Tag Archives: Nissan

Electric Cars – The Future has Arrived!

Electric cars. For years they’ve been a pipe dream; an experiment, something for Jeremy Clarkson to laugh at. By 2012 however, that could all change, with the imminent release of a couple of vehicles…

Earlier this year, Vauxhall offered its Ellesmere Port staff an opportunity to see the new hybrid car, the Ampera, ahead of it going into mass production, and Nissan’s Leaf is being debuted in the US and Japan at time of writing.

When these vehicles hit these shores however, picking one up might well be worth the money if you’re looking to buy a new car: Nearly every single European country are offering to subsidise electric vehicles in some way or another, and they’re keen to try to tempt people to switch to a newer, more environmentally friendly vehicle, as the technology within them is likely to represent the way transport will be powered in the future – although admittedly not for some time yet.

By 2020, Nissan Motor Company estimate that no more than a tenth of the traffic worldwide will be electric powered – and even this paltry number is considered optimistic by many people within the industry, who think that electric vehicles are likely to be a niche product for the foreseeable future as the general public refuses to change. Nissan are very keen to focus on the upsides of hybrid and electric vehicles however; when asked about how far the Leaf can travel on a single charge (Otherwise known as range), spokesmen for the company focused on the fact that you would never need to travel to a petrol station instead of discussing the fact that with the aircon on, the Leaf can only be expected to do around 80 miles in motorway conditions. Vauxhall’s Ampera contains a small petrol motor that keeps the battery charged, and whilst this is not a completely emission free system, the amount of fuel (and the emissions produced) are miniscule compared to a standard petrol car.

The Ampera recently completed the longest journey in the UK by an electric car, making a 160 mile journey under its own power from Luton to Ellesmere Port.

So where is electric motoring going in the future? Right now, it’s very difficult to predict. Electric cars are only just now starting to be seen as a credible alternative to “old-fashioned” petrol propelled vehicles, especially as anything more than a city runabout. Part of the reason the adoption rate has been quite low is the fact that every element of motoring would need to change to accommodate them – from car insurance to fuel, garages and car rental.

It is clear that electric cars are going to take some time to fit in, but one day electric vehicles will have to become a contender to petrol vehicles, and when they do it will be very interesting to see the changes they bring…

On Shai Agassi and Better Place

Shai Agassi

In May of 2007, Shai Agassi launched Project Better Place. He had no cars, no test sites, no electrical engineering experience, and no automobile experience. All he had was a vision of an electric automobile charging infrastructure that would allow EVs to finally proliferate. By early summer of this year, Agassi had two countries volunteering for the plan, a major automaker, Renault/Nissan, producing cars, and $200 million in committed capital. Better Place has become the fifth largest startup ever created.

Agassi did not work alone. Shimon Peres, now the president of Isreal, called Agassi in the middle of the night a few years ago, convincing him to leave his position at SAP and make his electric car dream a reality. Most startups test their product before they make any big releases. Better World’s beta tester happens to be the nation of Isreal. Since it is small, and surrounded by water on one side and enemies on the other, the farthest someone can drive is about 250 miles in any direction. Peres helped reduce the car tax from 78 percent to 10 percent on zero-emission vehicles. Agassi posits that the tax revenue loss of $700 million would be more than refunded in money saved from importing less foreign oil. In January 2008, the Israeli government announced its support for a broad effort to promote the use of electric cars with Project Better Place.

Next, Agassi needed someone to build the car. While still working at SAP, Agassi met Carlos Ghosn, CEO of Nissan and Renault. Ghosn was looking for a way to beat other auto companies in the race to provide a gas alternative automobile. Well, now that Agassi had a country willing to provide a grid and $200 million raised to fund the project, Renault hopped on board. Agassi promises 50 Renault prototypes this winter in Isreal and Renault promises to have an electric car on the market by 2011. Better Place hopes to have 100,000 vehicles operating by the end of 2011. And these are going to be highway speed EV’s that will be indiscernible aesthetically and performance wise from regular, internal combustion vehicles. Better Place’s first prototype is a 2005 Renault Megane:
Better Place Renault

Agassi will not disclose the other automakers he is currently in talks with, but Daimler is rumored to be talking with Better Place.

The company plans to implement the project in Denmark as well, where they are working on a partnership with Danish oil firm and utility DONG Energy. Denmark produces more energy than it needs, with 18% coming from wind. So they are actually giving away their access power to Germany and Sweden. What electric cars and charging stations provide, is a way to utilize and store this access power.

Agassi is also working to implement the project in the US, in Hawaii, which spends $62 billion importing oil to the islands. Hawaii’s business and political leaders seem sold on the idea, and just want to know if they are making electric convertibles.

[Source: WIRED MAGAZINE: 16.09, Driven: Shai Agassi’s Audacious Plan to Put Electric Cars on the Road]

My opinion, Shai is a great salesman with a noble dream. The only holdup to his plan is the one he unsuccessfully tried to explain to Kansas senator Sam Brownback by stating, “We’re like AT&T, not Nokia.” I’m not a cell phone expert, but I believe what he was trying to say with this analogy is that Better Place is more of a subscription service, than a simple, pay-as-you-go deal. The infrastructure must be in place before the cars can be used. To clarify, this was after Brownback asked Shai if he could buy one of the electric cars. The charging grid in the US would be at least a hundred billion dollars to create. But it could be just the type of massive workforce mobilization the economy needs to get out of this recession. I think he is going to need a lot more help from the US government and auto manufacturers; and GM still isn’t softening up to the idea. Either way, he is generating a lot of buzz for electric cars with one prototype and a vision.

Nissan serious about electric cars?

Neat article today about Nissan’s electric future. Sounds like Nissan is skipping this sissyfooting with hybrids and going straight to electric powered vehicles. They currently buy hybrid systems from Toyota for the Nissan Altima hybrid, but, according to Mitsuhiko Yamashita, Nissan Motor Co. Executive Vice President, “Hybrids may not be all that special.” This makes sense, you can drastically simplify a vehicle when you don’t have to worry about the exhaust, heat, and fluids included in a combustion system. In 2007, Nissan established a new company—Automotive Energy Supply Corp. (AESC) with the goal of dramatically enhancing future battery performance and reducing battery costs; most likely with electric vehicles in mind. Now Nissan has an electric car prototype in the works called the Cube, that was shown at the 2008 New York auto show:

Electric Cube

In the article, Yamashita hints that the car will likely not, in fact, be shaped like a cube in order to minimize wind resistance. That’s sort of going to change the whole theme don’t you think? Maybe this skipping the hybrids deal is not a good idea. We don’t want 20 years of hype generating electric prototypes that keep getting mysteriously delayed. Whew, anyway, I’m hopeful Nissan will do the right thing.