Nissan Futures—A glimpse (and a drive) of tomorrow’s mobility

HONG KONG—Nissan brought together industry leaders, government officials, media, and Nissan executives for the seventh edition of Nissan Futures, held in Hong Kong last March 8 to 10. The thought leadership event gathered key leaders to discuss changing mobility needs and the future of cities in Asia and Oceania.

Under the theme “Transform the way we drive and live,” Nissan Futures was held in conjunction with the HKT Hong Kong E-Prix race (Formula E).

“Asia Pacific is home to more than 2.1 billion urban residents, that is 60 percent of the world’s urban population. This brings increased pressure on the region’s cities and mobility systems. Events like Nissan Futures create the appropriate platform to discuss solutions for our region’s societies and mobility systems,” said Yutaka Sanada, regional senior vice president for Nissan Asia & Oceania.

“Driven by our Nissan Intelligent Mobility vision, we are committed to bringing safe, smart, and sustainable mobility to more people. Facilitating thought-provoking discussions with public and private parties helps us accelerate our mission to not only transform the way people drive, but also the way they live,” Sanada added.

Nissan Futures also saw the launch of a highly enlightening Frost & Sullivan study on the evolving role of mobility in the cities of the future. The study revealed insights on the future of mobility in Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Seoul, Singapore, and Sydney.

Caption: Here’s the highlight video from the drive

Participants also got to experience the new Nissan LEAF—the icon of Nissan Intelligent Mobility—with a drive through various road conditions (from highways to city streets) around Hong Kong.

Since its world debut in 2010, the LEAF has become the world’s bestselling electric vehicle (EV). It is the first and only EV to surpass 400,000 unit sales—a feat it achieved just last March 5 (three days before the Nissan Futures event).

Nissan has recently launched the new LEAF in Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Thailand, and Singapore, with other markets in the region—the Philippines included—to follow.

The LEAF embodies the three pillars of Nissan Intelligent Mobility—Intelligent Power, Intelligent Drive and Intelligent Integration. The car’s innovative electric powertrains exemplify the first, while ProPILOT, available in many markets, showcases the second. Designed for single-lane driving on the highway, ProPILOT maintains speed and lane position while reducing driver fatigue. ProPILOT Park, available on models in Japan and Europe, accelerates, brakes, and steers the car into a parking spot.

The LEAF has also opened up a new world of clean energy capabilities that stretch beyond efficient transportation. Nissan Energy is an ecosystem centered on Nissan electric vehicles that make them even more useful to customers by leveraging their batteries’ ability to store and share energy. It enables electric vehicle owners to easily connect their cars with energy systems to charge their batteries, power homes, and businesses or help balance power grids. As part of Nissan Energy, the company has already started infrastructure pilots in Europe, Japan, and the U.S., and future commercial uses are in development.

Yes, there will be a day when excess energy from your car’s battery can be used to power your home.

Nissan Energy also includes new efforts to reuse batteries, a vital step in enhancing the sustainability of EV’s. Along with strategic partners, Nissan has taken LEAF batteries and repurposed them for use in off-grid street lighting, power banks for sports complexes, and more.

Nissan Futures was also timed to happen on the same weekend as the 2019 HKT Hong Kong E-Prix race. We got to witness F1-like single-seater electric vehicles compete in the Formula E race. Nissan entered two racecars through the Nissan e.Dams team, thereby demonstrating technology transfer from high-performance e-racing to mass market vehicles.

Nissan may not have won the Formula E race that weekend, but the technologies and capabilities it showed that weekend made winners of just about everyone.