UltraCommuter electric car in New Zealand

[tonybelding]

Check it. . .

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10463288

A quick look at the specs and styling suggests to me that it's quite similar to the GM Impact.

 

[TEG]

It has some things that people have suggested to Tesla, but aren't part of the Roadster:

#1: Modular battery packs that can be quick swapped, and you can run with different sizes of battery packs (e.g.: 1 or 2 at once) depending on your needs for range, cost & performance.

#2: It uses two motors with each one powering a rear wheel. (So no need for a differential)

I would guess that it is direct drive with no transmission.

They say more work needs to be done to make it "road legal".

 

[JRP3]

I don't think removable battery packs are practical in anything larger than a scooter. Too heavy, too many connections in a sophisticated pack.

 

[ryan]

Removable battery packs are practical, but their main advantage is that the large battery cost is no longer associated with the car and the batteries are just hired/leased. In a well designed pack that communicates through CAN there would be 6 wires, 4 for the CAN communication and the positive and negative wires, very simple.

To get it road legal in NZ it needs door latches and windscreen wipers and horn etc, all the small things. Its at the Brisbane International motorshow this week if anybody wants to have a look see.

Ryan

 

[DDB]

We'll find out just how practical transferable battery packs really are with Project Better Place very soon. Israel is small enough and there is state sponsorship for complete infrastructure implementation. If this idea doesn't work from a pragmatic standpoint, then Israel will learn the hard way and it simply will not be tried in the U.S.

 

[Kardax]

Yeah, the GM Impact concept came right to my mind when I saw the pics

They didn't say whether the two motors were on-board or in-wheel. Either way, the differential is not needed, but handling would certainly be impaired for the hub motors. Actually, one of my hopes is that someday Tesla puts either two or four on-board motors in an a future model, driving all four wheels...

On the battery-swap lease thing... leases only make economical sense if the battery still has value at the end of the lease. Given the rate at which batteries age, and the technologies advance, that residual value could be close to $0. So a lease would end up costing almost as much as owning the thing... yes, I know Th!nk does battery leases, but they're not profitable either, and the payments are comparable to monthly gasoline costs...

-Ryan

 

[mt2]

My god, it's a cross between a Loremo and a Bricklan. I wonder if Malcolm was involved, considering his latest project.

 

[JRP3]

Removable battery packs are practical, but their main advantage is that the large battery cost is no longer associated with the car and the batteries are just hired/leased. In a well designed pack that communicates through CAN there would be 6 wires, 4 for the CAN communication and the positive and negative wires, very simple.


Ryan

High energy batteries are going to need a better connection than spring loaded tabs found in electric drills. They need to be positively bolted together tightly to avoid vibration and arcing. A removable battery also limits where batteries can be distributed throughout the vehicle, causing design and weight problems. Finally with properly designed packs using the right batteries, (Altairnano?), there is simply no need at all to exchange a pack. 200+ mile range and 10 minute recharge is possible right now, though most people would never need to use those features.