Check out the great article and also some really cool video too.

Thanks to Planet Green I was able to test drive the Nissan E cube electric car. Nissan has been promoting their electric car technologies across the country. I was able to check out the car at Bear Mountain State Park in New York.

Handles Just like any old Nissan Car

The design of the E cube (which means nothing since they don’t even have a prototype) reminded me of the AC Propulsion Ebox electric car that I talked about in Build Your Own Electric Vehicle. Yet, when I drove the car it reminded me of when I rented a Nissan once so that was pretty cool.

According to the Nissan spokesman I interviewed, Nissan electric cars will be on the roads late next year and will be mass marketed to consumers globally in 2012.

The Renault-Nissan Alliance is working with communities, utility companies and all levels of government to help make zero emissions a reality around the world.

In the United States, Nissan has forged partnerships to bring electric cars to Tennessee, Oregon, Sonoma County, the Tucson area, San Diego and more to come. Hey bring them to New York; I want one!!

Globally, the Renault-Nissan Alliance has even announced strategic partnerships to promote electric cars in Israel, Denmark, Monaco, Japan, Portugal, France, and the U.K. (Source: Nissan Motor Corporation).

My ride in a NIssan Test EV that became the Nissan Leaf!

Japanese carmaker Nissan has revealed its strategy for having an all-electric vehicle available in the US from 2010. The first batch of cars will be tested by fleet customers with retail sales slated for 2012. According to Masahiko Tabe, Nissan’s manager of advanced vehicle engineering. So the first vehicles will be tested regionally. Thats with California marked as a target market. Indeed, the state has been earmarked as a proving ground by a number of manufacturers. All looking to launch alternative-fuelled vehicles due to its stringent emissions standards.

My ride in a NIssan Test EV that became the Nissan Leaf! on Flickr.

Nissan showed on Wednesday a spiffy electric car packed with a battery developed by the Japanese automaker to deliver more power than the type common in today’s hybrids.

The electric vehicle, set for sale in 2010, carried a 660 pound lithium-ion battery and still zipped around a Nissan Motor Co. test course, accelerating more quickly than comparable gas-engine cars.

It was extremely quiet, absent of engine noise – a trademark of electric vehicles. Details such as cruising range are yet to be determined, Nissan Motor officials said.