Nissan unveils all-electric sedan prototype
Nissan gave a glimpse of its plans to make an all-electric sedan that will go 100 miles on a charge and have a suite of online features to aid drivers.
The company on Monday showed off an electric car prototype, based on the Tiida mid-size sedan. It said that an all-electric production car with a unique design will be unveiled on August 2 at its Yokohama, Japan, headquarters and go on sale in 2010 in Japan and the U.S.
The electric sedan will connect to Nissan's data centers to provide drivers with information and support, according to the carmaker.
Nissan's EV prototype, an electric power train fitted onto a Tiida/Versa mid-size Versa sedan.
(Credit: Nissan)The EV-IT system will display on a map how much driving range they have left and can calculate whether a car can make it to a pre-set destination. The system can point drivers to available charging stations within driving range.
The driver can also remotely view a battery's charge and turn on the air conditioner from a Web-connected computer or phone. Charging can be scheduled to take advantage of off-peak rates, too.
The car itself is built around Nissan's electric motor and a 24-kilowatt-hour battery pack which is placed under the car. With generative braking that charges the car during deceleration and braking, Nissan estimates that drivers can get 100 miles on a charge, although it notes that range depends on conditions and driving styles.
Although it lags in hybrids, Nissan has been one of the most aggressive in developing all-electric sedans. It is already testing the EV-02, which is based on the Nissan Cube chassis. It also has a partnership to work with Better Place, which provides consumers with charging points and access to battery-swapping stations in exchange for subscription plans.
Nissan has not announced prices, but a company representative told the Associated Press in Japan that the electric vehicle would be "competitive" with gasoline cars.
Because of the limitations on driving range and the high cost of batteries, other automakers including Toyota and General Motors have said they expect consumers will favor gasoline-electric cars.
Along with Tesla Motors, start-ups Coda Automotive and Detroit Electric are making all-electric cars which they say will have enough range for daily driving for many people.
Martin LaMonica is a senior writer for CNET's Green Tech blog. He started at CNET News in 2002, covering IT and Web development. Before that, he was executive editor at IT publication InfoWorld. E-mail Martin. 
The europeans know this, which is why most hybrids are sold in the USA to stupid Americans, with the government doing everything they could to keep diesels out of the market (by screwing with emissions requirements every time diesel cars met current standards).
Take that one step further and make that Prious a Diesel Hybrid and you would do far better than 40-50mpg.
Problem is, diesel engines cost more to build than gas, and adding the hybrid drivetrain to the picture increases cost further. VW canceled plans to build that car because the consumer cost was too high, and because there is no market for hybrids outside of the USA. They are coming out with a less expensive to build, bizarre hybrid with a direct drive gas engine (no transmission), a plug in feature, but a really weird way of putting it all together that will only work as a city fleet vehicle, imho.
Now, if the US would subsidize diesel hybrids to the tune of $2000, they would be equal in cost to a gas hybrid to buy, and get 30-50% better mileage. They just started with a $1300 or so tax credit for the TDI, but without assurance that this is a permanent situation, VW would be dumb to build one. Why? Because the USA (actually CARB) has so many times pulled the rug out of German automaker diesels by lowering the SOx standard to purposely make them illegal (mainly to protect Japanese and American factories in the USA that were not offering idiesels, but you won't get anyone to admit that backdoor protectionism), that the Germans are rightfully wary of trusting our government ever again. Maybe when VW starts building a whole new, American market only model lineup built in the USA will they suddenly be in favor with politicians.
I agree, the internal combustion engine (be it diesel or gas) in stop and go city traffic can not match batteries efficiency wise. That's another way hybrids get better milage in city traffic, diesel or gas engines do not run equally efficient in all rpm range, so the frequent change in rpm will result in decreased efficiency when comparing to the same engine revving at its sweet spot charging the batteries.
Of course, the rules of the game are different to some degree, but still, slow acceleration and engine breaking can increase around town mileage of a diesel rather than moving fast off the line and full speed to the line. If the game were to "keep it in the green" of a digital display, you'd be surprised how much better mileage anyone would get. Considering people are getting nearly 40MPG combined in the Audi A3 TDI, with "challenge" drivers in tests getting 50mpg+, putting that engine into a Prius would basically give you the same average mileage. People have been sold on hybrids so much by propaganda in the USA (and Japan) that they don't want to know the truth.
The point is, MOST, not all, MOST of the benefit of the prius over a diesel non-prius comes from the design and implementation of the non-powertrain components of the car.
If this weren't the case, then hybrid versions of cars like the civic wouldn't get worse mileage than the prius, but better (smaller ligher car). And the civic hybrid even has some of those tweaks, but not as many.
