Forrest North
June 29, 2011 
Past blog posts
No comment I had the pleasure of meeting Carlos Ghosn, CEO of Nissan, on June 13th. Mr. Ghosn was at Stanford for his daughter’s graduation. While there, he toured several places on campus, including the site of the Stanford Solar Car Project, the project that consumed most of my college years. Back then, we worked out of a dusty shack at the edge of campus, unfit for VIP visitors. Now the project is in a clean, faculty-supported modern garage. Mr. Ghosn’s visit seemed natural, and the students weren’t the least bit flustered. One of them told me Germany’s PM had just visited a few weeks back. Wow, times have changed. So have the solar cars–check out the latest one in progress:
I enjoyed watching Mr. Ghosn’s reaction to the solar car team. He seemed impressed with how advanced the student’s projects are, and he barely touched the surface. I am amazed at what these brilliant kids are doing, and it was awesome to see Mr. Ghosn shares my feelings.
I was one of only a few alumni who showed up to meet Nissan’s visionary, and the only person to drive up in a Leaf. Mr. Ghosn talked about how advanced the drivetrain is, but acknowledged that the body has not caught up yet. Funny, that is my only criticism of the Leaf. Mr. Ghosn also said he does not believe there is a range problem, only a charge point issue. Apparently, he hasn’t checked out PlugShare!
Nissan, under Ghosn’s lead, took a $5 billion bet that the world is changing, and I think it’s paying off. There is room for improvement, but Nissan (along with GM) has done a nice job of leading the charge.
-Forrest