The Tesla Roadster Wasn’t The First EV With A Lithium-Ion Battery, This Was

When you think of Nissan, you probably think of unpopular trucks, CVT transmissions, or the troubled Z car. That’s a real shame, because the company has actually tried very hard to become a leader and innovator in the electric vehicle space. Public opinion saw that crown go to Tesla, and the momentum is now with Chinese automakers. And yet, Nissan has been at the EV game a lot longer than you might realize!

“Ah yes!” you exclaim. “You’re talking about the Leaf!” Well, no. It’s true, Nissan put the Leaf out as a mainstream electric vehicle in late 2010, years before much of the competition. Indeed, it had such a head start that it was the world’s best selling EV for a time. But what I’m talking about started much earlier.

As it turns out, just as Toyota and Honda were far ahead of the curve on hybrids, Nissan was really far ahead on electric vehicles. In fact, it was putting out lithium-ion EVs much sooner than you might have realized. Let me introduce you to the Nissan Altra and Hypermini.

Trailblazer

You’ve probably never heard of the 1998 Nissan Altra, and it’s likely you’ve also never heard of the vehicle it was based on. The Altra EV was built around a Nissan R’nessa—a relatively obscure station wagon that was built from 1997 to 2001.

The R’nessa was sold in a number of markets worldwide, though never made it to the US. With its relatively high ride height, its direct competition was vehicles like the Mitsubishi RVR minivan and the then-brand-new Honda HR-V.

The R’Nessa was essentially an early attempt at a lifted, crossover-style vehicle. It had a high ride height and available AWD, a station wagon’s body, and convenient reconfigurable seating like a minivan. It was a blend of so many things because Nissan was still figuring out the format. Effectively, it was eventually replaced with the more SUV-like Nissan Murano.

The R’Nessa could be had with common Nissan engines like the SR20DE (138 hp) and the KA24DE (152 hp). Or, you could have the GT Turbo version, which offered AWD and a lovely SR20DET under the hood, good for 200 hp and 195 pound-feet of torque.

The Altra, on the other hand, dispensed with all that combustion nonsense. Built specifically for testing in California, it went all-electric instead. Power was courtesy of lithium-ion batteries manufactured by Sony, a first for a production vehicle. Up until this point, electric vehicles had relied on lead-acid, nickel-cadmium, or nickel-metal hydride batteries. These battery chemistries all had the same problem—they were too heavy and put out too little power to work well in an EV.

The battery was mounted under the floor and consisted of 12 modules of 8 cells each, for a total of 96 cells in the full pack. Nominal voltage was 345 V, comparable to modern EVs that operate in the nominal 400 V range. Each module weighed 60 pounds and had an energy density of 90 watt-hours per kilogram, or roughly 0.32 megajoules per kilogram (MJ/kg). Total capacity was approximately 32 kWh. Basically, the lithium-ion cells were about three times more energy-dense than lead-acid cells on a per-weight basis. Putting it another way, the same mass of lithium-ion batteries could take you three times further than lead-acid.

It’s worth noting that those battery figures weren’t bad for the late 1990s when the Altra was new, but they pale in comparison to modern EV battery cells. GM’s current Ultium technology hits an energy density of 1 MJ/kg, a huge leap above what Sony had back then.

In place of an engine, the Altra had an electric motor from Hitachi. It too was a world-first. As explained in the Automotive Engineer journal at the time, Hitachi had developed a water-cooled permanent magnet motor using neodymium-iron-boron magnets. These were cutting edge at the time. They enabled the motor to output 83 hp and 117 pound-feet of torque, with a maximum output speed of 13,000 RPM. The motor weighed just 85 pounds, achieving a power density of 1.6 kW/kg.

With the better energy and power density of lithium-ion batteries, the Altra was able to offer a range of 120 miles. That doesn’t sound like much by today’s standards, but it was a sign of forward progress in the late 1990s. In the same era, the GM EV1 offered just 78 miles of range from its lead-acid batteries, and it was a purpose-built ultra-streamlined EV with only two seats. In contrast, the Altra could go further, and it was pretty much a regular four-door station wagon with seating for five. The nickel-metal hydride upgrade for the EV1 would eventually push it to greater range, but the Altra made the future clear—lithium-ion was the way forward.

Much like the GM EV1, the Nissan Altra used an inductive paddle to transfer power to the vehicle for charging. There were concerns at the time that building high-powered EV chargers with bare metal contacts could be dangerous, due to risks of electrocution or fire in the event of damage. The main charger was designed to run off a 240-volt mains connection and could deliver up to 6.6 kW to the vehicle via AC charging. In a report from electrical utility South California Edison, testing found it could fully charge the battery in around 5 hours. Alternatively, a portable charger was also supplied, which allowed using a regular 110-volt socket to charge at up to 1.0 kW.

