Oct. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co., Japan’s two biggest automakers, may expand plans to sell electric cars beyond the U.S. as environmental concerns spur demand for fuel-efficient vehicles.

“It’s conceivable a convenient commuter vehicle would be applicable for not just the U.S., but also for the Japanese and European markets,” Honda President Takanobu Ito said at a press conference in Tokyo today. Toyota may sell short-range battery- powered cars outside the U.S. “if there is a need,” Executive Vice President Takeshi Uchiyamada said at separate event.

Honda may start selling a battery-powered electric car to help meet Californian requirements for zero-emission vehicles, Ito said earlier this month. General Motors Co., and Nissan Motor Co. are also planning to sell electric vehicles as governments worldwide give incentives for alternative-energy vehicles to cut pollution and the use of oil.

Nissan, Japan’s third-largest automaker, will start selling its Leaf electric car next year, and GM aims to start selling the Chevrolet Volt by November 2010. Toyota plans to begin electric car sales in the U.S. in 2012.

Tokyo-based Honda has opted to look at battery power as infrastructure issues may hamper sales of hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles, which have been its main zero-emission focus. The carmaker will display a concept electric car, the EV-N, at the Tokyo Motor Show starting tomorrow.

Toyota also plans to begin selling fuel-cell cars in 2015 for mid- to long-distance-driving vehicles, including trucks and buses, Uchiyamada said today. The company will get involved in helping to expand hydrogen infrastructure, he said.

Nissan’s Plan

Nissan aims to reduce the cost of electric vehicles over three to four years if governments help boost sales, Mitsuhiko Yamashita, executive vice president, said in Tokyo today.

“Without incentives, it would be difficult” to increase volumes, he said.

Yokohama, Japan-based Nissan and its partner Renault SA are alone among major manufacturers in predominately focusing on battery-powered models, with Chief Executive Officer Carlos Ghosn’s peers developing electric and hybrid vehicles in tandem. Ghosn has said electric cars will be designed for the mass market and priced affordably.

The carmaker will have the capacity to produce 200,000 electric vehicles in the U.S., 100,000 in Europe and 50,000 in Japan, Nissan’s senior vice president Andy Palmer said in July, without giving a timeframe.

Ghosn has predicted electric cars will grab 10 percent of global auto sales by 2020. That compares with an estimate of 1.5 percent to 2 percent at Volkswagen AG and 0.6 percent at London- based consulting firm Global Insight.

Nissan expects at least 20,000 U.S. orders for the Leaf by late 2010, it said on Sept. 29. It is using a $1.6 billion U.S. federal loan to retool its Smyrna, Tennessee, plant to produce 150,000 of the electric cars and 200,000 battery packs annually.

To contact the reporters on this story: Makiko Kitamura in Tokyo at mkitamura1@bloomberg.net; Kiyori Ueno in Tokyo at kueno2@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: October 20, 2009 05:13 EDT