China taps Renault-Nissan for electric car pilot in 2011

The Renault-Nissan Alliance said today it plans to sell electric cars in China in early 2011.

The Renault-Nissan Alliance, comprised of France's Renault and Japan's Nissan Motor (Nasdaq: NSANY), signed a deal with the Wuhan city government for vehicles and a charging network.

Wuhan, located in the central Chinese province of Hubei, is one of a dozen cities the central government has tapped for a pilot to test alternative energy vehicles. The deal reportedly includes free vehicles for the city.

The alliance is expected to help develop the network on vehicle charging stations. In other projects underway in Australia, Israel and Denmark, Renault-Nissan agreed to deliver the vehicles, while Palo Alto, Calif.-based Better Place is building vehicle-charging networks (see Better Place to charge up Australia, Electric cars are coming to Israel and Project Better Place goes to Denmark).

Established in 1999, the Renault Nissan Alliance is quickly becoming one of the most ambitious electric car projects around the globe. Renault plans to start selling an all-electric vehicle in 2011, with the lithium-ion battery pack coming from Nissan and NEC.

In March, the group said it planned to collaborate with Bajaj Auto to deliver ultra low cost small cars to the Indian market in 2010 or 2011 (see Inside cleantech India: Kal, Aaj aur Kal!). Renault-Nissan is working with electric utility EDF to bring the zero-emission cars to France in 2011 (see Renault-Nissan, EDF in electric car partnership).

Last summer, the group inked a deal with the government of Portugal to promote electric cars in the country (see Renault Nissan to bring electric cars to Portugal). Renault-Nissan has similar plans for the state of Tennessee in the U.S., and the Kanagawa Prefecture in Japan (see Electric vehicles in the spotlight). 

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