Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Nissan Leaf EV to Have Ultra-Cheap Battery Pack
fast company ^ | May 5, 2010 | Ariel Schwartz

Posted on 05/08/2010 7:37:51 AM PDT by mylife

Nissan Leaf EV to Have Ultra-Cheap Battery Pack BY Ariel Schwartz Wed May 5, 2010

Over 8,200 people have made online reservations in the past month for the upcoming Nissan Leaf EV, and for good reason. The $33,000 vehicle, set to be released later this year, is the first affordable all-electric vehicle from a major auto manufacturer. It's an early adopter's dream. Now Nissan has revealed the secret behind the Leaf's reasonable price: an ultra-cheap battery pack.

While most lithium-ion batteries cost $1000 to $1,200 per kWh, the Leaf's 24 kWh battery pack costs just $9,000 to produce, or $375 per kWh, according to a report in the Times of London. In comparison, the Chevy Volt battery pack reportedly costs $600 per kWh, and even the U.S. Advanced Battery Consortium only has a goal of producing batteries at $400 per kWh by mid-decade.

So what gives? If the report is correct, Nissan could revolutionize the EV battery industry--assuming it will share its technology with other automakers. We still have our doubts, though, that this too-good-to-be-true pricing scheme is real. Nissan hasn't yet responded to our request for comment.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: automakers; automotive; electriccars; energy; futilecycle; green; nissan; pipedream; pixiedust; ripoff
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-28 next last
So I hear that the fed is giving a 7.8K tax credit to make these things affordable.

Thats right, YOU get to pay 7.8K for every smug liberal ahole that buys one of these.

When did we vote on that?

1 posted on 05/08/2010 7:37:52 AM PDT by mylife
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: mylife

How much are we going to charge (pardon the pun) idiots who drive these for vehicle removal when their glorified Power Wheels dies in the middle of the road?


2 posted on 05/08/2010 7:38:37 AM PDT by pnh102 (Regarding liberalism, always attribute to malice what you think can be explained by stupidity. - Me)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


3 posted on 05/08/2010 7:39:01 AM PDT by mylife (Opinions: $1 Halfbaked: 50c)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: pnh102

Good question.


4 posted on 05/08/2010 7:39:47 AM PDT by mylife (Opinions: $1 Halfbaked: 50c)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

Only 33K! Woo Woo!


5 posted on 05/08/2010 7:41:10 AM PDT by mylife (Opinions: $1 Halfbaked: 50c)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: mylife

Cheap SLA batteries?


6 posted on 05/08/2010 7:41:35 AM PDT by cavador (Wash your Hands-Cover that sneeze!It helps stop the H1N1 Virus)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: mylife

Will they be like the battery packs for computer laptops, and have a couple of cells go bad making the entire pack useless?


7 posted on 05/08/2010 7:42:52 AM PDT by laker_dad
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: mylife
"Leaf's 24 kWh battery pack costs just $9,000"

A gallon of gasoline contains 40 kWh of energy. 24 kWh of gasoline costs less than two bucks.

8 posted on 05/08/2010 7:44:07 AM PDT by norwaypinesavage (Galileo: In science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of one individual)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: mylife
The $33,000 vehicle, set to be released later this year, is the first affordable all-electric vehicle from a major auto manufacturer.

$33K = affordable??

9 posted on 05/08/2010 7:47:27 AM PDT by DTogo (High time to bring back the Sons of Liberty !!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: norwaypinesavage

>> A gallon of gasoline contains 40 kWh of energy. 24 kWh of gasoline costs less than two bucks.

Yeah, but once you burn up the gas, it’s gone. You can charge the 24kWh battery pack up again and again and again! (With electricity from an oil or coal fired electric power plant. ;-) )


10 posted on 05/08/2010 7:50:54 AM PDT by Nervous Tick (Eat more spinach! Make Green Jobs for America!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: mylife

Gosh, an ultra-cheap battery that only costs $9,000? Wow!

And more KW-sucking greenies attached to the power grid with one hand, while they vote to close down coal, oil, and nuclear power plants with the other.


11 posted on 05/08/2010 7:51:38 AM PDT by Cicero (Marcus Tullius)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: norwaypinesavage

“A gallon of gasoline contains 40 kWh of energy.”

By my figures, this is wrong. The right answer is 28 kwh. Plus, the engine is only 40% efficient so that makes it effectively 11.176 kWh of useful energy.


12 posted on 05/08/2010 8:00:04 AM PDT by babygene (Figures don't lie, but liars can figure...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: mylife
It looks like an inverted bathtub.

I went to Lowes to buy a battery for my riding lawn mower, it was like $25 but they gave me a $5 credit for the old battery, or the "core".

So I get the new battery, go to the checkout line, and they charge me only $20, with an EXTRA $5 CHARGE TO RECYCLE THE "CORE"...this was about 2 years ago.

So, I have vowed to just never take them another core, I'd rather just drop it off at the local recycling center and buy the battery outright...but, it won't be from Lowes.

A lesson lies therein for the coming "electric car" craze...those batteries are going to be E X P E N S I V E...especially at first, THEN you're going to have a hell of a time "disposing of them". You've got to buy them, and then pay to "throw them out".

All I know about batteries is, they go dead a lot faster than an internal engine goes dead.

I hope they only sell them to the fringe, lunatic environuts.
13 posted on 05/08/2010 8:01:14 AM PDT by FrankR (Standing up against tyranny must start somewhere, or the future will belong to the tyrants.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: DTogo

thats what I said!


14 posted on 05/08/2010 8:01:24 AM PDT by mylife (Opinions: $1 Halfbaked: 50c)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: babygene
Wikipedia, if you can believe them, says 36.6 kWh per US gallon. (Sorry, I did the calculation of 40 in my head.) The useful efficiency of electricity is not 100% either. You have wires, chargers, dischargers, motors, inverters, transmission systems, regeneration for braking, etc. It's certainly higher than an IC powertrain, but no where near 100%.
15 posted on 05/08/2010 8:17:17 AM PDT by norwaypinesavage (Galileo: In science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of one individual)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: norwaypinesavage

http://hypertextbook.com/facts/2003/ArthurGolnik.shtml. It’s in kilograms so you have to convert...

motor efficiencies are over 90%. Chargers in the high 90s.


16 posted on 05/08/2010 8:24:36 AM PDT by babygene (Figures don't lie, but liars can figure...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: DTogo

LOL, just what I was thinking. Of course when I buy a car I take care of it and drive it until it just won’t run anymore or I give/sell it to a needy family member.

Still even a new car for me is a good used car. LOL

If I can’t pay cash I don’t buy it.


17 posted on 05/08/2010 8:30:39 AM PDT by WHBates
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: mylife

bump


18 posted on 05/08/2010 8:44:23 AM PDT by VOA
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: pnh102


How much are we going to charge (pardon the pun) idiots who drive these
for vehicle removal when their glorified Power Wheels dies in the
middle of the road?

I suspect one of my barely-literate relatives will clean up
when it comes time to put one of these dead cars (and their battery) into
a land-fill.
(or make $$$ off the recycling scheme that surely must have already
been constructed by Obama and Co.).


19 posted on 05/08/2010 8:47:22 AM PDT by VOA
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: norwaypinesavage

...and then there’s the question where the energy to heat the darn thing in winter comes from. I figure you’d need a couple of kWs at least. So you’ll be driving slower or not go very far...


20 posted on 05/08/2010 9:50:03 AM PDT by Moltke (DOPE will get you 4 to 8 in the Big House - HOPE will get you 4 to 8 in the White House.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-28 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson