This is great, and the future. Would be nice if it was under 20K, with financing and a 7 year warranty. Now offer us a no frills, Cobra inspired 2 seat commuter car for under 14K, and I would be a new owner.

I wonder if Utility customers don't even bother stepping down to 220V. Take it before the transformer for the charging station at several thousand volts...significantly reduces the current demand. I doubt they really need to charge the vehicles up in 10 minutes though (but it is nice to know it is capable of doing so).

Oh yeah, I am all for charging off peak at night for 6 or more hours and even quick charging when needed may be ok, but the realities should be considered. Many utilities synchronize commercial AC units so they don't all randomly come on at about the same time. Similar measures could probably be done with quick charging.

This is the first I've heard of it being available to consumers (but only in CA, according the the website.)

Does anyone know if this vehicle (or the SUV) is/will be available with all wheel drive?

Also, would it do the 80 mile drive from Denver to Summit county (elevation gain of about 5500') on a charge?

If so this could come very close to being my only car. Exception would be road trips, which would require an on-board or towed genset or widely available quick-charge infrastructure.

This seems very promising!!

It may not be much larger than the load a commercial building, say 100,000 square foot factory would be, but the power company has planned for the time of use profile for the building, it is not going anywhere an is predictable. Now take 100,000 of these vehicle and have them all over the roads quick charging who knows when and you have a transient problem.

PWM of an AC line voltage would create worse EMI. Not as strong but now you are talking about generating higher order frequencies that would be very transmittable by the short length of a power cable. The Ultr-low frequency (60hz) of typical AC, on the other hand, would not transmit very well at all from a cable unless it were 1000's of miles long.

Great comments (as is the norm for GCC).

Personally, I'm not too concerned about the various charging scenarios. If it turns out that people quick-charging at 3PM causes a problem, then we'll find a way around it, as in using ultracaps at recharging stations (as someone mentioned above). Who knows--that might be enough of a business to keep all the gas stations from closing. (Just kidding.)

From what I heard, they get the SUVs from some undisclosed Korean manufacturer without engine, trans, tank, etc. I think these BEVs sell for about $50k even after the rebates. Cities like L.A. would want them in fleets to show they are trying to clean up the air. That is a good first market for these guys. Once one city buys them, it is easier to make the next sale.

SJC:

This Korean manufacturer is well known SsangYong.

This electricity truck (SUT) would cost on the same level as the Tesla Roadster, at ~100,000 USD, given the cost of the 35kwh battery pack at $75,000 USD a pop.

While this may be OK for a heavily subsidized fleet vehicle that needs 130 mi electrical range daily, for personal use, a 11 kwh battery ($23,000 USD-cost) coupled with a perhaps 30kw (~$3000 USD-cost) gasoline, natural gas or LPG genset can bring the vehicle cost down to half (~under 50,000 USD). Electric range would still be about 43 mi/charge, without ever the worry of running out of battery charge. The genset would qualify as a SULEV given its steady-state use, and the entire vehicle would be have an additional PZEV status.

If a H2-FC range extender is used as in the Ford Airstream concept car, then the vehicle would be a bona-fide ZEV in a big way, and may qualify for other benifits or subsidy? Since this PHEV vehicle may need but one H2 fillup per month given daily electrical charging at home, H2 can be produced and dispensed to the cars at one central location in the city, thus avoiding the issue of H2 transportation or distribution. Dual-powered vehicle like this may qualify for grants or subsidy from both H2 research fund and PHEV research fund, and the integration of the two energy sources will speed up the public-use research phase with more data points obtainable simultaneously, to help sped up the transition to a renewable energy economy.

In areas with cold winters, a PHEV with either H2-FC or ICE would be more desirable, since cabin heating is done with free waste heat from either the FC or ICE. A pure BEV would waste precious electrical power heating the cabin. Even in SoCal with mild winters, PHEV is still more desirable, given the fragile electrical grid situation there, with prolonged black-outs in the near past.

Potential problems with fast charging of under 10 minutes are many. These are:
1) expensive infrastructure modification, including expensive measures to ensure no disruption to the power grid from these huge surges.
2) stress on the battery due to the high current and heat that may shorten its life, and
3) the inherent danger of fire, melt-down, or even explosion should an electrical short-circuit occur. 250 kw of charging power is a very big wallop that really do damage real fast even before the short-circuitry can be recognized and stopped.

Ontario, California is a good place to be located. Riverside and San Bernardino get most of L.A. and Orange Counties smog, they need to produce less of their own anyway.

Looks like you could drop a genset in the cargo bed.

I wonder what the actual consumer selling price is?

Regarding costing of the battery pack a comment by Kent Beuchert at the Energy Blog seems relevant.

http://thefraserdomain.typepad.com/energy/2007/01/phoenix_places_.html#comments