As the world’s automakers slowly move to embrace electric vehicles, each brand or group is taking a decidedly different approach to EV’s and hybrids. Just look at the vastly different approaches of Toyota and Nissan. While Toyota is working to develop a battery with 600+ miles of range, Nissan says that 95% of Americans only need 100 miles of range a day.
Driver’s Don’t Need Long Range EV’s…
Batteries are by far the biggest expense factor when it comes to electric cars, and contribute to the bloated MSRP’s of cars like the Nissan Leaf and Chevy Volt. Another supposed shortcoming of electric vehicles are their limited range, with the Leaf officially rated at just 73 miles in average driving. And while many consumers claim they want more range, according to Nissan, they don’t actually need it.
Nissan cites data it collected from Leaf drivers that shows the average Leaf driver only travels about 37 miles per day, and the average trip was only seven or so miles. Nationwide, 72% of drivers travel less than 40 miles a day, and 95% of Americans travel less than 100 miles a day. The problem is that if you do want to travel a significant distance, you are limited by an EV’s range. American consumers may not need that extra range…but they want it available should they need it, some day.
…But Consumers Want Long Range EV’s
he battery could be ready for production between 2015 and 2020, though there is no mention of costs or charging time, two huge factors in EV acceptance. And while 600 miles of range on a single charge sounds nice, the huge difference in range between “compact” and “existing” cars raised my eyebrows. When they say compact, do they mean a car…or a golf cart?
I like Tesla’s scheme best; base pricing on range. The Model S sedan will be available in 160 mile, 230 mile, and 300+ mile flavors, with a $10,000 price bump between models. I think the major OEM’s need to take a look at this pricing strategy, as some people may only need that 60 or 70 miles a day. Other people will surely pay a premium for extra mileage if it is priced right.
So which strategy do you think will win out? Is Nissan right that people don’t need a lot of range, or will Toyota become an EV leader with its 600+ mile battery? Or is Tesla doing it right with their priced-by-range method? Let me know down in the comments!
Source: AutoObserver | Nikkei
PDF 
About Christopher DeMorro
Not only does Tesla offer different size battery packs on purchase of the vehicle, they also offer the option to temporarily swap to a long range pack as the battery packs are easily swappable. So you can buy the ‘cheap’ version and occasionally hire a long range battery pack when you need it.
It’s funny how a few years back Toyota said Plug-ins weren’t good and only hybrids would be while Nissan said pure EV’s is the future and now they want to do a plug-in. They are going to regret letting GM get the early plug-in start…
MrEnergyCzar
My considerations for buying an EV are based on price and range. With the lack of quick charging infrastructure and lack of quick charge batteries, range is a major factor in my purchase of an EV. For Nissan to make decisions on required range based on leaf drivers behavior is horribly ignorant. The reason people don’t drive all over town all day long in a Nissan leaf is because they can’t. Don’t get me wrong, I love the EV movement and look forward to buying my first all electric car. However, I won’t consider the Nissan leaf until they provide a 150+ mile range and I mean 150+ mile range. I don’t want to hear that the 150 mile range is doing 20 mph down hill in 75 degree weather with a tail wind. The range should be based on 70 mpg in -5 degree weather with 2 inches of snow on the ground. The range on the leaf seems to keep going down. Nissan advertised 100 miles per charge, then the EPA says it’s 73 miles per charge. According to Engadget, there are a couple of people who already ran out of charge on the road. People are guessing the cold weather was why the cars died when the dash said there was 10+ more miles left on the charge. So now it’s not 73 miles per charge, it’s 60 miles per charge. Nissan needs to add high ranges like their business success depends on it … because it does.
Berkley lab made a major breakthrough in battery tech that will 10x battery capacities. Nissan should be all over this improvement.
I look forward to the demise of fossil fuels used for transportation. Go Nissan!
Wow…so how does burning coal to generate electricity for your car become the demise of fossil fuels for transportation?
Burning coal produces about three times as much carbon dioxide as gasoline, according to the Department of Energy. But an electric car, having a more efficient motor, can travel about three times as far using the same amount of energy. For instance, the Nissan Leaf gets 99 miles per “gallon equivalent” of electricity. So in the end, if all the electricity came from coal, the environmental impact would be about even.
But not all electricity comes from coal. The other half comes mostly from natural gas and nuclear power. Also worth noting is that wind will provide about 20 percent of our power generation by 2025. Gotta look at the big picture. Muddling around in the present, accepting complacency is a horrible way to live.
“wind will provide about 20 percent of our power generation by 2025.” This is not going to happen for the USA. One particular locality maybe, but not 20% of US energy use.
