Nissan To Quadruple EV Range by 2015
First and foremost, in terms of Nissan, four times more EV range equals 250 miles. This according to Mitsuhiko Yamashita, Nissan's executive VP of R&D. That's slightly more distance than the all-new Toyota Land Cruiser can cover with a single tank of gas. Nissan's first-generation lithium ion packs are good for just 75 miles. The second-gen batteries will arrive in that most magical of years (2010) to propel an unspecified vehicle a bit over 100 miles. Third-gen lithiums will show-up right when the Mayan calendar ends (2012), and propel a car 185 miles on a charge. As AutoblogGreen's Dom Yoney points out, it's best not to compare these (hypothetical) numbers to the Tesla Roadster's (hypothetical) numbers. Apparently there's a metric called "watt hours per kilogram" involved, but my brain is too small and lizard-like to comprehend. Nissan lithium ion battery production will begin in earnest next year at 13k units before ramping-up to a 65k units. Eventually.
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That Tama EV looks like just the thing for my local errands. Cool!
"watt hours per kilogram" The amount of energy stored per unit of weight by the battery expressed in metric units. Would "BTUs per pound" be easier to stomach?
I don't have high hopes for battery pack standardization. Laptops never got there nor did cell phones.
John: True enough about standardization for cell phones and laptops... though, one could argue that vehicle batter packs are [can be] different...