Posts Tagged by Nissan Leaf
A Collaboration on Fuel Cell Vehicles — But Exactly Whose Interests Are At Stake? Not Yours.
| December 18, 2011 | Posted by Craig Shields under Electric Vehicles |
Here’s an article that describes a collaboration between GM and BMW on fuel cell vehicles.
Wow, that’s remarkable. Just when I had started to trust the car companies based on the sincerity of Nissan/Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn and his people who build and promote the LEAF, I see this. A few basic points:
• The oil companies are the main supporters of the hydrogen economy. They see hydrogen as a mechanism for them to continue to retain a service station which will continue to provide the consumer with something they can pump. Electricity, on the other hand, is ubiquitous.
• Creating hydrogen suffers a 4:1 efficiency issue. I.e., generating hydrogen in a renewable way requires four times the number of solar panels that would be needed to make the electricity to put into my battery. Read More
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“EV Profiler” — a Powerful Sales Tool for Electric Vehicles
| August 7, 2011 | Posted by Craig Shields under Electric Vehicles |
I’ve begun delivering a consulting action for my client, the “EV Profiler.” Imagine, if you will, a device placed in your current car that provides a super-accurate report on the amount of energy you consume in your day-to-day driving. Based on where you’re going, how you accelerate, the way you take the hills you encounter, etc., you wind up with a near-exact calculation of the kilowatt-hours of energy you consumed – and thus the knowledge of how you would have fared in a LEAF, a Tesla, a Ford Focus Electric, or any of the dozens of other pure EVs coming online in the next year or two.
As the marketing guy, my job is to help introduce the EV Profiler to the world. I’ll be showing it to the Nissans of the world, getting them to deploy it through each one of their LEAF dealerships.
I believe this will be a powerful sales tool, since, with respect to electric transportation, I believe there is a certain percentage of fence sitters – people whose principal concern is range anxiety. A prospective customer might ask, “Does this EV offer enough range to support the way I really drive?” I don’t know. Throw this in your current car for a week, and let’s find out.
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Predicting the Electric Vehicle Adoption Curve
| August 4, 2011 | Posted by Craig Shields under Electric Vehicles |
Here’s the presentation — including the audio track — that I made to the Electric Vehicle Summit at the Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles last week.
In essence, my point is that, though I’m bullish on the EV adoption curve, and I’m excited that for once, the good guys have a chance to win big, there are several open questions. In particular, there are so many variables here that have the potential to turn the world upside down, that it seems a bit foolish to me to think that predictions that go out 40 years have any real meaning.
Having said that, EVs are vitally necessary to the well being of all of us. Sustainability (generally) can only come from national security, which requires energy security, which in turn requires weaning ourselves off of oil. And there are other imperatives as well:
Health: We spend $250 billion a year dealing with the lung damage caused by the inhalation of the aromatics of fossil fuels.
Peak oil. We’re running out of oil.
Long-term environmental damage: Global climate change and ocean acidification.
Yet I grant that EV naysayers have some good points:
Drivers demand absolute freedom, and will not deal well with range anxiety.
Consumers are risk-averse; no one wants to invest $30,000 in the automotive equivalent of the Betamax.
Most (though not all) consumers refuse to pay extra for a benefit that accrues to everyone (eco-friendliness).
Even if this weren’t the case, there is widespread confusion and apathy about the true ecological benefits. I’m astonished by the effectiveness of the PR team that has convinced a significant number of Americans that global climate change does not represent an important problem. Morally, they’re certainly not very upright people, but I have to respect their effectiveness.
So, how to promote EVs in the US? I would consider appealing to a sense of patriotism, as there is nothing one can do that is better for the strength of our country as a whole than ceasing our reliance on oil. Simultaneously, this would:
Reduce the power, and thus the threat, of terrorism,
Remove a great deal of the motivation for war, and
Stop the outflow of US cash to the tune of $1 billion per day.
In any case, I hope you’ll enjoy the presentation.
