This battery-electric nameplate was introduced as an electric variant of Nissan’s R’nessa minivan and was aimed largely at fleet and utility use rather than broad retail sales. It became an important milestone in Nissan’s EV history because it was the company’s first production vehicle to use lithium-ion batteries, a technology that would later become central to modern electric cars. Nissan’s historical materials place its introduction in 1998 and note that roughly 200 examples were built through 2002. In Nissan’s own EV timeline, the vehicle is identified as a production model powered by lithium-ion batteries and used primarily by electric utility companies, underscoring its role as an early real-world test bed for Nissan’s electric-drive development. Rather than a mainstream consumer launch, it represented an advanced, limited-production step in Nissan’s gradual move from experimental EVs toward later mass-market electric vehicles.
MODEL HISTORY