I love this thing. Lots of space, hip, and the range as absolutely acceptable. I wonder what it would cost to put some solar panels on the roof?

I wonder how many batteries you would have to remove to add an 800cc genset so you could increase the range without feeling panicky.
[ I.e. convert it to a serial hybrid - it almost certainly has the fuel tank in it still as it was converted from an ICE car ]

Do they give figures for the range ? I can't find them.
+ I would leave the PV cell at home, on the roof, pointing south. [ Or in the shop if you live too far north. ]

can we buy it , or is it just more" Greenwash "

Developing new product like this takes time. That's just the facts. EVs are an awful risk, and if a company bets wrong and the public rejects the vehicle they offer, they'll lose billions. So be patient, let the auto companies know that you want to buy an EV, and they'll listen.

You might be able to get 4 120 watt panels on a rack on the roof for about $2500 plus rack, inverter, charger, etc. They might get you 400 watts per hour (480 watts would be optimum sun angle under ideal conditions) for maybe 5 hours for 2kwh per day. That might get you another 8 miles per day for a cost of over $3000. If you can get the 2kwh for 30 cents from the grid it would take you 10,000 days or close to 30 years to pay for them with interest.

As many know, Nissan has committed to supply batteries and Renault will build the chassis for the Israel's "Better Place" project. The time lines and milestones are very tight for this project with the ultimate goal to move that country off fossil fuels and onto solar power generation and electric cars country-wide in a decade. Over thirty other country's are formulating plans to do the same. On the other-hand, the U.S. continues to be stuck with fossil fuels for the foreseeable future because of a stagnate government that cannot plan beyond its coal, oil and gas dependent economy. Perhaps we will have a chance when Bush and Cheney leave office and migrate to Dubai. The next administration had better address the energy problem first thing or we will continue on the path, set by Bush, to becoming a third world country. God! It will be great to finally see an end to "Cowboy Diplomacy."

sjc, don't forget to add in any solar energy credits from federal govt and state (depending on state of residence).

This car is up there for ugliness...

It wouldn't be nearly so ugly painted with camouflage paint.

That really is ugly, and I'm sure not at all aerodynamic. Isn't the point of an electric car to be efficient?

Aerodynamics is not as important when it's a city car. The configuration gives it enough cargo room to satisfy most consumers.

Styling is not that different compare to the old xB, so there is already a proven market; even if it's a hate-it or love-it design.

Nissan's Denki Cube is designed to be capable of traveling 100 miles per charge at a top speed of 75 mph. Home recharging of the lithium-ion batteries should take about 8 hours. A “quick charge” feature may become available. Hints are that it will cost about $15,000.oo

In all, a nice usable box.
Lets see it in production ASAP.

I am not sure that state and federal credits apply to something mobile. They are usually for home and only for those components on their approved list.

Also, take into account the added wind resistance and weight of solar panels on a rack. then you might get only 6-7 miles more.

If Nissan bring the Cube to N. America. Perhaps it will give Toyota incentive to give us the Ractis (Yaris Verso replacement). Albeit with the Yaris 1.5, not the native 1.3.

I would suggest that the trick with electric cars is to get a standard for fast or fastish charging so people can top up in supermarket car parks, offices, "fuel" stations etc.
If these charging places were given pride of place, much like disabled parking spaces are now, there would be a useful pull to get people into e-cars.
Plus, you would relax the battery requirements. You could apply differential charging rates based on the state of supply - i.e. 5c / hour at night or when it was windy, 20c for normal times and 100c from 5-7 pm on weekdays. You wouldn't get many takers at that price, but you could get people out of problems.

In terms of batteries, we either get a high capacity battery, or we work out ways of doing with a medium capacity one.

Small (ICE?) gensets and frequent charging points would be two. Standards for fast charging would be another.

Filling stations where could could have a "KwH and a coffee" could be part of it.

Car swaps / ICE rentals could be used when you know you will need to go on a long run.

I am trying to work out ways of going on motorways, but I fail - the only idea I have is the old "Motorail" where you sling your car on a train to travel the length of France.
....
Anyway, for urban and suburban use, we are already there, longer range demands better batteries or new ideas.

Smart ideas mahonj. You should work in public policy if you don't already. The tricky part is whether you anticipate the market and put the infrastructure in place upfront or whether you wait until there is already significant demand.

