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Ghosn anticipates that there could be arrangements like mobile-phone contracts where the batteries are provided free if the car owner signs up for a certain time or frequency of use of the charging stations.

The plan is that the battery plus the cost of charging has to be less than using petrol or diesel. So the more the price of oil rises, the better the prospects for the electric car.

General Motors is racing with other suppliers to have suitable lithium-ion batteries for a production version of its E-Flex plug-in hybrid system by 2010. Ghosn does not entirely reject the GM idea of a small combustion engine to charge the batteries on board and extend the car’s range but says that thus equipped, it is not a zero-emission vehicle — and that, for Nissan, is the whole point of the electric car.

The company is proud of its apparent leadership in electric cars and is not proposing to share this technology outside its alliance with Renault.

This is in marked contrast to its conventional cars, for which it is expanding links with other manufacturers. Nissan already buys its Japanese market micro K-cars from Suzuki and plans to replace its Micra model with a Suzuki version made in India. In return, Nissan will provide Suzuki with a compact “people carrier”.

Nissan recently announced two agreements with Chrysler in America. The first was to provide a version of its Versa saloon from its plant in Mexico for Chrysler to sell in South America. The second was wider-ranging: a small car from its Oppama factory in Japan to be restyled and renamed as a Chrysler or Dodge for America. The trade- off will be for Nissan to stop making its Titan pick-up truck in the US and replace it with a version of the Dodge Ram.

While its new factories in low-cost countries like China and India are mostly to make cars for local markets, Nissan aims to export cars from the plant in Tangier, Morocco, a joint venture with Renault that will open in 2010.

Nissan’s British plant at Sunderland is due to lose production of the Micra when a new model is introduced in 2010, but Ghosn promises that expansion of production of the Qashqai, a family hatchback, and other products will fill the gap. “It’s not in our interest to run Sunderland, or any other plant, below full capacity,” he said. “Micra isn’t profitable in Europe, Qashqai is.”

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