One large, regulated, and well maintained coal power plant is better than ten thousand small power plants that become less efficient day-by-day. So you should think of cars as little power plants that only get worse over time, and EVs as the flexible solution that will only get more efficient as the years go on and the power generation fuelscape of the USA changes.
It’s not about what the consumer needs, it’s about what the consumer WANTS. Of course, I don’t drive much more than a few miles a day for work, but why do I have a car in the first place…. only to go to work or the local shopping mall ??? Right now, I think the Volt has the perfect balance of reasonable battery-only range for the week and battery/fuel-aided range for the weekend. Hope more vehicles come out with the same basic idea.
A 65mile range EV may be fine for families with a second car, but if you really want a vehicle for the masses, you need a range that is at least comparable to current gas cars.
Tesla has it right. But it’s about cost and weight. I would spend an extra $5k for another 30 mi range. That price option isn’t there yet. I also don’t want to be carrying an extra 300 lbs of ballast I won’t use but every 3 months.
I have about 9000 mi on my LEAF. I can think of two times when it would have been nice to have about 40 mi more range. Next month I’m driving 600 mi to the mountains with wife/kids. I’m renting an SUV; very cost effective. I didn’t expect owning a LEAF to do this but I’m never again buying a car without a plug.
Toyota…… We want more range even if we do not need it everyday. If I want to take an 8 hour trip in a Leaf, I would have to stop and charge 4 or 5 times. The average american will drive 8-9 hours (500 ~ 600 miles) to go on vaction, any more than that they will most like stay over somewhere.
I think Toyota has the right thinking. Who cares who is the first one out of the gate, it is all about who has it right!
One solution to this seeming dilemna is for the development of modular batteries. Then, when I’m low on charge I can pull into the EV “gas” station and the attendant can pull out my depleted battery and insert a freshly charged one. I pay the station for their service and drive on. More importantly, in this scenario the batteries become a commodity, lowering their price, and vehicles can be designed to carry one or more modular batteries depending on the vehicle size. Just a crazy thought for the future.
Why not provide a rentable range extending “power trailer” that you could pick up for those long trips and swap out at rental locations along the way?
2.5 kw of solar installed, offsets around 12,000 miles/year for 25 years of EV sedan travel in Pennsylvania. In California you would only need about 2 kw to offset 12,000 miles of driving. In five years 2.5 kw of PV installed will cost $3000. In three years 2.5kw of solar installed will cost $5000 installed. Today it costs $10,000 unless you can do it yourself (electrician to do the final tie in) for $6000. This is without any rebates.(yes you have to shop wholesale for these prices. Solar to EV is a great emerging energy system in many states and countries. (Lookup the Sunshot program.) right now in Pa. 12,000 miles with a 20 mpg car costs about $2400/yr in gas alone. PV to EV makes a lot of sense for many aps.
Tesla Model S adds aero wheels and ups 300 mile range to 320 miles. Right now Tesla’s
strategy makes the most sense, especially since their battery packs can all be totally recharged in
around 45 minutes. It’s cost that prevents EVs from invading the below $36K price range. Even $49K
EVs have paltry less-than-100 miles ranges, which are, despite Nissan’s self-serving BS about driving
ranges, totally inadequate, even for around town daily driving. Take the Leaf – it can assure around 75 miles of range. When new. After about 7 years, expect that range to shrink to a ridiculously small 60 miles. The Leaf is a niche vehicle with no ability to roam more than 35 to 40 miles from home, new, and probably no more than 25 to 30 miles from home after 7 or 8 years. That’s absurd. No one can survive owning just a Leaf. It can’t even function as a typical second car. It is a specialty vehicle of no particular value. Unlike the Tesla Model S , the Leaf battery cannot be upgraded at some future time, when cheaper batteries become available.
Um … WHY can’t you upgrade a Leaf’s battery? Having made non-hybrids into hybrids, 6-cyl cars into twin-turbo V12 cars, and bicycles into mopeds – I can assure you, you CAN upgrade just about anything. If there are enough Leafs (Leaves?) out there, new battery tech will pop up to upgrade them, just like the plug-in Prius conversions.
Why do people keep churning out oil company fud about shifting the burden of responsibility to coal fired electricity, who burns coal to fire their power plants in the refinery process, that never seems to be added to the equation, or the diesel in the trucks to deliver the stuff, just forget that as an argument, pure electric is the way to go who needs an electric car you have to put petrol in.
Tesla along with Toyota have the right idea. I would want the 600+ mile flavor and it would also be nice to get a cheap shorter range car for my family’s second car. It would save on money for our two car family and still give us the option to go on long range road trips to places like LA or Vegas if need be. I also like tesla’s charge station plan. I could also put up with a 200 mile version if there was a fast charge station with some kind of food or drinks (non-alcoholic) available.