Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn spoke with the Global Media Center about EV batteries and development of energy storage solutions during a recent trip to the Zama plant in Kanagawa prefecture.

Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn returned to the automaker’s Iwaki factory Monday, a little more than one year after a devastating earthquake temporarily crippled production.

Ghosn, touring the plant he last visited in May 2011, described Iwaki’s recovery as miraculous.

“It has been remarkable. The plant has produced 300,000 engines this year, even though these events have happened,” Ghosn told the Global Media Center.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, through his initiative on Sustainable Energy for All, is challenging governments and private companies to use traditional energy resources more efficiently and expand the use of renewable energy sources.

I’ve agreed to help find solutions because this issue is critical to the future of my industry – auto making. About 25% of global oil output is used to fuel cars and light trucks. That’s about 1 billion tons of petrol a year. Meanwhile, the planet’s demographics and energy needs are shifting dramatically. In my lifetime, the world’s population has grown from 2.7 billion to more than 7 billion people. In 1999, consumers in China bought 600,000 vehicles. Last year, Chinese consumers bought more than 17 million vehicles.

For millions of consumers joining the middle class across the developing world, a car is the first thing they want to buy. In the United States, there are about 800 cars per 1,000 people; across Europe, it’s an average of 500 vehicles per 1,000 people. This contrasts with China, where there are only 50 vehicles per 1,000 people, and India, where it’s 15.

People living in these countries – and other emerging markets that will drive global economic growth in the decades ahead –want the same level of personal mobility consumers enjoy in advanced economies today.

Sub-zero temperatures, piping hot chocolate, world leaders, entrepreneurs, issues, solutions… and electric vehicles. That, in a nutshell, sums up the week spent by the Renault-Nissan Alliance team in Davos, Switzerland, during the 2012 World Economic Forum.
 
Watch our video to see a recap of what we got up to, meet a few of our visitors and hear from the Alliance CEO Carlos Ghosn and Renault's COO Carlos Tavares amongst others. Also, see the Nissan LEAF and the Renault Fluence Z.E. in action.
 

He runs two Fortune 500 companies and travels more than 150,000 miles per year. But we caught up with Renault-Nissan Alliance CEO Carlos Ghosn between sessions this week at the 2012 World Economic Forum in Davos.

Mr. Ghosn stopped by the Renault-Nissan Alliance pavilion, which showcases innovative Nissan technology called LEAF-to-Home. The system uses the electric vehicle’s battery to power household appliances. In Davos, LEAF-to-Home powers a hot chocolate stand – a popular attraction for delegates and tourists on Davos’ main street.

After a meeting with Mexican President Felipe Calderon to announce a $2 billion Nissan manufacturing facility in Mexico, Mr. Ghosn talked to Matt Loader of the Renault-Nissan Alliance communications team about the Alliance’s focus on zero-emission transportation and emerging markets.
 

There are two big pieces of news from the Hub Pavilion in Davos today. The first is that the sun’s been shining all day, a real lift after the grey gloom that’s engulfed this mountaintop town since we’ve been here.

The sun lifted the mood at the 2012 World Economic Forum, too, where Microsoft Founder Bill Gates announced that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation was to commit a further US$750m to a global fund to combat AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.

The second piece of news is also weather-related… in a way!

There was a mini whirlwind down at the Davos Hub Pavilion, our home to for the week. Our Chairman and CEO, Carlos Ghosn, made a flying visit to see the first public application in Europe of LEAF-to-Home technology – energy stored in a Nissan LEAF battery is powering the hobs keeping pans of hot chocolate on the boil, ready to be dished out to passers-by.

He stayed still long enough, however, to answer a few burning questions from the Alliance’s Matt Loader. Matt wanted to know if the huge investments in new Nissan manufacturing facilities in Mexico and Brazil would be to the detriment of investment in the Alliance’s ‘home’ markets of Europe and Japan (answer: no, it’s good news).

Matt also quizzed the CEO on the Alliance’s EV future - positive with plenty of growth potential.

As for the rest of the day, it’s been business as usual with visitors taking test drives in the fleet of Alliance EVs while the hot chocolate cup-count now stands at more than 600. For each cup consumed, the Renault-Nissan Alliance is donating US$1 to Nike’s Mata No Peito programme to save and preserve the Amazon rainforest.

We’ll be back tomorrow with the CEO’s video interview and other news. Make sure you come back and check it all out.
 

Renault-Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn was the keynote speaker at the Automotive News World Congress on Tuesday, Jan. 10 during the North American International Auto show. Ghosn explained the evolution of Nissan's crisis management strategy, first developed during the company's historic turnaround in 1999.

All multinational corporations have had their share of crises in the past three years -- particularly those with a substantial footprint in Asia.

In a keynote address to the Japan Society in New York last week, The Renault-Nissan Alliance CEO Carlos Ghosn described what he’s learned in wake of the global liquidity crunch that began with the Lehman Brothers collapse in 2008; the March 11 earthquake and tsunami; Thai floods; the relentless strength of Japan’s currency; and Euro zone financial turmoil.

• Nissan to invest 2.6 billion reais (US$1.5 billion, or €1.1 billion) to build new plant in Resende and develop new products for Brazil
• Renault to invest 500 million reais (US$285 million or €212 million) to expand plant in Curitiba   
• Companies to increase combined annual capacity to 580,000 vehicles and launch 23 new models in Brazil in the next five years