13 February 2024

Nissan is planning to offer a mileage simulator to provide EV buyers with a more accurate range figure than the official WLTP measurement to help improve sales.

The move follows a recent crack-down by the Advertising Standards Authority which saw Kia and Mercedes told not to repeat adverts for electric cars that quoted the WLTP range because it was unrealistic in real-world conditions and that EV drivers don’t typically charge beyond 80% of battery capacity.

Nissan historically offered a range simulator for the electric Townstar van and is now planning to reintroduce one for the electric version of the new Interstar.

When questioned about how Nissan plans to advertise the range of the electric Interstar, given the ASA’s recent rulings, European LCV product and marketing boss Andrew Limbert said: “The reason we’re using [WLTP] today as a messaging is we want to give confidence that shifting to electric is now possible.

“We need a common reference, and that common reference today is the WLTP figure. It’s official, it’s a legal document, so it’s a standard that we have to comply with and we can use that then explaining to the customer, if you’re driving in cold conditions or if you’re driving carrying maximum payload, towing a vehicle on highway, the driving usage and what you’re doing with the vehicle will have an impact.”

Looking ahead, Limbert added: “Our intention is to be able to put in front of the customers something that can assist them in a realistic kind of metric rather than a pie in the sky one. So the WLTP is the legal one is correct, and if you drive it in accordance without the driving cycle is what you’ll get, but if you adjust some parameters, you will get a different result and we need to be able to be transparent with the customer about that.”

Tags: ASA, electric cars, Nissan, WLTP