Differences in battery packs C-Zero Ion i-Miev

Hi all
Looking at getting an EV. For what we plan to do with it (and given the good network of free CYC Chademo chargers here in Scotland) considering the (much!) cheaper Miev/Ion/Czero instead of Zoe/LEAF.
Been spending days reading forums (instead of working :-( ) and trying to figure out the differences between these supposedly identical cars.

A very specific question: exactly when did the downgrade of 16 kWh to 14.5 kWh pack happen in the C-Zero and did this ONLY happen in the C-Zero or also the IOn/Miev

thanks for your help
D

Originally, Japanese market i-MiEVs could be purchased with either a 16 kWh lithium-ion battery (which all i-MiEVs outside of Japan use) or a 14.5 kWh Toshiba SCiB battery, which is much more tolerable of repeated quick charges. The SCiB battery was never available outside of Japan.

The C-Zero and iOn are the only cars to have a 14.5 kWh Lithium-ion battery. I believe this is due to having 80 cells instead of 88 cells in the battery pack. Non-JDM i-MiEVs have always had 16 kWh battery packs.

Around the summer of 2012, there was a quiet upgrade of the cells from LEV50 to LEV50n. These new cells offer improved reliability, improved extreme temperature performance, and extended cycle life. For my US i-MiEV, I had to have my battery pack replaced due to a failed cell. This automatically upgraded me to the LEV50n cells (my car was manufactured before the upgraded cells were released). With the upgraded cells, I gained about 5 miles of range on my US i-MiEV as well as a slightly faster charge time (the charge rate starts ramping down at 98% instead of 95% on level 2).

Somewhere I have seen a photo that illustrates where to look for the sticker that indicates the battery size on the actual car - it might have been on here, or maybe over at speakev.com - I'll see if I can remember where I saw it...

Open the engine cover in the boot and you should be able to make out the sticker on the left rear of the pack if memory serves me.

misterbleepy said:

Somewhere I have seen a photo that illustrates where to look for the sticker that indicates the battery size on the actual car - it might have been on here, or maybe over at speakev.com - I'll see if I can remember where I saw it...

Click to expand...

From french forum http://www.vehiculeselectriques.fr/quelle-est-la-capacite-de-votre-ion-t9303-60.html (register need)

From the user evcar,

I was surprised by reading about iOn produced after 15/05/2012 - capacity is 14.5kWh

Click to expand...

http://myimiev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=649

Barbagris said:

misterbleepy said:

Somewhere I have seen a photo that illustrates where to look for the sticker that indicates the battery size on the actual car - it might have been on here, or maybe over at speakev.com - I'll see if I can remember where I saw it...

Click to expand...

From french forum http://www.vehiculeselectriques.fr/quelle-est-la-capacite-de-votre-ion-t9303-60.html (register need)

Click to expand...

Thanks for that - my iOn is so dirty under there I can't read any of the stickers :-(

Love the warning not to put used batteries in the wheelie bin.

Link to the Toshiba Scib cell: http://www.scib.jp/en/product/cell.htm

The site shows that the i-Miev uses the battery (in Japan only, consistent with previous postings?). Whether it is a drop-in replacement for the LEV-50N is another question. It does appear to have a different amp hour rating.

Scroll down to the bottom of that Toshiba SCiB battery page and look for the picture of the i-MiEV. Click it, and it will take you here . . .

http://www.scib.jp/en/applications/automotive.htm#car02

Then, scroll down to the bottom of that page and look for the highlighted words "Mitsubishi i-MiEV (Japanese only)" and click that.
You then be taken to the official Japanese site, where you can watch a neat little 30 second commercial of a mother and daughter in their i-MiEV . . .

http://www.mitsubishi-motors.co.jp/i-miev/

Anyway . . . I'd absolutely love it if we could get i-MiEVs here in North America with the lithium titanate oxide (LTO) SCiB batteries. These cells are far more tolerant of temperature extremes than other lithium ion formulas and, as noted, can be hammered with multiple DC Quick Charges per day. The downside of LTOs is the lesser energy density . . . 2.4V to 2.5V per cell, as compared to 3.75V of the LEV50(N) types.

Hence, one can assume that the vehicle's internal charger and the BMS circuitry for each of the cell clusters on a SCiB-equipped i-MiEV is fundamentally different than all other variants. It wouldn't simply be a matter of swapping one type of cell for another.