Electric Vehicle - Nissan Leaf vs. Mitsubishi i-MiEV endurance race

The people of The Mew Motion here in the Netherlands have done a little endurance test with a Nissan Leaf and a Mitsubishi iMiev. The aim was not to get the biggest distance as possible with these <a href="http:///www.myhev.com">electric vehicles</a>, but to see what the range would be under normal conditions. The test was performed at the Dutch racing track at Zandvoort (so perhaps it was not really normal performance, but racing performance instead?).

Check out the video below, they have made it available in English as well and see how both cars perform around the track:

Electric Vehicle - Glimpse BMW’s Slick, Sexy Electric Future

"I love it when a plan comes together!", seems very much applicable to the electric vehicle program from BMW. Dubbed under the i-brand (does Apple know of this by the way?), the first two releases will be the all electric i3 city vehicle and the hybrid i8. Both would qualify still as the 'Ultimate driving machine' associated with the other BMW models. 

The price tag seems a bit steep, though it is from a premium brand and contains lots of the more expensive materials to construct cars with, being carbon fiber. On the other hand, I always thought the i3 and the i8 would not be for sale, but for lease/rent only? ("Screwed, glued & rented"?).

As a little bonus I've included an interview with Richard Kim, the designer for BMW's i-brand.

If you have details concerning the financial side of these cars I'd love to hear; leave a comment or contact me through Twitter / Linked In.

Twitter: @my_hev

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Glimpse BMW’s Slick, Sexy Electric Future
http://www.wired.com/autopia/2011/11/bmw-i-drive-electric-vehicles/

“This was a dream project in 2008,” vehicle exterior designer Richard Kim told us. “We had the opportunity to reinvent and redefine the car.”

(via Instapaper)

- Roelof

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Electric Vehicle - Electric Rolls-Royce Phantom 102EX – Drive Reviews

Rolls Royce has put their electric vehicle prototype out on the road for testing. It is the most luxurious, heaviest battery hauling vehicle out there at the moment, weighing just over 3000 kg! 

Earlier on Rolls also announced their partnership with HaloIPT, to enable wireless charging of their luxury vehicle. Recently HaloIPT was acquired by QualComm, but I hope the relation with Rolls still stands. 

A nice test vehicle to see where the Rolls are going to, where Rolls says to skip hybrids and go straight for electric, a wise decision in my opinion.

Electric Rolls-Royce Phantom 102EX – Drive Reviews
http://www.bmwblog.com/2011/11/12/electric-rolls-royce-phantom-102ex-drive-reviews/

The 6.75-liter V-12 was replaced by a massive 71-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery housed within the aluminum spaceframe. Rolls-Royce is using large-form NCM pouch cells, or lithium-nickel-cobalt-manganese-oxide to be exact. Due to its experimental nature, the 96 cells are separated into 5 modules (38-, 36-, 10-, 8-, and 4-cell units) and arranged in such a way that the overall battery takes on the shape of an engine and transmission.

(via Instapaper)

- Roelof

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Electric Vehicle - 4 German EVs Head-to-Head

Nothing as exciting as a little competition, especially between electric vehicles. This nice post linked below summarizes and compares four German EVs to see what they have in common and what the differences are.

Which of these four would you pick? I think I'd go for the BMW i3 here, I'm a big fan of the work BMW is doing with their i3 and i8. 

German Electric Car Battle: Audi A2 v BMW i3 v Benz B-Class E-Cell v VW Golf Blue eMotion
http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1066009_german-electric-car-battle-audi-a2-v-bmw-i3-v-benz-b-class-e-cell-v-vw-golf-blue-emotion

One very clear message: German carmakers are taking electric cars seriously. Finally.

Both Audi and BMW unveiled electric-car concepts that are thinly disguised versions of models that will go into production in 2013 and 2014. Mercedes-Benz showed a range-extended electric version of its new B-Class compact hatchback, and Volkswagen again showed its Golf Blue eMotion prototype electric car.

