American Electric Vehicles

gagrice

A few Ford Ranger EVs were sold in the 1998 to 2003 period also. Most were leased and recalled.

nippononly

Toyota sold well under 1000 of those RAV4-EVs before they quit trying. But a few made it out there, there's someone in my daily commute that I see regularly driving one.

I'm not sure it's such a good idea when manufacturers plaster 'EV' in huge letters on the side of their EV models (like in the case of the RAV4-EV). That is probably not to the tastes of many who might otherwise buy one.

boaz47

I'm not sure it's such a good idea when manufacturers plaster 'EV' in huge letters on the side of their EV models (like in the case of the RAV4-EV). That is probably not to the tastes of many who might otherwise buy one.

You could be right. But if they made it ugly like a Prius wouldn't they sell? :P It would seem that the same mind set that drives people or drove people to the first and second generation Prius would have fit the need of the people that would buy EVs. I don't care what they put on one I just want one that is priced reasonable and is a light total EV. I don't want to hear Toyota's excuses of why they "can't build one or why we wouldn't buy one. Build the sucker and see. If the little company in Vista can build one mister Yota or mister GM and build it for less than 30K then they darn well should be able to as well. I don't care what they have to do with the UAW.

gagrice

Ford, Nissan and Tesla are the first to get loans
Tom Stundza -- Purchasing, 6/24/2009 4:15:24 PM

Ford, Nissan and Tesla Motors are the first beneficiaries of a $25 billion U.S. Department of Energy loan program to help car makers revamp factories to produce advanced-technology vehicles.

Nissan Motor Co. was granted $1.6 billion in loans to make more than 100,000 electric cars a year at its plant in Smyrna, Tenn., by 2013. Ford Motor Co. will use $5.9 billion in loans to help retool plants in Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri and Ohio to produce 13 fuel-efficient models, including 5,000 to 10,000 electric ones a year starting in 2011.

Tesla Motors, a California start-up that makes a $109,000 electric sports car, gained approval for a $465 million loan to develop an affordable family sedan.

http://www.purchasing.com/article/295655-Uncle_Sam_expands_funding_of_electric_c- ars_R_D.php

boaz47

That is just depressing. We are giving tax money to a Japanese company that is owned by the French. Couldn’t the French or Japan give Nissan the money?

larsb

It's not a "gift" it's a LOAN......and the end result from the money will benefit us all.....it's a win-win......nothing to be depressed about.

Nissan employs a lot of USA employees too, just like all major foreign automakers.

boaz47

I toss the BS flag. Nissan is a foreign owned company as as such deserves none of the US taxpayers money. If you want to use the US workers as an excuse give the money to the employees but not the foreign management. The US tax payer buys a lot of foreign cars so should we expect foreign tax payers to lend GM money?

Where does it stop? The bail out to wall street was a loan. The bail out to auto manufacturers was a loan. The bail out to the banks was a loan. By the way the banking loans were restricted to domestic owned banks because even though foreign banks employ US citizens they are not domestic controlled. We owe nothing to a Japanese or French company. Never have never will.

larsb

Toss that flag all you want, but Americans will benefit from this deal. Guys like you and me and your cousin Benny and my cousin Kanji.

And you are right - we owe them nothing. Now they owe US and will repay us, with interest.

iluvmysephia1

don't go up, or our Fed.income taxes likewise don't go up it might eventually benefit Americans overall to give to these Japanese automakers. Sort of let your mind run...ummm....free for a sec and see if you can picture it in a positive frame.

"They took our jerbs!"

nortsr1

electric car sold in the U.S.A. will be a Mitsubishi

iluvmysephia1

or a Subaru or a umm...one of those two, actually.

iluvmysephia1

announcement that they will build the new i-MiEV bubble-car in hybrid form for the U.S. so now I can relax and know what my next car will be. Getting there is half the fun, though, and having driven and dug my '08 Lancer GTS for over 2 years now I know for sure that Mitsubishi builds a fine car.

They are determined to build a great all-electric car and I believe they will lead the world in this specialized field. So buying a hybrid solves the range of miles problem I had if had bought an all-electric 2011 Mitsubishi i-MiEV. With an ICE connected there will be no problem with going the extra 350 miles. Or so.

Perhaps I could make it to L.A., re-charge up there, get a Pink's hot dog, drive around, catch a Tragically Hip show, then drive to, say, Las Vegas. And re-charge up there and drive back to Tucson, re-charge up there. Then head home to Willcox, AZ, the home of Rex Allen, The Singing Cowboy.

