They’re not exactly forthcoming with all the juicy details, but the yet to be named electric cargo van from Nissan will be similar ot the Ford Transit Connect Electric. You don’t need any gas or diesel, relying instead on a pure electric powertrain.

Since Nissan already has the technology in place with the Leaf subcompact, all they have to do is make a beefier version, shoehorn it into a commercial van frame, strip out some of the creature comforts, and away you go. This sounds like a good idea, but I think it could have one very big hitch.   Delivery vans tend to only drive within a limited area, but they still do a lot of driving each day. If you think about using it as a Fedex delivery truck, for example, that guy probably covers a fair bit of ground over the course of a single shift. Can the all-electric Nissan van have enough range on a single charge to cover the whole shift? How quickly can it recharge? Or will they have a hot-swap battery configuration?  Those are key issues that Nissan will need to address by 2013.

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