Weekly roundup
Nissan dealers getting LEAF demos
Sighted this week at some Southern California Nissan dealerships were LEAF demo vehicles. This likely counts for some of the delay in getting vehicles into consumer’s hands. We don’t know how many Nissan dealerships are receiving the demo LEAFs, but it seems likely that all of the LEAF dealers in the launch states will get them. Those individuals that have indicated an interest, but have not placed a reservation, will now have the ability to check the car out and take it out for a spin. According to Nissan, there are now 340,000 individuals registered on the Nissan LEAF website.
Boulder, CO to get 40 EV charge stations
Boulder will start with the installation of two 220-volt charge stations installed by August. Their plan is to have 40 charge stations around the city in a years time. Half of the charge stations will be used to charge city-owned vehicles, with the other half available to the public for a fee.
Irish Ferries to fit EVSE on board
Two of four ferries providing service between Ireland, Britain and France have already been fitted with EV charging docks. Plans are to fit the remaining two ferries also. There will be no charge to use the charge stations.
Auto manufacturers object to California’s proposed EV targets
Honda, Toyota and others object to California’s proposal of increasing the number of electric vehicles and other alternative fuel vehicles on the road. Alternative fuel vehicles would need to make up 5.5 percent of the market by 2018 and 14 percent by 2025. Kind of sounds like EV1 talk all over again.
Mitsubishi and Hawaii partner on EV deployment
Mitsubishi agreed to make Mitsubishi I electric vehicles available on the island and to deploy DC fast chargers using the CHAdeMO connectors found on the Mitsubishi I and the Nissan LEAF. These chargers allow a full charge from a totally discharged battery in 30 minutes. Partially discharged batteries will charge in less time.
Another new battery development to consider
Massachusetts Institute of Technology has developed yet another potential electric vehicle (EV) battery technology. The science is beyond me, but it uses what is called a semi-solid flow cell. While this battery can be recharged, the “liquid slurry” could also be pumped out and replaced offering the possibility of pulling into a liquid slurry station to exchange old slurry for new, and you could be on your way – much like pulling an internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle into a gas station now. Importantly, researchers say that size and cost should be half of current battery technology. The teams goal is to have a fully functioning reduced-scale prototype by fall 2013.
Dear Ernie,
I am sorry to be late resdopnding to this post. I think it is great to from time to time an update on what is happening in the EV world. It’s nice to see it all in one place!
Frank Twohy
Thanks Frank. As more information is coming out more quickly, I find that I need to sometimes provide these capsulized bits to stay informed. I will be mixing more articles like this in (as warranted), but will also continue to offer more in depth articles as I have done in the past. Thanks for your input.