In contrast to a lot of early-stage EVs, the Altra was intended to be fully functional as a regular vehicle. To that end, it still had all the usual accessories, just modified to run off an electric drivetrain. The power steering was still hydraulic, but run from an electric pump. Auxiliary systems—including heating and air conditioning—were run off a 12-volt DC system that was powered off the main battery by a water-cooled DC-DC converter. This enabled the use of conventional automotive switchgear and accessories like radios, lights, and so on.

Nissan also had to tangle with a new issue rather unique to EVs. Because of the lack of engine noise, wind and tire noise became more obvious. Thus, the Altra got double weather stripping on the doors. Additional attention was also paid to isolating noise from the suspension and body from transferring into the cabin.

While the Altra was a production vehicle, it was only built in very limited numbers. Despite showing up at a number of auto shows and in media reports all over the globe, Nissan only built around 200 during its whole production run. Much like other early EVs from major automakers, the cars were handed out on tightly controlled leases to a number of select fleet users.

The model debuted at the Los Angeles International Auto Show in December 1997. Nissan announced that in 1998, 30 Altra EVs were being supplied to California fleet users in an agreement with the California Air Resources Board (CARB). From there, a further 90 demo units were earmarked for fleet users in 1999, with potential retail sales slated to begin in 2000.

According to Automotive Engineer, retail price was expected to be $50,999, which lands around $93,487 in 2024 dollars. Leases came in at $599 a month, or roughly $1,100 in today’s money. It’s unclear if Nissan ever decided to sell any examples of the Altra to the public, or whether it stuck to the leases only.

Still, plenty of media got behind the wheel during the Altra’s run. Contemporary reviews make for relatively humble reading. The Altra wasn’t shockingly fast, nor was it wildly different from contemporary automobiles. In fact, Nissan used a lot of typical styling elements and switchgear that would have made it remarkably familiar, beyond the drivetrain.

“Despite the exotic nature of the drivetrian, the Altra remains fairly conventional in other respects,” said Jesse Crosse for Automotive Engineer.  He goes on to state that the Altra was “an impressive package, and provides a useful test bed for Nissan’s EV powertrain and battery system, which could be used in any front-wheel-drive platform.”

Meanwhile, in 2001, Robert Oberhand of EV World.com noted that “the whole week was pretty smooth sailing” during his review. The whole piece makes for amusing reading in 2024. There were already issues of charger etiquette in California in 2001, and Nissan had switched to Hitachi batteries later on which used less cobalt than the Sony cells, for example. But by and large, he found it to be a capable and competent car. In his own words:

Altra is an interesting car. Nissan considers it to have a hybrid of sedan, minivan, and SUV characteristics, and I can see what they are talking about. You have ample back seat room as in some vans, a sense of vertical height and visibility a la SUVs, and overall size and driving characteristics of a sedan. The ample hatchback storage space is a plus, too. Maybe that makes it kind of a station wagon, a word we don’t here much of any more, but a type that has always had a place in my heart.

Whatever you want to call it, I found Altra it to be well thought out, and fully enjoyable. Instrumentation was clear and logical. Air conditioning was very adequate in outdoor temperatures that ran into the 90s (though I used the AC sparingly, knowing it’s a real battery drainer.) Charging was simple and fully automated, both with the portable and hard-wired units. Seating was well designed and comfortable, though the interior has a slightly minimalist feel in detailing compared with many cars. But with plenty of legroom and headroom, it had a comfortable and relaxed feeling. Nissan placed individual seats in the back rather than a bench seat to save weight, they said.

-Robert Oberhand, EV World

Today

Nissan recalled leases of the Altra in 2002. The fate of most of the vehicles is unknown; The Autopian has contacted Nissan for comment on that matter.

I initially believed one driveable example of the Altra still exists. As covered by Jalopnik, it lives in the heritage collection maintained by Nissan’s US headquarters in Tennessee. After many decades, its early lithium-ion batteries have suffered some degradation, and cold days will drop its top speed down from 75 mph to less than 50 mph. It also looks exactly like any other boring old mid-1990s Nissan product. And yet, it still runs and drives—a testament to the engineering work done all those years ago.

The Current Review chatted with Nissan Altra EV engineer Dean Case in 2021. 

There is limited evidence of other Altra EVs out there over the years, but nothing concrete or particularly up to date. A long-defunct blog mentions a rare sighting in 2006, long after the Altra EV program had ended. However, that same blog, published in 2008, also quotes a “Larry Paul” who claims to have known the fate of remaining examples. For context, here’s the press release Larry mentions.

It is the Nissan Altra EV.

In the press release (below) they were discussing product being sold to the public by 2000. This did not happen.

To the best of my recollection, they built around 50 to 125 vehicles in total between 1999 and 2002. Most I suspect are off the road, but I still see a few from time to time and are still in service in fleet lease use.

None were ever available to the public. The fact that any are on the road still bodes well for the design of the vehicle and Nissan’s implementation of Lithium Ion batteries.

