PR: GS Yuasa to double driving range

[kiev]

found this on asia.nikkei.com, aug 2017
https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/GS-Yuasa-s-new-battery-to-double-electric-car-range


OSAKA -- Japan's GS Yuasa will begin mass producing as early as 2020 lithium-ion batteries that double the driving range of small electric vehicles.

Lithium Energy Japan, a joint venture with trading house Mitsubishi Corp. and carmaker Mitsubishi Motors, will develop the cells, which will be produced at its plant in Shiga Prefecture and supplied to automakers in Japan and Europe.

Mitsubishi Motors' i-MiEV compact, for instance, has a scope of around 170km per charge. The new battery would extend the range to some 340km, comparable to that of a large electric vehicle which can hold a bigger battery, and close to the limit of a gasoline-fueled car with a full tank.

 

[DBMandrake]

That would be great if the 170km claim for the existing i-Miev was true.... :lol: :roll:

Add this to the long list of "I'll believe it when I see it in cars available for sale" battery claims...

 

[JoeS]

That would be great if the 170km claim for the existing i-Miev was true.... :lol: :roll:
Add this to the long list of "I'll believe it when I see it in cars available for sale" battery claims...

While we're being unrealistic, let's say the range of our i-MiEV were able to be doubled simply by putting these new cells into the existing package ... despite this now being a well-aged utilitarian design, surely there are markets around the world that Mitsu could sell into and undercut just about every other BEV as the i-MiEV tooling is already amortized. Remember how VW kept the Beetle production going for years in other countries...

 

[DBMandrake]

I've said it before but it wouldn't take much of a refresh to make the i-Miev into a viable small city car even with today's competition.

1) Increase the battery capacity to double the range to a real world 120 miles. There are still a few EV's launching today that only have 120 to 150 miles range.
2) Add a heat pump and bin the woefully slow and inefficient PTC water heater.
3) Add pre-heating while plugged in as standard
4) Put in proper comfortable seats that aren't just hard foam.
5) Get rid of the painfully slow 0-10mph acceleration ramp up. (Fixable entirely in software at no cost!)

At a modest price it would sell like hot cakes as a small city runabout as there is still nothing except second hand i-Miev's filling this market segment.

The battery tech is available today to double the energy density of the LEV50 cells in the car, so the range could be nearly doubled without increasing the weight of the car!

Will they do it ? I doubt it. Nissan/Mitsubishi/Renault are in too much turmoil at the moment as a result of the Carlos Ghosn situation... :twisted:

 

[wmcbrine]

Nissan/Mitsubishi/Renault are in too much turmoil at the moment as a result of the Carlos Ghosn situation... :twisted:

...and the new management at Nissan seems pretty anti-EV:

https://ww.electrek.co/2020/01/02/did-a-nissan-exec-really-just-say-that-ev-charging-is-too-difficult-for-women/

Idiots.