This battery-electric minivan was introduced in 1998 as part of an early factory effort to bring practical EVs to real-world use, not just demonstration fleets. It was derived from a contemporary Japanese-market minivan platform and stood out for pairing everyday family-car packaging with advanced electric-vehicle technology for its era. Nissan’s own historical material identifies it as the production vehicle that first used lithium-ion batteries, a major milestone that later influenced the company’s broader EV development.
The vehicle first appeared publicly in early 1998 and entered limited production soon after, with only a small number built over its life. Nissan’s heritage material describes it as a Japan-market variant that was also sold in other forms and used primarily as a fleet vehicle, especially by electric utilities. That limited-role strategy reflected the practical constraints of EVs in the late 1990s, when cost, infrastructure and battery technology still made mass-market sales difficult.
Although short-lived, the nameplate became historically important because it bridged Nissan’s earlier experimental EV work and its later mainstream electric-car program. It featured several forward-looking ideas for the time, including lithium-ion battery packaging and EV-specific engineering intended to support normal road use rather than concept-car theater. Production ended in 2002, closing a brief but significant early chapter in modern electric-vehicle history.