@martin
The ONLY markets for hybrid around the world are the USA and Japan, and in Japan, only for JAPANESE hybrids. The world has shunned them for diesels. Toyota sells 1/3rd of their hybrids at home, and 2/3rds around the world, but around the world means USA and basically nowhere else. For the largest automaker on the planet, this is meaningful.
The German companies are well aware that nobody but America wants non-Japanese hybrids, but due to US government intervention in the market, are working on some for our market at great expense, because they need them to help CAFE standards, and because the USA will offer tax incentives to buyers until they sell a certain number of hybrids.
I wonder if this progress in electric vehicles eventually replacing Gas powered cars, will migrate down
to all small engine gas powered products like LAWN MOWERS, Leaf blowers (chargeable), edgers,
chain saws etc etc.. I know there are some already out there, but I am thinking Better battery tech migrating down.
I really hate to see/hear a loud overly powerful lawn mower used to mow a tiny lot in the city.. All the noise and pollution. UGH!
... meaning "50 mile round trip"
tomboi says "30 miles from my house."
Nice math, bro.
30 miles from your house is a conservative measure to be safe that every day, you will not be stuck on the side of the road requiring a flatbed tow home...
Would you trust the 50 mile range? I'd be nervous if I got to 40 miles, that due to various reasons (traffic jam, uneven power delivery, etc.) I wouldn't make it home.
Traffic jams would cause the vehicle to go further as wind drag would be less. The real question is 100 miles at what speed. The slower you go the further you can get.
My experience with battery's is they die in the cold.
Who knows if these new battery's can handle the cold.
Anyway, if the big efficient car battery doesn't work when cold, I'm sure something else that heats it up would. It's not like all batteries stop working 100% when they're cold.
Bad parts...it is a tin can and an ugly one at that.
Come on Tesla. I will gladly pay a premium for an Electric Vehicle that outperforms most gas vehicles and looks good to boot.
We really need vehicles that can recharge themselves while driving. And regenerative braking is only part of the answer. You still need an internal combustion engine to run the generator.
Don't get me wrong, I wish the cars were more affordable, had better range, and that proper infrastructure was in place to support them, but traditional hybrids are a total scam for the environmentally pretentious and the 'new' hybrids that use the gas engine to charge the battery are still a band-aid...a better one, but still a band-aid.
Another approach would be to tow a small trailer with a power module. The power module could be
one or more power packs, diesel/electric, gas/electric, fuel cell, ...
It would be cool to drive around California stopping in at some green power stations to swap packs. Imagine going from the Altamont wind farm to the geothermal station in the north valley's, heading up in the mountains via some hydro stations, then the desert and solar power towers...I bet you could drive around the state forever on the green energy systems already in place!!!
Now that would be some serious FREEDOM of movement!!!!!!!!!!
I doubt this will work. Unless standards are set for the battery pack, you will have to have battery stations all over the country for every manufacturer of replaceable packs. Not very practical, and those very standards will slow future development of new and better batteries.
Nissan is working with them on building charging stations where batteries can be swapped out, just like an automated carwash.
The batteries are not part of the cost of the car- instead you pay for a mileage plan, just like a cell phone plan. This way, the car owner is not stuck with batteries, if there is a malfunction.
Battery technoiogy is improving greatly, this is the way to go.
Batteries are where excess wind and solar power can be stored, for use later when the sun goes down or behind the clouds!
Also, battery tech can spur on other technologies, like nuclear power, and more efficient burning of hydrocarbons.
This is really the way to go, and with momentum built in the congested cities and the shorter commutes, then the infrastructure can be built out to include most people.
To have a battery swapping station installed in convient locations nation wide will be VERY COSTLY! I dont have the figures of the cost for these stations but when your talking about machine automation to swap out your batteries, the cost to develop these sites, cost of the land to implement, cost of maintaining ownership of the stations you can bet that those cost will be passed on to the consumer.
I just want to take the plug and stick it in my car and charge it, SIMPLE. Installing charging stations at home, workplace, grocery store, mall, transit stations, and wherever you can think of is cost effective, does not require the purchase of land, maintence cost will be low since your maintaing a very simple structure with very little moving parts. ECOTALITY (ecotality.com) i hope will pull through with this vision. There Mint Charger which claims it can recharge a battery between 10-15 minutes (if true) is the answer. With software installed on your vechicle to cut of any excessive charging, you can run into the store while your car charges, by the time your done, your good to go. Then you can actually pay for the energy your planning to use, rather then all the cost thats been passed onto the consumer by the battery swapping stations.
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- by kaliocho3 August 26, 2009 8:53 AM PDT
- The Tesla is a nice looking electric car. This new site, Kuuala.com has some cool-looking green products too
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