Official Infiniti LE thread - early 2017, 60 kWh

[TomT]

To hell with the car, I want the garage!

Has this video been posted yet?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JJMvWjl4a4&feature=player_embedded" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
I don't much mind plugging in myself, but watch this. Once one BEV manufacturer begins to offer inductive charging,
I have a hard time believing it won't be a huge selling point, that all BEV manufactures will soon adopt.

 

[surfingslovak]

I'd be happy with an EPA range of 100 miles (like Leaf's 73).

If the ActiveE is any guide, you would need about 1/3 more battery capacity. The electric bimmer has an EPA range of 96 miles, although energy economy at freeway speeds could be better. It looks like the Infinity will have better and lighter tires, and a lower drag coefficient. A 30 kWh battery would likely return close to 100 EPA miles. And I have to agree, this turns out to be much more manageable in daily driving in the Bay Area. Much better than the Leaf.

 

[stanley]

The inductive charging looks great. I will be building a new house and would like to get the garage ready to put this in. I assume that there needs to be a 240 line from the wall to under the garage floor to where the pad will be. Does anyone know what the specs are with regard to roughing this in for later installation of the pad?

 

[TRONZ]

To hell with the car, I want the garage!

What car, what garage... I want that driver!

 

[Boomer23]

The inductive charging looks great. I will be building a new house and would like to get the garage ready to put this in. I assume that there needs to be a 240 line from the wall to under the garage floor to where the pad will be. Does anyone know what the specs are with regard to roughing this in for later installation of the pad?

It's reasonable to expect reduced charging efficiency compared with a wired charging connector. For me, the convenience and "Wow" factor aren't worth much of an efficiency reduction.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

sorry but this aint gonna work without the additional range. give it a "rated" 150 miles and boost the price. it could sell for $45,000-$50,000 since the Tesla's 160 mile range car would still be $6k more (and very rare!)

 

[SanDust]

What car, what garage... I want that driver!

It's an animation, isn't it?

 

[EVDrive]

This car is growing on me. Nice video. I agree that an EPA range of 100+ miles is what we need for the bay area. 100 miles... 73 in reality isn't good enough to go mainstream. They need a capacity upgrade option. Many people will happily pay 5 k more in the bay area for extra range. Many people here are well off.

I have a friend at work who just bought a volt yesterday after I tried to pressure him into buying a Leaf for his new car. He needed more than 70 miles of range. He needed 100 miles minimum... Just like me so I can't blame him.

 

[TomT]

Good point!

To hell with the car, I want the garage!

What car, what garage... I want that driver!

 

[evnow]

I'd be happy with an EPA range of 100 miles (like Leaf's 73).

If the ActiveE is any guide, you would need about 1/3 more battery capacity.

BMW i3 will have a smaller battery but about 90 mile EPA range according to Tom. Ofcourse Nissan isn't saying anything about carbon fiber.

http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/showthread.php/5130-BMW-i/page13?p=128760&viewfull=1#post128760" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[Boomer23]

This car is growing on me. Nice video. I agree that an EPA range of 100+ miles is what we need for the bay area. 100 miles... 73 in reality isn't good enough to go mainstream. They need a capacity upgrade option. Many people will happily pay 5 k more in the bay area for extra range. Many people here are well off.

+1

 

[surfingslovak]

BMW i3 will have a smaller battery but about 90 mile EPA range according to Tom. Ofcourse Nissan isn't saying anything about carbon fiber.

Thank you for pointing that out, I missed Tom's post on the Tesla forum. We have a Facebook group for ActiveE and i3. I know that he talked to some higher ups at BMW at the NYIAS, but he didn't mention the LA4 tidbit before.

From what I've gathered, the Infinity will not use carbon fiber, and it will be a heavier and larger vehicle than the i3. It's improbable that it will have better energy economy than either the Leaf or the i3, which I came to regard as a Leaf competitor. Tom and I had a an exchange about the runflats BMW likes to use everywhere, including their EVs, and although several of us were very clear that we don't want those on the i3, something is telling me that BMW won't grant our wish.

Personally, I doubt that the i3 will achieve 6 m/kWh in normal urban driving, even with a carbon body and very aggressive regen. I can barely get 4 with the ActiveE even if I'm going conservatively, and although it's a bit chunkier, it supposedly has the same drivetrain. From what I've heard here and elsewhere, Nissan better find a way to increase battery capacity in the Infinity, lest they wanted to miss a sizable portion of the market.

 

[evnow]

I think there is a 50/50 chance that LE will actually have a larger battery. Nissan has a few reasons for not advertising this yet.
- They don't want people to wait for Infiniti LE, they want people to buy Leaf now
- Leaf itself is rumored to be getting a bigger battery for 2014, so obviously LE will too

Also, uniformly Nissan has been critisized for not offering a bigger battery since LE reveal. So, even if they haven't already thought about it, bigger battery option becomes a priority now.

