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230mph Electric Car

Posted by michael on from the never-know-what-hit-you dept.

An anonymous reader writes "It ain't cheap, but Hiroshi Shimizu has finally shown off his latest electric car 'Eliica'. It accelerates faster than a Porsche 911 Turbo, and will cruise for 200 miles on a one hour charge. Stories at drive.com.au, and an image video and tech video. Interestingly, Shimizu believes that the Japanese motor industry is deliberately ignoring his invention and instead focusing on complex hybrids, as a simple electric engine dramatically lowers the cost of manufacturing, and will lead to a flood of cheap, mass produced cars from Chinese factories." A UK auto site has a story as well, including a test drive.

10 of 768 comments (clear)

  1. Systemic Problems by Oculus+Habent · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Shimizu believes that the Japanese motor industry is deliberately ignoring his invention and instead focusing on complex hybrids

    Of course they are. Electric cars may be more efficient and cheaper to build, but you have to plug them in and wait. That's not acceptable, if only once every year when your friend/family member needs a ride.

    --
    That what was all this school was for... to teach us how to solve our own problems. -- janeowit
    1. Re:Systemic Problems by MKalus · · Score: 5, Interesting

      A couple of years ago somoene suggested a "Battery Exchange".

      Think of it like the Propane tanks you can exchange at the Home Depot or Supermarket. You just simply would drive up to the "gas station", the empty battery gets pulled out, and a charged one installed.

      Done, no muss, no fuss, no waiting.

      This would also make sure that you always have a working battery AND it could also lower the entry level as you wouldn't need to replace the battery pack every couple of months.

      --
      If you want to e-mail me, use my PGP Key.
    2. Re:Systemic Problems by Waffle+Iron · · Score: 5, Interesting
      The sensible thing would be to include built-in watt-hour meters on the batteries. You'd only pay for the amount of juice you actually consumed on that particular battery pack before you swapped it out. If you got an especially weak set of batteries, you would have to swap it out sooner, but you'd pay less for that swap.

      (Unless you're returning a rental car. Then they'd be sure to always bill you for a 100% charge at 5X the standard rate + 23% tax no matter what you actually used.)

  2. I'd love a cheap, mass produced 200 mile electric! by Futaba-chan · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Shimizu believes that the Japanese motor industry is deliberately ignoring his invention and instead focusing on complex hybrids, as a simple electric engine dramatically lowers the cost of manufacturing, and will lead to a flood of cheap, mass produced cars from Chinese factories.

    Presumably, the Chinese could license and start building these themselves, without waiting for Japan's lead? 200 miles is the critical value that I've been waiting for for a range, assuming that the recharge time isn't any longer than overnight....

  3. recharge time? by Almost_anonymous_cow · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The UK auto link in the submission text says recharge time is 10 hours not the 1 hour quoted above. So whos right?

  4. Change insurance! by Mr.+Flibble · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Of course they are. Electric cars may be more efficient and cheaper to build, but you have to plug them in and wait. That's not acceptable, if only once every year when your friend/family member needs a ride.

    I disagree - I would happily have one. First, it looks wicked! And second, by far the majority of my driving is less than 50 km / day on weekdays. There would be no problem using it as a commuting vehicle for me.

    What I think really needs to change, is in the insurance arena. I own a 1989 Toyota 4runner. Reliable, but hellish on gas. I own this vehicle, because there are occasions when I *NEED* the carrying capacity and 4WD (hiking, whitewater kayaking etc). Yes, I own a SUV, and I am one of the few with a legitimate use for it.

    Having said this, I don't need an SUV to commute to work. If it were possible for me to switch my plates to a more fuel efficent car - without taking out a separate policy - and only use my SUV when I needed it, I would be saving myself money, and doing a great deal for the environment. As it is, here in BC, if you have two vehicles, you have two insurance policies, there is no sharing allowed.

    An electric car would be perfect for that.

    --
    Try to hack my 31337 firewall!
  5. Formula 1 by joshuaobrien · · Score: 3, Interesting

    If they can get electric cars to outperform others in Formula 1, that's when they'll break into public consciousness as legitimate vehicles.

  6. "Why not?" you ask. Simple. by bersl2 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Such a vehicle does not fit into the automotive industry's model of planned obselescence. Your car must wear out quickly so that you will buy a new car.

  7. Wrong path in my opinion.... by GrpA · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The real threat to the existing car industry isn't this. It's the electric scooters that already come out of china for around $50 in bulk. They are light, easy to maintain and do around 20Kph.

    But you can already get electric scooters that go up to 100kph, and just 1Kw of electric motor will get you up to around 50 to 60 Kph.

    How long before a 5 to 10 Kw electric car, weighing around 300Kg, with a lightweight tube-steel frame for a single person comes out under $2000 using the same technology as they build into present bikes and scooters?

    The biggest hurdle to this was cheap electric motors in mass supply. Battery technology was at the right level a few years back. Now the motors are available because of scooters with hub drives appearing. Mostly being built for use *in* China.

    And the niche for a vehicle that carries a single person around at 80 to 100 Kph for daily commuting that could park in a MC bay still exists (Clive Sinclair's M5 was a realisation of this niche, but failed for a number of reasons, although they are still worth more than when new)

    I'm waiting for the $2000 model.... Even if I do have to license it, it will actually make it cheaper to drive to work...

    Besides, I have a much more serious car to drive for when I want to have fun, which is wasted on the daily commute trip!

    GrpA

    --
    Enjoy science fiction? "Turing Evolved" - AI, Mecha, Androids and rail-gun battles. What more could you want?
  8. Re:It should be noted by lar1 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Not only does the motor have "torque coming out the ass" even at 0 RPM, but its torque output is actually at its maximum at 0 RPM.

    In fact, the torque vs speed curve for a DC motor is a linear function that passes through the points (0 RPM, StallTorque) and (FreeSpeed, 0 ft-lb) where StallTorque is the maximum torque the motor can produce (the rotor is locked under load) and FreeSpeed is the speed of the rotor under no load.

    Also of interest is the fact that at either of the extremes, that is, at stall or at no load, the motor is actually performing no mechanical work, despite consuming a (potentially large) amount of electricity.

    At any rate, most performance EVs use AC drive systems. My '75 Rabbit conversion, however, uses a 20HP DC motor. And, yes, I can reach and maintain highway speeds (65-70 mph) in a reasonable amount of time.

    http://www.eaaev.org/ for some EV info.