Nissan exec expects quadrupling of electric car range by 2015
The executive vice-president of Nissan R&D, Mitsuhiko Yamashita, expects the fourth-generation of lithium ion batteries to yield ranges of about 400 kilometers (248 miles) by 2015. According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, that's about four times what the current first-gen packs are capable of. Yamashita-san also says the second generation should arrive by 2010 and be good for 170 klicks (105 miles) while we can expect 300 km (186 miles) third gen by 2012.
To those of you who are saying to themselves right now, "What is he even talking about? The Tesla Roadster gets almost that kind of range now with the version 1.5 drive train." (Oh yes, I can hear you). Well, I assume he is talking about slightly different chemistry than Tesla is using as well as a pack small enough to fit something like the Nissan Mixim concept (pictured above). Had we been there in Paris with him, we would have asked how many watt hours per kilogram he was talking about but, alas, we were not. He did give some production numbers though, saying they would start making 13,000 units next year in their joint venture with NEC and ramp up eventually to an annual amount of 65,000 units.
[Source: Wall Street Journal]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Mark 8:54PM (6/12/2008)
Where can I sign up for one??
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Chris M 9:11PM (6/12/2008)
He may be taking price into account, probably for a mid-price or even economy priced EV. The thought of an affordable EV with 250 mile range is very appealing.
Of course, you could figure 2x, 3x or even 4x that range for a high end EV. Hmm, gotta start saving up my pennies for that 1K range EV...
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fnc 9:18PM (6/12/2008)
What will the costs do as a result of this? Will it make batteries even more expensive, in which case people would probably still be opting for older battery tech? Or will advances in manufacturing and economies of scale make them get cheaper over time as well? The really exciting thought would be buying a BEV in which you could replace the battery with one that stores more energy in a few years. Not that cars will likely be designed to be quite so modular.
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jake 10:19PM (6/12/2008)
All this talk about a battery that can go x amount of miles is pointless without some qualifiers. Do they mean it can go x miles for a certain volume, a certain cost, or a certain weight? Wh/kg, Wh/$ are probably better numbers to refer to than just how many miles it can go. But I suppose since Nissan is already making the batteries w/ NEC they are probably talking specifically about those packs.
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Murc 1:36AM (6/13/2008)
ya know, an (admittedly growing) part of me hopes that the price of gas doesn't go below 4 bucks a gallon. because these high gas prices are beginning to spawn some cool looking all electric cars. :)
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BlackbirdHighway 7:23AM (6/13/2008)
A range of over 200 miles, along with 10 minute fast recharge capability, a cost drop to about 1/4 of what it is today, and we can say goodbye to dino-fuel, goodbye to OPEC, and most of all, goodbye to over $4 gasoline forever!
There is nothing in the physics of the materials that prevents it, and there is nothing in the economics of manufacturing that prevents it. We just have to do the work to develop those batteries.
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Phil 9:32AM (6/13/2008)
Perhaps Nissan should concentrate on reducing the CO2 emmissions of their current line up, as well as looking to the future.
Model for model they are rather poor against the competition.
e.g. Nissan X Trail 2007 2.0 diesel manual 190 g/km; Honda CR-V 2.2 diesel manual 173 g/km
As for the 350Z, Pathfinder and Murano, welll they are shocking!
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s13hybrid 11:45AM (6/13/2008)
I hope this is not getting our hopes up. This is very exciting news. I have to agree with BlackbirdHighway. With the advances that have been made in light of ridiculous gas prices, I also almost hope gas prices do not go down.
To bad this advance in technology is far overdue, we should have had this readily available technology a decade ago. With the advances in things such as computers that we have seen in just the past few years, I wonder why car companies are just now getting their act together.
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Noah 11:21AM (6/13/2008)
See, all the electric naysayers of yesterday just need to wait on things. Yeah, batteries had a small range...but develop them for a few years and viola! Hydrogen is the same, but its not as far as electric. We can do it, its just going to take time.
But I don't want to take this place anywhere near hydrogen right now, so ignore H2!
Also, the great thing with batteries is that there are breakthroughs in research that we will see in 10-15 years that will allow powerful batteries with 600 mile ranges. With that, we will see "HP" wars once again, with mountains of torque!
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GoodCheer 11:21AM (6/13/2008)
If Nissan's pack gets them 60 miles, then I'm willing to bet it's about 15 kW-h. A "First Generation" battery is probably using the same 18650 cells used by laptops, DeWalt cordless drills, Teslas and eBoxes, which sell (as cells) for ~$250/kW-h, or ~ $4000 for that pack.
The funny thing is that the ranges quoted for the first two generations of battery are almost identical (actually slightly less) than the ranges for the first 2 generations of EV1 using Pb-A and NiMH.
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Rojo 11:27AM (6/13/2008)
@Phil - What, so they can be like Toyota, piddling around making half-promises of plug-in hybrids when at least two other major manufacturers are planning on having EVs moving to market in the same (or shortly thereafter) model year? That's also a huge waste in capital for R&D that could go directly into getting an EV in production.
We don't need more hybrids or bs 'clean' diesels to nudge the status-quo, we need a flood of EVs requiring the mass production of the newer battery techs to drive the costs down as quickly as possible. The sooner large-scale competition exists for EVs or series-hybrid EVs, the better.
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Boxman 10:10PM (6/13/2008)
"To bad this advance in technology is far overdue, we should have had this readily available technology a decade ago."
You can thank GM, Ovonics, Texaco & Chevron for that...
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Derek 11:37PM (6/13/2008)
4x the range would be nice, but I am more concerned about the 100% charge time getting down under 15 minutes. Oh, and some sort of recharging network other than my outlet at home.
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EMoShunz 9:57AM (6/17/2008)
isn't eestor and zenn promising a 400 km range/10 min charge (with proper charger) hwy speed vehicle by fall 2009?
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John 10:40AM (6/25/2008)
Cut motor to 100 hp, raise pack 50 %, place in a Hyundai accent, with a 2 speed
300 mile range in city and 500 on highway
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