Nissan driving to electrify soccer's Champions League Final
Japanese carmaker Nissan is hoping that it can use its position as a top line sponsor of one of football's biggest global events as a platform for highlighting the benefits and challenging negative perceptions of electric cars.
When the UEFA Champions League Final kicks off in Berlin at the Olympiastadion on June 6, the trophy will be delivered to the ground via a specially converted Nissan e-NV200 all-electric van.
Over 100 plug-in electric cars are being laid on for use transporting VIPs around Berlin and to the event. But anyone lucky enough to be going to the match between Barcelona and Juventus will notice that electric car charging stations have been specially installed -- 129 in total -- not only around the stadium, but at Berlin's Tegel International Airport and outside a number of the city's hotels, too.
"The partnership [with UEFA] has enabled us to highlight our commitment to EVs," said Bastien Schupp, vice president, Marketing for Nissan Europe. "I'm especially pleased that the great relationship we have with UEFA has enabled us to do something lasting and positive for the people of Berlin with the installation of more EV charging points."
Nissan's initiatives are arriving in Berlin at a time when Germany's target of getting 1 million electric cars on the road by 2020 is looking incredibly optimistic. The latest statistics from the German Federal Motor Vehicle Office show that of the 3.04 million new cars registered in Germany in 2014, only 8,522 were electric. That's a 40% increase on 2013's figures, but with just 20,000 electric cars currently on German roads, there's a long way to go to hit the 2020 target.
One of the biggest barriers to wider electric vehicle uptake, not just in Germany, but throughout the EU and beyond is negative perception in terms of performance, range, comfort and cost of ownership.
To try and address this, Nissan has been hosting special fan-focused events over the season the biggest of which, will take place in Berlin in the days before the final. At the UEFA Champions Festival, attending supporters will be able to play 2 v 2 matches, recreate famous goals from past finals, and, via their physical exertion, generate the energy that will be used to power the electric car on its journey with the trophy to the final.
As an added incentive, the fans generating the most energy will win tickets to the final and to travel to it with the trophy.
