AUTOS

Nissan to Introduce Electric Vehicle in 1998: Japanese auto maker Nissan Motor Co. said it will introduce an electric vehicle in California in early 1998, although retail sales won’t begin until after 2000. The Nissan EV will be a four-passenger compact van built on a platform designed to accommodate either a gasoline engine or an electric motor. The company plans to unveil the design at a later date. The electric version of the car will be powered by lithium-ion batteries jointly developed by Nissan and Japan’s Sony Corp. The battery charger will use the inductive charging system, Nissan said. Some parts of the electric car, such as the battery, powertrain and control systems, will be the same as those used in the Prairie Joy EV, an electric vehicle to be sold in Japan in the spring, the company said.