NissanBatteryBreakthroughDouble Leaf EV range in few years

[MitchJi]

Hi,

Moved by MitchJi (uncensored - Please Do Not move this again!)

http://m.autoblog.com/2014/12/02/ni...ange/?post=1&icid=autobloggreen_river_article

Nissan battery breakthrough to double Leaf EV range within a few years

The Tesla Model S might be the headline-grabber of the electric vehicle world, but the Nissan Leaf is the segment's secret star. With over 130,000 sold worldwide since its introduction and record US sales in 2014, the little hatchback has helped its parents at the Renault-Nissan Alliance to sell over 200,000 EVs since 2010.

With that much success in the EV business, there's no reason for the automaker to stop now, and according to CEO Carlos Ghosn a huge technological breakthrough is on the way to make plug-ins an attractive choice for more drivers than ever before. In an interview on Japanese TV, Ghosn confirmed that Nissan has a new battery that could allow for over 400 kilometers (249 miles) of range.

New batteries could "very soon take the issue of range off of the table." – Jeff Kuhlman

Ghosn was tight-lipped on the details of the tech, but Daily Kanban dug deeper. An unnamed Nissan engineer confirmed that the roughly 250-mile range would be for a Leaf-sized vehicle – a massive leap over the hatchback's current EPA-rated max of 84 miles or 124 miles in Europe. The battery reportedly offers twice the capacity, while bringing weight and costs down compared to the present version. "Commercial applications could be no more than one model cycle away," said the anonymous worker, making the innovation sound even more tantalizing.

Lending even more credence to this major battery innovation, Nissan spokesperson Jeff Kuhlman told Daily Kanban: "We continue our R&D efforts because we believe that we can do more with battery electric, and very soon take the issue of range off of the table."

Renault-Nissan is betting a huge portion of its chips on the future of battery electric vehicles. The company even tried stuffing a 48-kilowatt hour pack into a Leaf for an event in Spain last year. While not its primary focus, the automaker is hedging its bets slightly by working with Daimler and Ford on fuel cell innovations, as well.

 

[liveforphysics]

There have been a few double battery LEAFs around for at least a year or so now. Nissan competed with one in some long distance EV race events, and made it public.

 

[MitchJi]

Hi Luke,

There have been a few double battery LEAFs around for at least a year or so now. Nissan competed with one in some long distance EV race events, and made it public.

What is new is the following (I think the first double battery LEAFs were exactly that, double LEAF batteries):

CEO Carlos Ghosn confirmed that Nissan has a new battery that could allow for over 400 kilometers (249 miles) of range.

 

[dogman dan]

Sounds great, but bear in mind if they stuff double the capacity battery into the car, it's not going to be for the same price. Still, a good thing to be able to get a larger battery as an option!

Be interesting to see how popular electric cars are if gas remains low. Drove by some $1.84 gas yesterday, crazy. Reminds me of the Regan years.

 

[liveforphysics]

It's entirely possible they fit it in the same pack size and weight if they got one of the many energy density breakthroughs cycling well and manufacturable. They weren't starting from that tough of a spot to be doubling.

 

[neptronix]

Right, the current battery is something like ~140whrs/kg. They could stuff at least a 150 mile range battery into the car with no issues today if they wished.

Even just 32-36kwh would rock. It would make the car useable to so many more people.

 

[dogman dan]

I guess what I meant was better cells with more capacity in the same space will cost more. Will people be interested enough to pay it?

I just hope this current hiccup in gas prices doesn't cause another Regan years. You know, nobody interested in LEED cert for a building, people ripping the solar panels off the roofs because they are ugly, etc. And of course, more one ton pickups driving around in circles in towns.

I sure hope this oil spasm doesn't kill off Tesla.

 

[Punx0r]

It can't last as it seems most oil producers (including OPEC) are currently operating at a loss. They're just hoping to bankrupt their competitors before depleting their own cash reserves.

 

[neptronix]

People don't buy Teslas because of the price of gas.
Nissan is selling more of their Leafs than they ever have.

Would you have expected an inverse correlation with EV sales and gasoline prices? i didn't!
But it's just not people freaking out over peak oil who buy EVs these days..

 

[MitchJi]

I guess what I meant was better cells with more capacity in the same space will cost more. Will people be interested enough to pay it?

You are forgetting, that one of the metrics of better cells is lower prices. In the video I recently posted, the CEO of LG Chem said they're on the verge of a $35k car with a range of over 200 miles. Don't you think Nissan is working on that also?

I just hope this current hiccup in gas prices doesn't cause another Regan years.

Want to lower gas prices have to do with killing innocent people in Nicaragua and El Salvador?

 

[MitchJi]

Hi,

http://cleantechnica.com/2014/12/28/will-seeos-400-whkg-battery-fulfil-expectations/

We have a solid state battery and are developing a product that is targeted at 400 Wh/kg, which is an energy density that is two to three times that of existing products out there,” said Zarem. “When you double the energy density, you almost cut the cost of manufacturing in half.”