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Can Someone Explain Toyota’s Lethargy in the Electric Vehicle Space?
| May 26, 2011 | Posted by Craig Shields under Electric Vehicles |
I often wonder what caused Toyota to invest $50 million in Tesla. Obviously they deemed it important in expediting their introduction of electric vehicles. But doesn’t a company the size of Toyota have a considerable gaggle of engineers who know their way around EVs, after a decade of tinkering with the Prius?
Perhaps Toyota is so wrapped up in engineering and PR problems that it wanted to get some of the R&D workload in electric vehicles off its plate. Or maybe they figured that Tesla’s nimble management style might be able to make faster progress. And note that currently, Toyota is not only a stockholder, but a customer as well; it placed an order for 35 electric conversions of the RAV4 EV, the competitor to the Ford Escape, Honda CRV, and Chevy Equinox, all small sport utility vehicles.
I know others also struggle to make sense of some of the auto behemoths’ decisions, but I find Toyota’s behavior in the EV space to be especially mysterious. After the homerun they hit with the Prius, it seems otherworldly that they haven’t done a better job in advancing electric transportation. They claim to they have no fewer than 10 EV models “under development,” and I suppose that could be true. But why on Earth would you wait while other folks take the lead and render you an afterthought in a strategic part of the industry?
Here’s a theory: it’s obvious that the car companies have gone into the EV age kicking and screaming. But resisting this change, while it was certainly in their interest, was not within their power — and now their hand has been forced. My guess is that Toyota misread the timing of the pressure they would receive from Nissan and the others. Now, they’re playing catch-up — and under horribly adverse circumstances – part of which is the damage they sustained recently to their supply chain, with numerous vendors wiped out by the tsunami.
Nothing else can explain their lethargy in this space, and announcements of totally lame products, like the Prius V. Here we are in mid-2011 and the new Prius still has no plug?
Sorry. No plug? No deal.
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EV Consultants Speak on the Ford Focus Electric and the Nissan LEAF
| May 6, 2011 | Posted by Craig Shields under Electric Vehicles |
I thought readers may be interested in the response I got from two dedicated EV buffs (both partners of mine at EVWorld Associates – see bios here) when I asked them why they favored the electric version of the Ford Focus (to be released later this year) over the Nissan LEAF.
Mike Brace wrote:
All of the drivers’ reviews that I have read have had nothing but good things to say about it. Fit, trim, finish, electronics, all better than the Nissan. More importantly, the Focus is using water temperature-controlled batteries. That way they stay warm [while plugged in for charge] on cold days, cold on hot days and it serves a more effective means of temperature control than air-cooled batteries so it gets better range, especially on cold days. From what I have read it has a better BMS because of it. That system also offers a way to heat the cabin and draw less current doing so. I also like the regen-braking algorithm it uses to coach better driving techniques. I favor it for two more reasons (strictly my own preferences) a) I prefer the styling compared to the Nissan, and b) I have always been a Ford man.
I don’t think they gave it the hype that Chevy gave the Volt. As a matter of fact I have been surprised how they have managed to keep it off the TV and out of the press. But according to the industry it will be on the road by the end of the year.
….and Doug Nelson followed on:
I have a bit of knowledge about the EV powertrain in the Focus also. Magna E-Car systems and Magna Powertrain are sponsors of EcoCAR (and now also EcoCAR 2), and are the supplier of the motor/inverter system and transmission used in the Focus EV. They recently had the components on display at both our spring workshop at EPA and then SAE Congress. They may supply some of the drive systems to teams for EcoCAR 2 – if they can get by the IP issues.
I have talked with them about the systems, and they seem to be very good and capable. They also seem to know what they are doing – which is why Ford selected them. I want one too!!!
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Chrysler’s Alternative Fuel Vehicle
| April 15, 2011 | Posted by Craig Shields under Electric Vehicles |
I just came across this article on Chrysler’s plan to offer a natural gas-based car in 2017.
I know this sounds like a strange reaction, but personally, this cheeses me off. I see it is an attempt to confuse and distract the consumer from alternate fuel vehicles, so Big Auto can sell more internal combusion engines and Big Oil can pump more gasoline for a few more years while the market scratches its head and tries to sort this out.