 

[EVDRIVER]

BMW i3 will have a smaller battery but about 90 mile EPA range according to Tom. Ofcourse Nissan isn't saying anything about carbon fiber.

Thank you for pointing that out, I missed Tom's post on the Tesla forum. We have a Facebook group for ActiveE and i3. I know that he talked to some higher ups at BMW at the NYIAS, but he didn't mention the LA4 tidbit before.

From what I've gathered, the Infinity will not use carbon fiber, and it will be a heavier and larger vehicle than the i3. It's improbable that it will have better energy economy than either the Leaf or the i3, which came to regard as a Leaf competitor. Tom and I had a an exchange about the runflats BMW likes to use everywhere, including their EVs, and although several of us were very clear that we don't wont those on the i3, something is telling me that BMW won't grant our wish.

Personally, I doubt that the i3 will achieve 6 m/kWh in normal urban driving, even with a carbon body and very aggressive regen. I can barely get 4 with the ActiveE even if I'm going conservatively, and although it's a bit chunkier, it supposedly has the same drivetrain. From what I've hear here and elsewhere, Nissan should better find a way to increase battery capacity in the Infinity, lest they wanted to miss a sizable portion of the market.

Run flat tires are a compromise, they are heavy, handle worse, are less efficient, and have poor ride quality. When I had a Cooper S I took them all off the first week.

 

[surfingslovak]

I think there is a 50/50 chance that LE will actually have a larger battery. Nissan has a few reasons for not advertising this yet.
- They don't want people to wait for Infiniti LE, they want people to buy Leaf now
- Leaf itself is rumored to be getting a bigger battery for 2014, so obviously LE will too

Also, uniformly Nissan has been critisized for not offering a bigger battery since LE reveal. So, even if they haven't already thought about it, bigger battery option becomes a priority now.

Agreed, and that kind of feedback in one of the reasons why we have concept cars, right? I have a very good reason to believe that Nissan is serious about this project, and is following all this feedback very closely. My worry is that their battery factory might not be tooled for a different battery module, and if they did not want to change the module form factor, they would have to double the battery pack size. Adding 30% or 50% would not be feasible with the current design and Leaf's technology stack. A better chemistry, such as NMC, is a possibility, but I'm under the impression that they intend to leverage current Leaf tech as much ad they can, to keep the sticker price low, and amortize their investment better.

Run flat tires are a compromise, they are heavy, handle worse, are less efficient, and have poor ride quality. When I had a Cooper S I took them all off the first week.

Yes, thank you for mentioning that. I did not realize that runflats had such an impact, until I talked to couple of other folks with similar experience. BMW should really make an exception, and fit their i brand with lighter tires.

 

[evnow]

My worry is that their battery factory might not be tooled for a different battery module, and if they did not want to change the module form factor, they would have to double the battery pack size. Adding 30% or 50% would not be feasible with the current design and Leaf's technology stack. A better chemistry, such as NMC, is a possibility, but I'm under the impression that they intend to leverage the Leaf as much ad they can, to keep the sticker price low, and amortize their investment better.

I don't think their assembly plant will be that rigid. They would have definitely taken different battery sizes in the future into account while designing the plant.

Battery is something that will undergo continuous upgrades and that needs to be factored into any investment / ROI decisions.

 

[surfingslovak]

I don't think their assembly plant will be that rigid. They would have definitely taken different battery sizes in the future into account while designing the plant.

Battery is something that will undergo continuous upgrades and that needs to be factored into any investment / ROI decisions.

Right, and if they wanted to keep the current cell and module form factor, they could relatively easily pack three cells into one module instead of four. They would be all connected in parallel, and the car would require 96 modules instead of 48 to reach the same exact pack voltage. This is the approach BMW is using in the ActiveE, except that their cells are a bit bigger, and they only pack two of them into a module. Oh, and they reportedly use NMC.

 

[Herm]

Nissan may have chosen to keep the battery at 24kWh and yet reduce the weight/cost by 50%.. that along with a more powerful motor will increase pep.

 

[surfingslovak]

Nissan may have chosen to keep the battery at 24kWh and yet reduce the weight/cost by 50%.. that along with a more powerful motor will increase pep.

And while that's certainly a possibility, the word I've heard was more along the lines that it would be the Leaf underneath a different skin. Infer from it what you may.

 

[TonyWilliams]

Nissan may have chosen to keep the battery at 24kWh and yet reduce the weight/cost by 50%.. that along with a more powerful motor will increase pep.

And while that's certainly a possibility, the word I've heard was more along the lines that it would be the Leaf underneath a different skin. Infer from it what you may.

24kWh with "more pep" is great if I want to run out of power everyday, instead of most days.

I absolutely will not buy another 24kWh car. Or one without quick charging / battery swapping or other scheme that doesn't have me sitting at a slow 3.3 / 6.6 charger.