It's easier, more efficient and cheaper to do it upfront but there is also a significant risk that sales for EV's might not take off as expected. Then you're left with stranded infrastructure.

Chicken/Egg?

A low cost, mini, (plug-in or easily removable) ultra light, on-board genset, seems to be a must to get decent range between battery charges (and to crawl to the nearest charging station).

As batteries improve and get cheaper, the mini genset and fuel tank could be replaced by two extra 10Kwh battery packs.

Flexible design should offer various configurations, i.e larger or smaller batterries coupled with larger or smaller gentsets, for the same vehicle.

Did you ever have a Scaletrix car set as a kid? I wonder if it is feasible for electric cars to be charged directly from a special electrified track on the road surface or a power line above it? You know, a lane on a highway with power line that allows a car to be charged directly like a tram or electric train as it runs. Thus extending running time and preserving battery charge for "off the power" roads. Just a crazy thought. Please feel free to ridicule or make informed-engineer type comments!

to Denki,

I think that's feasible technically but you'd have to have a lot of electric cars on the road to justify it and by then I htink there would be other infrastructure around that might be easier. You'd bury the lines and somehow charge the car as it goes over.

to Mahonj,

To go long distances you'd just go down to your local UHaul and rent a generator trailer if you want to go from city X to city Y. That would have to be cheap - just throw a $500 generator on a stylish trailer.

The first few BEV offerings will have insufficient range and poor recharge ability making them somewhat of a "punishment car" rather than a direct ICE replacement.

These will fit well as the "second car" in a family where at least one long range car is available for the infrequent long highway trips.

The infrastructure will slowly develop, but it is in the best interest of the world for a "standard" to be set for public recharge power. I recommend 230v 3ph 100 amp "pay-for it" standard plugs. Once adopted, they can and will be installed at shopping plazas, restaurants, and tourist spot parking.

We will soon see three hour highway driving range with a two hour recharge. I welcome the rest time. It will be nice to know other drivers on the road are well rested, not overtired.

They might get you 400 watts per hour

Fast chargers are all well and good, but I would suggest that the standard be a dual or triple voltage system, 208/220/440 VAC 30/100 A, 1/3 ph.  110 VAC 10/15 A charging in a pinch.  The vehicle should be as close to omnivorous as practical, and that's not all that hard these days.

This is why no one wants to say anything useful around here. No, watts per hour is not the correct term, watt hour is. BFD...get a life. :)

Honda makes a small 110V 20A genny that is ultra quiet (55dB w/inverter) and uses about 1/2 gallon of gas in 4 hours. They are very popular in the RV world. They are lightweight (you can carry them easily) and cost about $800. They also have a 10A model which is less money but carries the same basic footprint.

http://www.hondapowerequipment.com/gensup.asp

a Honda Genset is overkill, no need for it to output a fixed frequency voltage and you probably do want some sort of emissions control.. then again if you used a Honda generator it coud do double duty if you lost power at home. A gensent installed in a car would not be easy or safe to refuel.. better to use the car's fixed fuel system.

My idea is a built-in, dedicated gen set.. not too large, nothing like the 50kva unit intended for the volt.

it comes down to price. we already know that tesla has a 220 mile range electric and is planning a general release next year ($100,000 current, new car $50,000), but that still puts it out of the range of many (or most) buyers.

I saw somewhere that the average commuter drives 75 miles per day - or about 25,000 to 30,000 per year. That (depending) is about $2400+ per year for gas (at 40mpg - and, let's be honest, how many REALLY achieve this?).

What we really need is a $20-$30,000 EV with a 120 mile range that can get to 75mph so it can operate on the highway. With current technology, that is a definately achievable piece of technology. Heck, we have had electic vehicles for almost 100 years. 100 years? Look how far the computer has come in the last decade, never mind other technologies. Yet, we can't seem to make a car to do this? I know the original EV (Detroit Motors) was abandoned because electricity couldn't compete with gas, but at the time, the dollar equivalent of a gallon of gas was $0.60 per gallon in terms of value today. Since we are looking at 5x+ that number now, and electricity is way below that - it comes down to who do we have to beat to get them to do this? Where is a Tucker when you need one?