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- Roelof

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Electric Vehicle - Nissan handing out 400 Quick Chargers in Europe

Quick Charging is seen as one of the viable solutions to allow longer trips with an electric vehicle in a reasonable time. To promote their Leafs, Nissan is providing a quick charge solution and giving 400 of them in Europe to strategic partners. A great example which will probably lead to more quick chargers being installed, enabling cross European trips in your EV.

I'm a little surprised to see it will be an AC/DC Quick Charger, though it is understandably to facilitate for Renaults vehicles from their alliance point of view. The only other reason I can think of is to be ready for whichever technology will become the standard in the future. Also looking at the current discussions on the SAE standards, the 'Tesla-plug' and the technologies applied in the rest of the world (where CHAdeMO is dominating in my opinion), it might be smart for Nissan to be able to bet on more than one option.

Nissan accelerating rollout of EV quick charge network in Europe by giving away 400 stations
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2011/11/nissanqc-20111108.html

The QC stations are also ‘AC-ready’ to support the arrival of EVs from Alliance partner Renault designed to 43kW AC quick charge standards. The Renault-Nissan Alliance is promoting infrastructure deployment based on AC-DC Mix Quick Charger strategy.

The move follows an agreement between Nissan and five of Europe’s leading utility and EV infrastructure supply companies to speed up the provision of the latest quick chargers developed by Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., which are less expensive—up to half the previous price—and smaller than before. The target is to have a network of quick charge stations across Europe with several thousand units in place by the end of 2012 and tens of thousands by 2015.

(via Instapaper)

- Roelof

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Electric Vehicle - The 800-1600km EV Battery is in the Lab

For all the money being poured into the electric vehicle industry, the most is going to develop better batteries. With a current range averaging around 160 km on a full charge, the latest developments in the lab show a hint of the Lithium-Air technology enabling a 800-1600 km range on a full charge. While the technology is still in full development and not ready to be applied to a commercially available vehicle, it will make the question of range anxiety obsolete.

Though I would not recommend driving the 800 km in one go, having such a battery available does raise the question if you would want to charge it along your trips. With such a huge capacity you could use a current state fast charger to regain roughly 20% of your capacity during one of your regular breaks on such a long trip.

The Lithium Air UltraBattery Makes Progress
http://electric-vehicles-cars-bikes.blogspot.com/2011/11/lithium-air-battery-makes-progress.html

Metal air batteries are at this date, the mountain top goal of energy density. At a low of 5 times the energy of an equivalent standard lithium battery, a point needs made. Many will surmise that the battery at market would be 1/5th the size. That would suggest the same number of cycles in a time period. But if costs are down for an air battery such that the capacity is 5 times then the cycles would be 1/5th as often – making the lifetime 5 times longer as well. The choices aren’t going to get easier, but they are getting simpler.

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- Roelof

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Electric Vehicle - 700 BMW Active E for lease

The second stage of the BMW electric vehicle program is on its way; the first stage was the Mini E, now is the BMW 1 Series converted to the Active E. A good looking car with a nice set of specs, and some promising statistics, also be sure to check out the 'swooshing' video below.

The only pity I think is it will only be available in the USA to my knowledge, if you happen to know of any EU pilots being done, I'd love to hear about it. Feel free to contact me on Twitter, Linked In or via the comments, your help is much appreciated.

http://www.youtube.com/embed/B1vof6y5MAY

The queue starts for 700 BMW Active E leases [video]
http://electric-vehicles-cars-bikes.blogspot.com/2011/10/queue-starts-for-700-bmw-active-e.html

The first such trial was for the electric Mini Cooper, the Mini E, which leased for $850 per month. Those Minis provided key development information and most have since been returned to BMW.

The Active E lease will be available for a limited number of customers in the metropolitan areas surrounding Boston, Hartford, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, San Diego, and Sacramento.

(via Instapaper)

Have a good weekend!

- Roelof

Drive safe, drive sustainable

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