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- AmyVernon, on 10/22/2009, -0/+11Toyota'd better watch out or find that it's being left in the dust hybrid/EV-wise.
- sqladmin, on 10/22/2009, -0/+8This is not bad, but I would be much more comfortable with Goss132 EV. I just feel better knowing I'm getting a car from a company who's only income is from the EV market and not from petrol engines at all. I believe their vehicles are around 23K. Love it. Wish I could find more pictures though. The site is weak on images. Why would you keep pictures secret?
Is still nice knowing other companies are getting serious about EV's though. It's about time. - frequentFlyer, on 10/22/2009, -1/+7Why do they have to make EVs look so ghey? Why can't they be cool like a Tesla?
- JanusTheDoorman, on 10/22/2009, -0/+6If Mitsubishi gets in on the Zero footprint game lets hope they remember to set the SatNav to go to places other than Hawai'i.
</incredibly poor taste> - JQP123, on 10/22/2009, -0/+5I have an extra 220 volt outlet in my garage that is waiting for an all electric vehicle.
- m4x30000, on 10/22/2009, -0/+5Seeing the impact of electric cars on oil companies will be a lot more interesting than the impact on nature; nature's already screwed.
- jdames1980, on 10/22/2009, -0/+4Electric vehicles are FINALLY happening for real! It's an exciting time to be alive that's for sure.
- wilf_brim, on 10/22/2009, -1/+5GM should be very nervous: the Leaf is going to be a better vehicle for (I bet) far less money than the Volt. GM has a huge bet on the Volt, and it isn't going to pay off. The shareholders had better dump the stock....wait a minute.....
- pinchduck, on 10/22/2009, -2/+5Yeah, hybrids and electric vehicles are models of simplicity that will never, ever need to go to a mechanic.
- InactiveUser, on 10/22/2009, -0/+3Depends if you have a multimeter and some basic skills in electronics, which I do. I can pull an engine down and put it back together, living in Australia you can get rooted really quickly if you can't. Most Aussies can..
Electric cars are simple - very very simple... - pinchduck, on 10/22/2009, -0/+2It doesn't look like they're off the ground yet. It would be sweet if they hit the 23k price point, good luck to them.
- InactiveUser, on 10/22/2009, -1/+3Its going to be a shame that we no longer have alloy heads to melt, water pumps to fail, injectors to clog, clutch plates to burn out, oil to change, filters to clog, water seals to break, timing belts to break 600 miles from nowhere and belt driven generators to fail because the mechanic is a useless, idiotic, lazy, charge you for ***** not done extortionist ass.
/s
Coal miners are next... - Culyt, on 10/22/2009, -0/+2"have been driven over 100,000 miles, and still demonstrate 100 mile range."
And there lies the problem for Toyota.
They want you to buy a new car every 5 years, they start to break down during that time. EV cars don't. They have very few moving parts, the parts they do have can be replaced fairly cheaply and won't disappear from production since they are fairly generic electronic components. There's nothing special about a Toyota electric motor, or a Toyota battery. Even when the batteries are replaced, there is nothing requiring you to buy Toyota batteries.
Hybrid cars on the other hand have twice as much crap since they have the engine as well as the electronics. They are also specialised components requiring special drive trains and so on. they will push them for as long as possible until its obvious that the batteries are cheap enough that replacing the engine block with more batteries doesn't cost much more (or any more at all). Then they will probably try batteries that are high capacity but die after a few years.
The end solution for car companies will be micopayments for cars. Basically modular cars. You buy the base car which is a platform on the bottom of the car, then you buy the interior and outside chassis. They will still have to fight off 3rd parties making their own chassis (probably just digitally sign everything so when you plug the chassis into the base they talk to each others electronics). Then you basically convince everyone to buy a new chassis every 2 years to remain in fashion, or because its safer, or they add new features (things like LCD screens on every surface). They can also sell the software for the cars media system, navigation software and maps, horntones, drivetones for silent electric cars (like that car that sounds like the bladerunner spinner), mp3 music stores in the car directly, etc...
Then next up it starts all over again with driverless cars, you need a completely new system since they need sensors and so on. After that you have your much more futuristic tech with things like nanotech, cars that change colour, solarpanel chassis, solarpanel windows, windows that are LCD screens, cars that change shape. New electric plug standards designed for robots. Wireless energy transfer etc... - fooljoe, on 10/22/2009, -0/+2Toyota did already make the most successful production EV ever with the Rav4-EV. 300 of these, first produced 10 years ago, are still in public hands, and many more are being driven by fleet customers such as SCE. Many of these small SUVs, based on NiMH batteries (the same basic chemistry seen in all of today's hybrids), have been driven over 100,000 miles, and still demonstrate 100 mile range.