Several years ago I saw Roger Mahoney, the Cardinal Archbishop of Los Angeles on the Harbor Freeway driving one while heading into downtown LA.

See below for some links and to the press release…

Best regards,

Larry

Around that same time, someone spotted an Altra EV with the crazy “EV” coil decals on the side. The image was later shared by Tennen_Gas on Wikipedia on November 19, 2006., and released under the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2. The license plate has been hidden, but it’s another example of an Altra surviving beyond 2002.

Nissan Altra: a full EV in 1998. Reportedly 1 of 200 made
byu/Drzhivago138 inWeirdWheels

More recently, a well-preserved example popped up on the r/WeirdWheels subreddit. Apparently photographed in early 2024, the vehicle wears a California license plate—5BCF218. Stay with me here, because this gets interesting.

That license plate—5BCF218—is remarkably close to the license plate seen on an Altra photo in Jalopnik’s article from 2019. The article is topped with an image from a “Bradley Kappel” of an Altra wearing the plate 5BCF210. Those two plates are very close, to the point where I suspect they were probably issued in a job lot to a single fleet operator. However, it’s worth noting this image appears to be of a different car to the Nissan archived example that Jalopnik actually drove. Nissan’s preserved Altra had Tennessee plates reading DL-5246, as seen lower down in the same article.

I did more research and found TZEV.com. On this site, there are tons of great pictures—including those of both 5BCF218 and 5BCF210. According to the site, just two are known to remain today. The Nissan-held example, and one in the Beata Electric Motor Carriage Collection in Vail, Colorado.

My theory is that there are still a handful of Altra EVs sitting around the place. It may be that Nissan has the only one that still runs, but we can’t say definitively at this stage. I’m going to keep my ear to the ground and see what I can find out in this regard.

I found this creepy YouTube video discussing the replacement size for Altra wiper blades. I’m not sure why someone was making a video on that in 2020, for a vehicle that was built in a production run of just 200 and then recalled to the automaker. Weird.

Close Cousins

It’s worth noting that the Altra didn’t just pop up out of nowhere. In fact, Nissan had experimented with a lithium-ion EV prior to the Altra. It first started working on the concept with Sony back in 1992. By 1996, it had built the Nissan Prairie Joy EV—the first EV with lithium-ion batteries. It just wasn’t a production model. Only 30 were built, which were primarily sold to corporate and fleet customers in Japan.

Unsurprisingly, the specs on this thing are virtually identical to the Altra EV. It has the same top speed of 75 mph and very similar range—Nissan quoted it as 200 km (~124 miles). It had 83 hp and 122 pound-feet of torque, right in the range of the Altra EV.

Press photos show it had remarkably similar components, too, including the battery modules from Sony. Basically, it seems like the drivetrain was put through its paces in the Prairie Joy before Nissan developed the Altra for larger-scale testing.

The Prairie Joy had a particularly interesting life. One example was used to collect Arctic air samples for Japan’s National Institute of Polar Research in Norway from 2000 to 2006 with “no trouble” according to Nissan. Impressive given how EVs tend to struggle in low temperatures. Apparently, the silent EV drivetrain was a boon to stealth, allowing researchers to close up to wildlife for closer observation.

Too Soon, Junior

Ultimately, the Altra was not a breakthrough success. No surprise given that Nissan was quoting a potential retail price in excess of $50,000. Back in 2000, that money would have scored you a well-optioned BMW M3, or a range of other highly desirable cars. All of which could go a lot farther than 120 miles, to boot.

The Altra might have had lithium-ion technology on board, but it was still too soon. The energy density wasn’t there to give people the range they really wanted. Nor was the price acceptable. Even with those cutting-edge batteries, it was a ferociously expensive vehicle given the performance it offered.

Nissan didn’t give up. Eventually, the Leaf debuted in 2010. It was a real car that you could buy from a dealer for keeps. Even then, it was derided by many as too expensive with too little range. Realistically, it was a few years later that the EV really came of age. Tesla brought the original Model S to market in 2012 with 362 horsepower and 265 miles of range. EVs finally started to gain respectability in terms of performance, style, and the ability to get from point A to a more distant Point B.

Nissan should be celebrated for trying so hard in those early years. Its engineers chiseled away at tough problems. They tried to make EVs work when the technology available simply didn’t want them to. Sadly, despite all that effort, all that investment, and a massive head start, Nissan was not able to become a leader in the EV space—then or now. Neither was GM, for that matter, and they were in the game decades early, too. Both companies simply faltered in one major regard. They failed to unlock the performance and range that was necessary to make a capable and desirable EV.

The Altra remains a mere stepping stone in the long and storied history of the electric vehicle. Its feeble performance and bare simplicity remind us how far we have come today.

Image credits: Nissan, South California Edison report with DOE, The Current Review via YouTube Screenshot, Tennen-Gas