Of course, Chrysler is free to choose whatever product marketing strategy it cares to. But the net of this decision will be only two things:
a) An ultimate failure for Chrysler (and the tax-payers who bailed them out after their last many decades of failure). There is no way in the universe that CNG (even though it’s cheap now) will become a viable fuel for the US long-term. How much more will they need from us to cover this fiasco?
and
b) A short-term confusion and turn-off for the consumer, as it will serve to cast doubt on the legitimacy of the evolution to EVs.
As always, not everyone sees it the way I do. I just spoke with Plug-in America co-founder and heavy-duty EV advocate Paul Scott. Paul welcomes Chrysler’s idea, and (though he didn’t say it) clearly thought I was half crazy for my reaction to the news.
But hey — it’s a difference of opinion that makes horseraces.
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2GreenEnergy Video Report: Electric Transportation
| April 12, 2011 | Posted by Craig Shields under Electric Vehicles |
Here, 2GreenEnergy Video Report host George Alger interviews me on the subject of electric transportation. We cover fuel-cell and battery EVs, the most likely consumer adoption curve, and the imperative on the part of the OEMs to begin to produce EVs.
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Why Such Combative Reporting on Electric Vehicles?
| February 12, 2011 | Posted by Craig Shields under Electric Vehicles |
I know everyone seems to be all worked up about the delays in the production of electric vehicles. Some even (erroneously) conflate this with a lack of demand, or pessimism about the industry generally.
Venturebeat notes:
Nissan … initially planned for 200 Leafs to be delivered in December, but then scaled it back to just five Leafs, according to a Nissan dealer VentureBeat spoke to last year. Nissan spokesperson, David Reuters, called the report “patently false” and said that instead, 50 Leafs would be delivered in December with two shipments, one at the start of the month and one at the end. But that didn’t happen either. Instead, the company sold 19 Leafs that month.
First, why say Nissan “sold” (rather than “delivered”)19 Leafs that month? What’s the agenda here?
And let’s keep all this in perspective. We’ve taken a few steps on a very long path — one that, by the time it leads us to our destination, will have replaced a toxic system in which we process 72 million barrels of crude oil per day. That’s worth a bit of patience — and a bit of support — don’t you think?
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Nissan Delivers the LEAF
| December 14, 2010 | Posted by Craig Shields under Electric Vehicles |
My friend Paul Scott (EV/renewables consultant and all-around good guy) announced that his employer, Nissan/Renault, began its transition to electric in earnest on Saturday. In his blog on electric transportation, he points out:
Nissan could have delivered the first LEAF to a celebrity to get maximum coverage but, to their credit, they delivered it to Olivier Chaloudi, CTO of a tech company in the Bay Area who happened to be the first person to put down a $99 deposit. I like that!
I love the pure joy with which Paul writes. He’s not afraid of calling out the bad guys, but there is no nastiness in any aspect of his bearing — least of all his wonderful command of the written word. Tell it like it is, Paul.
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Nissan's Leaf and the Electric Vehicle Adoption Curve
| September 8, 2010 | Posted by Craig Shields under Electric Vehicles |
I commented last week on the Wall Street Journal’s article on Nissan’s electric vehicle – the Leaf. The author points out that Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn has made this commitment “without even knowing if people will buy them.”
Every time I come across this idea, I wonder exactly what the writer means. Obviously, people in one-car families who take that car on frequent long trips will be extremely unlikely to put up with the inconvenience of a pure battery electric until fast charging stations are ubiquitous – and we’re certainly a million miles from there.
But isn’t it equally obvious that many people in multi-car families with garages will be eager to replace one of their cars with something that costs 80% less to fuel – and even less to maintain? I know there people who don’t care about the environment. But even people who can’t spell “ecology” or “terrorism” or “war casualties” or “lung cancer” will see very quickly that an EV is a good idea purely on a dollars and cents basis. After rebates, the Leaf will cost under $20,000 in many states. Nissan — and those who follow — won’t be able to build enough of them.
