Comments on: Nissan’s Electric Car Plans: Victory or Vapor?

By: phil

phil — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 04:35:46 +0000

no i think they are controled by oil companys or scared this cars will need no maint.and thats why they took them away from all the celebs that owned them .

By: roy coleman

roy coleman — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 20:16:27 +0000

do you realize how much gas' a 40 hp generator will require, to run. one would probably go in the hole here, buying gas' for the generator.

why not use a regular' say nissan, front wheel drive' 1.6 engine, that will presently get abt 40 miles to the gal, on the highway. remove the alternator,redesign the alternator' where by, a single shaft' with a double pulley, could run the first four alternators. then the second pulley' running by belt to another, shaft that is also running four alternators. for a total of seven alternators, that are continously feeding' approx 850 amps of power to the staorage battery or batteries. alternator one would remain, as it was designed to operate, the car originally.

then thru a series of switches and controller, the car when fully' charged electrically, would shut down the gas engine and engage the electric drive, until battery use is down to preset level, than revert back to gas, beginning process all over again. i am going to say' that you are looking at an easy 100 miles to the gal.

this would not be a hybrid car, each unit would be independant of the other. one would have to know the size of the electric drive motor, and it's requirement pertaining to electrical supply designed to charge the battery, within a certain time period.

By: Save the Electric car!

Save the Electric car! — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 01:47:29 +0000

Doesn’t anyone remember the EV1, RAV4 EV, Chevy S10 electric??? Those were real world electric vehicles that had the potential to destroy the oil industry. If it wasn’t for the astronomical profits of oil companies, those cars would not have been crushed and more than 25% of us would be zero emissions. Chevron bought Ovonics (manufacturer of the NiMH technology that was allowing 200+ miles to each charge) and only released a trickling stream of the revolutionary technology, or just enough to ensure NO mass-production full-electric vehicles ever made it. Their patent expires in 2013. I’ll take 2010 anyday with compact Lithium Ion under the hood!

By: Ur face is hideous

Ur face is hideous — Wed, 28 May 2008 15:53:06 +0000

ahahahahahaha that car looks soooo cool

By: Richard Poor

Richard Poor — Tue, 27 May 2008 03:20:33 +0000

One of the RAV4-EV's that survived the shredder is on the road with the owner claiming 80 miles per charge, no biggie at all. Allegedly putting a 40HP generator under the hood makes the car a 50 MPG PHEV with 80 mile all electric range and 500 miles on a ten gallon gas tank. So how hard is that for Toyota? Somebody is not telling the truth. The RAV4-EV is on U-tube.
Subaru could remove the AWD transfer case, provide an electric motor for the front wheels, provide an electric motor for the rear wheels, put a 40HP 2 cylinder generator under the hood and put the batteries where the AWD case used to be. How hard is that?
How many auto manufacturers got offers they could not refuse?

By: Hilton (Tony) Vidrine

Hilton (Tony) Vidrine — Tue, 20 May 2008 18:41:54 +0000

It’s too bad more people aren’t in hybrids. Also, it’s to bad you can’t buy most green cars unless you live in New York or California.

By: katie & erica

katie & erica — Mon, 19 May 2008 12:06:46 +0000

DUDE YOU PPL ARE SMART!..We agree with ya! THE OIL COMPANIES ARE CHEATING US OUT OF OUR MONEY…………………………………………

those rude stupid ppl.

By: Danf

Danf — Sun, 18 May 2008 02:20:49 +0000

The technology exists right now in fact it has been around for over 10 years to have plug in cars. All the hybrid cars now on the market use Ovonic NiMh battery packs. But guess what, Chevron owns Ovonic Battery Corporation (and more important the patent) and is not going to allow any plug in NiMh based cars in the US until the patent is expired. No need to cut into those oil profits.

This is the only reason you do not see any further development of NiMh systems. It is true that NiMh has a shorter range around 80- 120 miles (about half of Lithium Ion) but that range would take care of the daily commutes of 90% of the population. Lithium Ion is a much more expensive battery system.

By: ex-EV1 driver

ex-EV1 driver — Fri, 16 May 2008 19:46:20 +0000

Shines and OBG:
All the major US and Japanese auto manufacturers made production Electric Vehicles in the late ’90′s. Nissan made its Li-ion powered Altra and the Hyper-mini, Honda – the EV+, GM – the EV1 and S-10EV, Toyota – the RAV4EV, Ford – the Ranger EV and the Think, Chrysler – the EPIC. Some, got over 100 miles per charge in normal driving (I got 160 miles once with the EV1 – but the last 40 miles were very slow)
The only problem with these cars was that they were mainly released in California and they didn’t survive the crusher they were put in after their leases were up.
Tesla has an EV in production today that goes over 200 miles on a charge.

By: steved28

steved28 — Fri, 16 May 2008 17:53:27 +0000

Nissan makes no secrets about the Toyota technology in the hybrid. They told me when I purchased one. It still uses the Nissan 2.5L ICE and is much more fun to drive than a Camry IMO. I only wish at this point more manufacturers used the Toyota drive system, it’s wonderful.