The Nissan Nuvu (aka ‘new view’) announced some time ago may finally be arriving in Australia next year to compete against the Mitsubishi MiEV (and possibly Toyota iQ if they sort their red tape with the government) in what is gearing up to be a new spark of electric auto competition. An alternative to the Nissan Cube, this little cutie will be in a price range to match the MiEV and it is expected fleet and government sales will take up a large chunk of first shipments.
The Nissan Nuvu
This design features a pretty windscreen/roof overlay of solar collectors integrated into a conduit that leads to the battery pack…
Nuvu interior
The conduit looks flimsy and could get damaged by in-cabin movement over time. Numerous articles about this car inform us that the solar array will generate enough energy to power the entire battery pack. To me this sounds wildly inaccurate, unless solar cells have taken great leaps in efficiency. I could be wrong but my guess is they’re there for supplementary/accessories power. The Lithium pack (presuming it’s another fancy-cooled cobalt anode type) would need some hefty charge time or a battery swap-over at a Better Place station, otherwise the car would need a long vacation in Vegas in the sun to transfer enough power for the batteries for a decent drive (and a couple of distance bets on the side).
It’s a small car, touted as a three-seater using lightweight yet tough composite materials, some of which are recycled which is impressive in itself in this world of high-profit short-lived throw-away consumables.
With the expanse of glass one would not expect the blind-spot issues that the Prius seems to suffer from. Batteries? I don’t know. Extracting particular technology information from these guys has been difficult due to the usual reasons (but one can try, like a certain electric car start-up company did, sussing out stuff from us). Perhaps like the MiEV the batteries will indeed be cobalt (they do deliver a faster kick than phosphates) -cooling will be necessary to avoid the risk of thermal runaway. The car may be chosen as a Better Place vehicle for our country’s planned charging infrastructure (they are being shipped to Israel for their Better Place infrastructure, probably 2011) so perhaps the battery thing is not set in stone yet, which is a worry in itself.
If Better Place can come and ask us to do a car for them using Thunderskys then perhaps (amongst other reasons) it hints that their chosen battery design for rollout may be a lagging detail in their customer’s design specs. Battery technology should be planned well before production, given their varying sizes, voltages and ratings. We know Thunderksy polymers have a higher voltage/capacity, are smaller and more can be bricked together to extend range. Plenty of space would need to be made available (probably the sub-floor area) for whatever amount of capacity they require. The Thundersky orientation efficiency jury is still out. Not sure if polymers can be placed on their sides. I know the phosphates are better off standing to attention -and there is a cost height in this. The cobalt packs are smaller, low profile and less are needed but the specs keep changing. Perhaps automakers are coy about their batteries even to Better Place. Time will tell.
WYSINWYG – What You See Is Not What You Get
Ultimately, like all things, concepts are just that. A tang in the tongue that somehow is never quite satisfied when realized a second time. It will move on to a more staid or generic form constrained no doubt by legalities, safety issues, expense and the adopting governing authorities. The end result will be different from what you see here and as reported last year – a far cry from this ‘craboholic’ side-stepper featuring rotational wheels for sideways ‘slot’ parking….
Nissan bubble electric Pivo2 - trucks can play Pong with it.
At least it means some healthy competition for our lack-luster gasosaurus industry who should indeed step aside for the new cars to come. And it is true what they say; cars like the Nuvo will serve the greater population who only need a small city car to get around – and for an expected 140 mile range or so between charges, that’s pretty good. Battery swap-overs will make it even better, provided it’s a workable, reliable system.
Electric Cars for Everyone 