It didn't take 100 miles to know cars like the Nissan EV are the future.
With its silent idle, instant acceleration and missing tailpipe, this car demonstrates all of the benefits to electric cars. These are just a few reasons that the electrification of cars and trucks is inevitable.
I believe it will take a decade before electric vehicles have any significant impact on our highways, but the future starts with little steps.
Call me optimistic. Yes, I know there are still people who think electric vehicles will never play any significant role. They see the electric car's impact on the auto industry like many saw the Internet's impact on newspapers 15 years ago: It's a neat novelty that's never going to make a dent.
The Nissan EV will be one of a handful of electric vehicles to arrive in the U.S. next year -- though the Nissan will have a limited engagement of sorts.
The Japanese carmaker has already announced it will run a number of programs in test cities around the country. By 2012, the automaker hopes to make the Nissan EV available to the public -- most likely with all of its kinks ironed out.
On Monday, Nissan allowed me two laps around the parking lot of the Rock Financial Showplace in Novi to see how the vehicle is progressing.
It's hard to draw an impression after just 10 minutes in the vehicle, especially since it was a mule -- something that has the real drive train under the body of a different car; in this case, a Japanese Nissan Cube.
Hitting the gas, however, there's a certain "Matrix" kind of "whoa" as the hum of the motor quickly takes off and the words "hot rod golf cart" race through your head.
Limited range may be drawback
If the company is telling the truth (and car companies always tell the truth), then this electric vehicle is a lot more than something that putters around green fields chasing little white balls. This is the real deal and a car with the potential to help turn the automotive scene on its collective roofs.
Here are a few key numbers that Nissan executives like to point out when they discuss their electric vehicle:
" 0: The amount of gasoline it burns.
" 5: The number of people it can carry.
" 100: The number of miles it goes on a single charge. (This is a key number to Nissan because its executives say that 98 percent of Americans drive fewer than 100 miles on any given day.)
" 7,500: The dollar amount of the federal tax credit approved by the U.S. government.
" 220: The voltage needed to charge the car or run a typical dryer.
" 6: The number of hours it takes to fully recharge the car's lithium ion batteries.
" 0: The tonnage of carbon dioxide the car emits while driving down the road.
" 90: The number of pennies it takes to "fill the tank" with electricity.
Few of those numbers mean much behind the wheel -- which in this case is on the right-hand side of the vehicle. It purrs through the orange cones as I zigzag through the course, approaching the back straightaway.
One sticking point for EVs is its limited range. People expect to get in their cars and just go. If they run low on gas, they'll stop and fill up in minutes. Electric cars require thinking ahead. A commuter could easily take this car to work and back, but not if the trip is more than 100 miles. Some simple planning makes this car feasible, however. Making it inexpensive will also play a role in winning future consumers. The price of the Nissan EV will be "affordable," though no one wanted to put a dollar figure on it.
Model features flat battery pack
Rounding another corner on the cone-laid track, I hit the accelerator on the straightaway and felt the motor surge. There is no transmission, so there's no lurch of ch-changing gears; the car just keeps speeding up. It feels like a CVT with power, and the torque in the motor (Nissan has not released any stats on the powertrain's performance) causes that belly pinching sensation.
The vehicle jumps and keeps accelerating. Through the corner the high body of the Cube leans awkwardly. But when this model becomes a coupe or sedan, it will wobble less, especially since the car's extra battery weight is placed low on the car.
Nissan, with a partnership with NEC, a battery company, has developed a laminated flat battery pack instead of a more traditional cylindrical battery cell. This system allows for better cooling of the batteries and helped Nissan double the batteries' capacity while adding 1.5 times more power. This, in turn, means Nissan has doubled the driving distance for an electric vehicle without increasing the number of batteries.
Unlike the fictional Energizer Bunny that just keeps going and going, electric cars must deal with real physics. The more batteries a car carries, the more weight it must haul and the more expensive a car becomes. However, reducing batteries in a vehicle limits how far it can go. It's a simple curve that Nissan has rewritten with more powerful batteries. I expect this curve to improve as the magical battery breakthrough that so many expect will come from the culmination of countless hours of research and testing. The harder people work, the bigger the breakthroughs.
At the end of the straightaway, I hit the regenerative brakes. No lag or funny push to them. The EV responds like any other car. I just go through the corner, trying to note the electric power steering -- nicely weighted -- and made a few more mental notes like, "Hey, this is really fun."
Carmaker develops quick recharge
The 100 mile limit, Nissan says, is not a problem because it has developed a way to fast charge the battery packs to 80 percent in 26 minutes with a high voltage system. This idea, however, remains untested in the real world and would be less practical on a 101-mile or longer trip.
But it's not an Achilles' heel; it's just a matter of thinking how to use an electric car in conjunction with other modes of transportation. The electric car may not get you to Chicago on one go, but it can get you to a train station easy enough.
The real revolution from internal combustion engines to electric vehicles will not take place with the machines companies build, but the way people use them.
And the Nissan EV will help bring about that revolution. Though I drove the Nissan electric vehicle only a mile (at best), even I could tell that. The trip emitted zero carbon dioxide and cost less than 4 cents. That's not a bad start to our future.
Article provided By Scott Burgess / The Detroit News May 2nd 2009
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