Willcox, Arizona, in the 20's and 30's, was the cattle gathering and shipping(not slaughtering, unless I'm sadly mistaken)point for the entire U.S., I've been told.

iluvmysephia1

about this new technology from EEStor and Zenn? Check this story out if you're interested. This seems to answer all of the electric car questions and solves their problems, only one must question ZENN's capabilities to actually merge all of this battery pack greatness in to a car that actually runs for us'all. Read up.

http://www.allcarselectric.com/blog/1022286_ceo-of-zenn-motors-eestor-production- -storage-units-to-be-demonstrated-in-weeks-delivered-in-months

boaz47

Nissan is a competitor to the US not a partner. You don't give a competitor employee funds and you don't bail out a competitor. If Nissan needs money let them look to Japan where their company profits go. GM isn't getting bailed out by Japan nor was Chrysler. Why should we care about what happens to a Japanese company. It is a bit like saying paying protection to the city gang is good for me and my cousin. Maybe but it is still extortion. when Toyota went to the Japanese government and asked for 2 billion dollars their government said "no". Nissan had and has no right to look for relief of any kind for the US taxpayer. It is them against us in this economy. Helping out Nissan is taking a one world economy too far.

iluvmysephia1

read it and rejoice, y'all.

http://www.allcarselectric.com/blog/1022392_eestor-founder-dick-weir-confirms-es- us-presently-being-built-and-once-delivered-to-zenn-by-the-fourth-quarter

nortsr1

I read the article with great interest, however; I will not get too excited until I see or read (with authentication) that it is not some type of scheme to get people to invest their money. I certainly think it would be a great break through if it is true.
It seems to me that if it is so great...why haven't they gone more public with it or applied for some federal grant $$$??? The old saying "If it sounds too good to be true, then it is too good to be true" might apply here....but I hope not!!!

gagrice

250 mile range and 10% the cost of Lithium ion batteries does sound promising.

The ZENNCity electric car which would be the first vehicle to use these batteries has a 52kwh 250 mile range EESU that would only weigh 280 pounds.

http://gm-volt.com/2009/07/20/qa-with-ian-clifford-ceo-of-zenn-motors-eestor-to-- publicly-prove-its-technology-imminently/

$19,960 will get the current LA version delivered to San Diego.

http://www.zenncars.com/

http://www.zenncars.com/php/09monroney_label.php

iluvmysephia1

gagrice. Your links make it sound pretty promising. However, like nortsr1, I remain somewhat sceptical of the technology actually working. I will continue studying it as it busts out, though. This news is interesting, huh?

gagrice

When I first looked at their pricing I thought it was for the new EESTOR model. I don't think the ZENN is even approved in CA. They will have to add 1000 lbs of safety crappola and wonder why it only goes 5 miles on a charge.

iluvmysephia1

that's what I'm talkin' about, gagrice. We need real finished EV's and then have those applied to our individual states and regulations. Or should I say deduced to our regulations and state requirements. I won't plunk down $20 large ones for a rig that just lurches ahead on the on-ramps and is too heavy from the technology to get up to 70 fast enough, eh?

EEStor needs to be watched and so does BYD and their e6 on the way here, the one that supposedly has a 249 mile range on one charge. They were throwing around $28,000 prices on the net about a year ago for the e6, but, BYD themselves have not released any pricing information for a long time. And BYD is stating 0-60 times of 8.0 seconds. Everything is new here, however, as has been pointed out, man made all-electrically-propelled automobiles over a hundred years ago from now. They were just jettisoned for the "superior" ICE propulsion method.

EEStor may be on to something large here, though. I'm all mouse. :shades:

gagrice

The exciting thing about the EESTOR Ultracapacitor is cost. If it is truly only 10% to 20% of Li-ion batteries per KWH, it will be a revolution for the auto industry. The fact that the materials all come from the US instead of less than friendly countries is also a plus. I guess we hide and watch.

iluvmysephia1

another real positive about the EEStor technology is the lesser weight involved to sludge everything up. That is more truly good news about this technology they've developed.

I guess EEStor's CEO is also quite certain about the safety issues being solved-they're sealing in the batteries and are quite confident that there's no explosion possibilities from crashes. I am all mouse.

iluvmysephia1

world all-electric car, the LEAF.



Nissan's new LEAF will use their proprietary 24 kwh laminate lithium ion battery pack and an 80 kw electric motor. Top speed will be 90 MPH and the car's driving range will be more than 100 miles.

nortsr1

I read that article at Autoblog.com and I believe it is coming to the USA sommetime in 2010???

iluvmysephia1

it's coming to the U.S. in 2010 and is expected to cost what ICE cars cost that are in this class. But I read an article earlier today that stated that the Nissan LEAF may be offered as a lease-only arrangement at first in the U.S.

http://www.allcarselectric.com/blog/1033845_2011-nissan-leaf-sales-in-u-s-may-be- -limited-to-leasing-only-until-global-launch-in-2012

iluvmysephia1

that show an interest in "green" electric cars. Check this out, Arizona will be graced by Nissan's "testing" of our state's interest in how people drive and re-charge their all-electric drivetrained vehicles.

http://www.allcarselectric.com/blog/1020094_nissan-and-ecotality-unite-to-build-- - - - - - ev-charging-corridor-in-arizona

Do you realize what this means? It means that people like myself who are interested in the new Nissan LEAF and the Pininfarina-Bollore BlueCar and the Mitsubishi i-MiEV can drive to Tucson(it's 80 miles west of us here in Willcox, AZ)and re-charge at one of these re-charging stations that are going to be built and promoted to the hilt. And then drive back east the 80 miles to Willcox.

The Nissan LEAF and the Mitsubishi i-MiEV have around 100 mile ranges. The Pininfarina-Bollore BlueCar's range is around 153 miles. OTOH-the new BYD e6 all-electric car will go 250 miles on one charge, in sheer range on one charge the BYD e6 trumps them all. I could get to Phoenix(200 miles NW of us)and re-charge there in order to get back to Willcox. If I have one of the lesser-ranged cars I would just have to stop off in Tucson(110 miles south of Phoenix)and re-charge up on my way east to Willcox.

At any rate, this sound serious, this plan of theirs. They want to build in Arizona and I am going to avail myself of their services in order to go "green" and get off of foreign oil and the smell and feel of oil for once and for all. :shades:

Whoo-hoo! "We're really doing it Harry!"-

Jim Carrey, when Harry Dunne and Lloyd Christmas' plans to head west to Aspen were finally being realized. From the movie 'Dumb and Dumber', of course.

gagrice

Who knows, you may have yet another career in the EV business. I would be a bit nervous about heading to Tucson in an EV with just a 100 mile range with the temps over 100 degrees. That AC has to suck up a bunch of the energy. Maybe the top will all be solar panels. You could stop at a rest area have a two martini lunch and be recharged by the sun.

iluvmysephia1

I do know that the Pininfarina-Bollore BlueCar has solar panels on the front grille and on the rooftop. A buddy on a Kia website states that Pininfarina-Bollore will bring some BlueCars to Dallas in 2010 sometime, to test out the local yocal market. I may go check them out, though the Mrs. would need another more bonafide reason than that to travel several hundred miles eastward. Oh, we'll just see what I can finaggle here...to get there. :P

iluvmysephia1

that is purportedly the production-version of the car.



A couple of re-charging updates. Apparently there's a "quick" re-charger that one can purchase with the e6 that re-charges one to 50% battery capacity in only 10 minutes. And a full "quick" re-charge will be available in only one hour. Does anyone believe this will be true in real-life BYD usage?

Also, not a serious negative, just a fact. The BYD e6 will weigh 4,400 pounds. And BYD is still claiming a range of 249 miles per charge for this rig. To say I'm not interested in this new all-electric car would be an outright lie, my car-crazy buddies.

larsb

wow, this could be a hot seller.

Nissan Leaf's promise: An affordable electric
With incentives, Californians may pay as little as $20,280 for the new zero-emissions vehicle, due in December.

The all-electric Nissan Leaf hatchback will cost $32,780 when it hits showrooms in December, the Japanese automaker said Tuesday.

But government subsidies will make the price more attractive.

There's a federal tax credit of $7,500 for electric vehicles. And Californians are eligible for an additional $5,000 rebate through the state Air Resources Board.

That will lower the base price for the standard Leaf, in California, to $20,280.

The Leaf will cost far less than the only other currently available pure-electric car on the market, the $109,000 Tesla Roadster, which is a sports car.

Pricing for other upcoming electric cars -- including the Chevrolet Volt, also due later this year -- hasn't been revealed.

To determine the Leaf's price, the company looked at other vehicles it felt customers would probably consider, including the gas-powered Honda Civic ($22,255) and hybrid Toyota Prius ($25,830), said Trisha Jung, director of EV marketing for Nissan North America.

"Price is important. It's one of the favorite questions we've gotten over the past few months," Jung said. "We know consumers care about that."

gagrice