Alliance EVs are the editor’s choice in this year’s Green Awards run by What Car?, the leading UK consumer motoring magazine.

The Editor’s Award is made by magazine chief Steve Fowler who said: “The electric car has come of age – and that’s down to the Renault-Nissan Alliance. While other manufacturers are still making plans and running trials, Renault and Nissan have beaten them to the punch with proper electric cars you’ll actually be able to buy and run by this time next year. You’ll want one, too."

Fowler added that cars such as the Nissan Leaf and Renault Fluence will change people’s perceptions of electric motoring for good.

Renault might not be the first car manufacturer to market electric cars, as Fluence ZE and Kangoo ZE will hit the road mid 2011, but in order to give a flavour of those exciting models, a lot of pre series cars will be seen on European roads this year.

Last week, the Alliance confirmed the next step in its partnership with Bajaj Auto by signing an MOU to build an affordable four-wheel vehicle for India and other emerging markets.  Although this was an expected milestone in a single program, it also represents a larger more significant strategic direction for the Alliance: mobility for all.

In a recent story in the New York Times and International Herald Tribune, Professor Ferdinand Dudenhöffer from the University of Duisberg-Essen made reference to a proposed BMW electric vehicle, comparing it to other automakers product plans: “I don’t know of any other manufacturer that has conceived of a car exclusively as an electric vehicle,” Mr. Dudenhöffer said. “The rest are based on conventional cars.”

Not quite.

In fact, the Nissan LEAF, the world's first mass-marketed electric vehicle, was created from the ground-up to be only an electric car. It is not based on any other Nissan product. The Nissan LEAF goes on sale in Japan, US and select markets in Europe later this year. Further, two of the concept vehicles shown by Renault at the 2009 Frankfurt Auto Show - the Twizy ZE and ZOE ZE - will lead to production vehicles that are also developed from the start to be only electric.

The DeZir concept stands out as an illustration of Renault’s commitment to more emotional styling. The creative thinking behind the design of the front end was aimed at recalling Renault's styling heritage, while at the same time paving the way for the design trends of the brand's forthcoming models.

DeZir is the first project led by Laurens van den Acker and is the start of a sequence of concept cars that will provide an insight into Renault Design's new vision for the future. It also lays the foundations for the styling cues of Renault's forthcoming vehicles. The front-end design previews the new front-end identity that is poised to become a feature of all Renault models in the future.

Some 40 analysts and investors recently spent a full day in Japan getting a deep dive into the Alliance’s EV strategy.

It was their first opportunity to drive Nissan LEAF, visit the AESC battery production plant and discuss with senior Alliance management our EV business model.

Four main topics were the focal point for day. In summary:

Some weeks ago I told you about the sound of EVs and the growing concern regarding quiet cars and pedestrians safety. In 2007, Nissan started real world field research in collaboration with universities and institutions to develop a new type of audio visibility for pedestrians, and particularly for those visually impaired and young children.

The auto industry is probably better known for its intense competitiveness; companies finding more on which to disagree than agree. Trade associations such as the SMMT in the UK, ACEA in Europe and JAMA in Japan do create forums where automakers can debate areas of common interest and present a unified view on a specific issue.

Last year The World Economic Forum, best known for its annual meeting in Davos, helped to bring some of the major automakers together to make a unique but simple request to policy makers: we are ready to start working together to solve the environmental issues associated with vehicle transportation. Initially, the letter was signed by the CEOs of Daimler, Ford, the Renault-Nissan Alliance and Toyota. Last month, the CEOs of Audi, Hyundai and Volkswagen added their names to the list, and we expect more to follow.