Subaru Unleashes R1e Electric Car on New York
ABG recently reported on the fact that the new Subaru R1e has recently been spotted tooling around the streets in New York City as part of an official trial in the US, which is an extension of the 40 (soon to be 100) car trial currently taking placing in Japan.
In light of this new development, I thought it would be prudent to show off some of the most exciting features of theR1e, beginning with the fact that it is an all electric version of a production car made by major manufacturers to be affordable and useful to average citizens (though these needs might be a bit different depending on the market).
It’s exciting enough in and of itself to see a major initiative from a major manufacturer (yeah yeah, the Volt, sure), but this car is pretty sweet on its own.
More after the break!
The test is taking place in Kanagawa Prefecture, where Subaru plans to set up 150 of its “fast charge stations” to complement predicted sales of 5k+ EVs in the next five years. These fast charge stations are different from normal outlets and can deliver an 80% charge to the R1e in just 15 minutes! At home the 40 kW lithium-ion pack requires 8 hours for a full charge.
The R1e’s lithium pack is good for 50 miles at up to 65 MPH, with its most impressive feature being a 10 year or 124,000 mile lifetime expectancy. This issue has troubled hybrids and EVs in the past, so this kind of durability guarantee is certainly exciting to see in a production vehicle.
For those of you who don’t know, the Subaru R1 is a small car that is well known in Japan and perhaps perfectly suited for EV conversion. It might be a little smaller than the norm in the US market, but we’re seeing more and more talk about importing these kei-class cars to the US so by the time it happens it might not be as revolutionary as it seems.
I’ll be looking forward to more news, for sure.
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Source: ABG
[...] Original post iżby Benjamin Jones [...]
If you can only recharge for an extra 40 miles in
15 minutes, then these cars are incapable of making trips. I’ll also believe the battery warranty when I see it and I’ll bet it’s pro rated - nobody’s li ion batteries are known to last 10 years, inclusing this one. So that guarantee doesn’t mean very much.
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If you want to go more than 50 miles, take your other car.
[...] vehicles (PHEVs, like the Chevy Volt) and pure electric vehicles (EVs, like the Lightning GT and Subaru R1e). PHEVs are not a new thing, and they have been discussed on Gas2.0 before, but there is some [...]
[...] Subaru Unleashes R1e Electric Car on New York [...]
Smart Cars are selling so fast in SF they have over a year wait for them.
Even if I owned a Smart car my wife and I would have a larger car for visiting family - camping etc.
40 miles with freeway use would work for my commute add solar pannels to our house and offset the charge cost at home. Not a bad deal.
Battery pack technology is getting pretty advanced so the 10yr life span might be possible.
One thing is for sure the next car I buy will not be gas powered diesel maybe but not gas or even premium gas.
Our large car will get 30+mpg and my commuter will get 45+mpg or better.
[...] For more on the R1e, see Benjamin Jones’ article. [...]
[...] Autopia from Wired.com Subaru’s Electric Car On Sale Next Year | Subaru Auto Newss | Automobile.com Subaru Unleashes R1e Electric Car on New York : Gas 2.0 Knowing how Subaru is always slow to adapt and to change, it is intriguing that they too are [...]