Nissan’s Ghosn Says Electric-Car Demand May Exceed U.S. Target

[kristopher]

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601101&sid=a0ohR8fNdxVw

Nissan Motor Co. Chief Executive Officer Carlos Ghosn said U.S. consumer demand for electric vehicles may exceed President Barack Obama’s goal of 1 million plug-in models by 2015.

The automaker began a 22-city U.S. tour today to show its battery-powered Leaf small car. The model will sell for the same price as a similar-size gasoline-powered car when deliveries begin next year, with consumers paying a separate monthly fee to lease the Leaf’s lithium-ion batteries, Ghosn said.

“There is absolutely no reason that you will not have much more than 1 million cars in the U.S. before 2015,” Ghosn said at a briefing in Los Angeles. “What the president has said, we obviously want to come up with solutions that would allow us to make that a reality but move beyond it.”

Nissan, Japan’s third-largest carmaker, is preparing the Leaf to meet U.S. demands for higher fuel efficiency and reduced carbon emissions, as well as California rules requiring large auto companies to sell exhaust-free models. The likelihood that oil prices will keep rising will make battery cars increasingly appealing to U.S. drivers, Ghosn said.

Ghosn intends for...

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601101&sid=a0ohR8fNdxVw

[BR_Parkway]

1. leasing the batteries - instead of buying gas - it's always the simple

solutions

[alfredo]

2. We should have standardized batteries that can be swapped out at

service stations or at home when a refill is needed. You drive in, a locked access door opened, low battery removed and charged battery installed. 5 minutes at the most needed for that swap. Once NASCAR and SCCA goes electric, look for big advances in electric technology.

[kristopher]

4. The advances are already in the pipeline.

The big limiting factor now is cost. The technology exists to make a car with a 120 mile range easily. But the cost is so high that most makers are planning to put in enough batteries for only about 40 miles (just enough to cover the average amount driven daily in the US) with range extended by a small gasoline engine that runs only a generator. The gasoline engine will be much more efficient doing that than when it is used to directly propel the vehicle since it will operate at a single speed, never having to rev up or sit at idle.

As more manufacturing of lithium batteries and the components for lithium batteries comes online, the price will drop pretty quickly.

In the technology pipeline is a new lithium battery that is coupled with silicon. This battery is already a proven, working technology, and they are working on manufacturing methods right now. The capacity is about 8-10X current state of the art lithium and it should deliver a range of about 800 miles on a single charge.

Here is their latest paper on the topic. It deals with the longevity of the material:
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/nl901670t

[alfredo]

5. That's great. I was thinking more about turnaround time for charged batteries.

Not only would standard configurations of batteries streamline manufacturing cars and batteries, it opens up a retail opportunity. Whether you are driving a Chevy or Peugeot you can use the same battery. Snap out the old, then snap in the new.

My experience is the bicycle industry. I remember having to deal with a wide array of standards. We had French threads, Swiss, Italian, BSA, and Whitworth. Then tube size was different by country. We don't need the same mess with auto/truck batteries.

[DireStrike]

6. I can see some problems with that system

Not insurmountable ones, mind you.

These batteries are gonna be expensive. A thief could drive in with a shoddy battery, trade it for a new one, then drive off.

There are numerous solutions to the problem but they require extra expenditures...

[alfredo]

8. There's always the chance that he will get a bad one down the road.

The batteries will be installed in hundreds of cars during its lifetime.

The retailer can have an agreement with the battery maker so the retailer doesn't get stuck with a bad battery. They will be able to tell if the battery is good or bad when they do the charge.

The retailer may not own the batteries, only acts as an agent for the maker. It could be a franchise deal.

[Ezlivin]

3. To the first two posters: You are TEDTalk candidates

The answer is exactly what you are suggesting.

Watch Shai Agassi's TedTalk to see his sweeping vision for electric vehicles.

[Shagbark Hickory]

7. I'm excited about this but not thrilled with the idea of leasing batteries. I think that's just

another way to make money and isn't going to work real well for the consumer.

And furthermore, I'd be a lot more excited if they just swapped out the powertrain in an existing vehicle like Maxima or Altima with an electric motor that way they can say "Hey it's a Maxima that runs on electricity and unforch. you have to rent the batteries but it costs the same as a gas engine maxima. A small car in the US is as attractive as garlic ice cream, as John Bonerhead would say.

PErsoanlly, I think they should take a lesson from VW and pop some turbo diesels into their cars that way we can see what good gas mileage really is.