The Japanese carmaker said it would launch a commercially produced electric car for fleet buyers in the US in 2010 and for retail customers in 2012.

Based on the standard Cube minicar, which has been available in Japan since 1998, Nissan claimed the Denki surpasses the hybrids of rival manufacturers in green terms as it is all-electric and produces zero-emissions.

The electric vehicle is part of Nissan's Green Program 2010, which also includes a gasoline-fuelled car that runs 100 kilometres on three litres of fuel, the development of an original Nissan hybrid vehicle and the reduction of CO2 emissions from global manufacturing plants by 7 per cent (per unit) compared to 2005.