A lot of companies have made noise lately about releasing EVs, but the Rav4-EV of 10 years ago still remains the ONLY EV by a major automaker ever sold to the public. If Toyota were to simply re-release the Rav4-EV as is it would be a better buy than any other EV yet proposed by other automakers, as the NiMH batteries it used are cheaper and longer lasting than any lithium battery yet developed.
If Toyota ever wants to re-enter the EV market, I'm sure they'll be fine. - kamakazitp, on 10/22/2009, -0/+2its going to be even more exciting when they make ones that don't look like ***** that a regular person can afford.
- JQP123, on 10/22/2009, -0/+2Hybrids have all the usual internal combustion hardware and then some. But in comparison, an all electric vehicle *is* a model of simplicity.
- sqladmin, on 10/22/2009, -0/+1Yes... I agree. There is more to a car than whats under the hood, but in a way I still believe that having enterprises engaged with standard fossil fuel technologies will prevent the institution from going into EV production 100%. They usually only permit them selves to product only in a "limited quantity" which I am reading more and more. Many of them are uneasy with the idea of a complete switch. I know over time there may be more and more manufacturing going on; I still can't help but have a complete lack of confidence that any of these major companies will lead us ( consumers ) into the EV future. I hate them for that.
It's the startups that are doing it ALL with a fraction of the capital. Goss132, Tesla, Miles, etc. yet the US Government is giving the big companies money hand over fist. I say give Goss132 as much as they need to get their cars in full scale production. - Greengoo, on 10/22/2009, -0/+1When you buy a Nissan EV, part of the dealer cost is they come out and install one for you if you need it. /nissanemployee
- smack1700, on 10/22/2009, -0/+1That had so much bad pun I had to digg you up
- Prism123, on 10/22/2009, -0/+1while hybrids aren't that simple, electric cars are in fact pretty simple, just needs an electric motor, a motor controller, and a power source. Way simpler than everything that goes into a fuel injection engine, and requires way less maintenance, since there aren't mini explosions going on inside the engine.
- JQP123, on 10/22/2009, -0/+1Then can I expect a rebate since I already have one?
- smack1700, on 10/22/2009, -0/+1Same goes for Acura and Lexus, so what?
Look at the specs of an Infiniti, Acura, and Lexus vs. their Nissan, Honda, and Toyota counterparts. You pay a lot more because they're higher performing vehicles. (and there is some name recognition built into the pricing, I'm aware of that) - jdames1980, on 10/22/2009, -0/+1Baby steps, baby steps.
- Greengoo, on 10/22/2009, -0/+1I'm not on the sales side, but my understanding is that it would basically be a line item you select and choose to pay for during the pre-ordering process, so you would hypothetically just not have to pay extra for it. Once the cars get popular and they actually have them just sitting on the lot, it might be different, not sure.
- NiftyG, on 10/22/2009, -0/+0@sqladmin: It doesn't matter if a manufacturer goes 100% EV or not. I would imagine Nissan's EV group alone is already bigger than most of those companies you mention. I'm sure other big auto manufacturers have similar EV groups working on cars as well. It's all good.
Just as long as someone like myself can buy a reliable EV at a decent price, then that's all that matters. Once EV cars get on the road, demand will rise and the shift will happen. The manufacturers who go with the flow will do fine, those who stick with petroleum will eventually get left behind. - NiftyG, on 10/22/2009, -0/+0I would love to see the specs for that car, and some pictures. At this point, the Tesla seems to be the best EV-only manufacturer, though the Aptera looks pretty promising.
But a car is a lot more than just the motor and what type of fuel it uses. All cars have wheels, brakes, bodies, suspension systems, and all sorts of other things that need to be designed properly. The fact that Nissan, or any other car manufacturer, also sells gasoline cars is not a strike against them at all. A traditional car manufacturer can bring a lot of expertise to the table when it comes to design, mass manufacturing, quality control, and service networks.
I think it's great that these major auto manufacturers are getting into the EV business. Mass manufacturing can only lower prices and make the cars more available to everyone. - Digitalfilm43, on 10/22/2009, -7/+1Including Infiniti? Infiniti IS Nissan! You just get a different badge and pay a lot more for it...suckers!
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