Japanese carmaker Nissan has unveiled (正式宣布 ) its first electric car, taking it closer to its aim to become the first car firm to mass-produce the vehicles.
The zero-emission (零排放) vehicle, called Leaf, is set to go (67) sale in Japan, the US and Europe next year. Nissan chief (68) Carlos Ghosn did not announce the prices but said it would be "very (69) . " "The monthly cost of the battery, plus the (70) charge, will be less than the cost of gasoline" Mr. Ghosn said.
Nissan, the third (71) carmaker in Japan, has been slower than (72) Toyota and Honda to embrace hybrids (混合动力车), which (73) on petrol and electric engines, and is instead (74) its hopes on solely battery-powered cars.
Electric cars have (75) to become mainstream in recent years because of (76) battery life and relatively high costs. (77) Mr. Ghosn insisted that the Leaf (78) be a vehicle which (79) a large market share. "Our company need to (80) a lot of money to build the car and the battery (81) at a moment where all the (82) companies are saving investment," he said. "But there is such a high (83) in the new type that we will go ahead (84) it."
Nissan has chosen the UK as one of its (85) to produce batteries for electric cars. It is investing ￡200 million at its Sunderland factory, which is expected to (86) 350 jobs. Nissan has said that it plans to make 100,000 electric cars a year by 2012.