Hatrack River Forum: Lithium-Ion Batteries! The future is now in Nihonsei Cars!

This is topic Lithium-Ion Batteries! The future is now in Nihonsei Cars! in forum Books, Films, Food and Culture at Hatrack River Forum.

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Posted by Blayne Bradley (Member # 8565) on :

I was watching Discovery and they had this special about Japanese technology like their bullettrains and robots and etc and then they had the car.

It can go up to 300 km/h (the race car version) and accelerate from 0-190 in 6 seconds (the consumer version) it has 8 smaller wheels so its more aerodynamic and takes turns easier. And can recycle the energy used in braking back into the batteries.

It can go up to 350 km without having to recharge.

Problems? Costs a total amount of 350,000$ (CAD) bu tthey are planning to produce 200 of them.

Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :

So with gas at its current price, it'll pay for itself in how many decades? [Smile]

Posted by Blayne Bradley (Member # 8565) on :

Actually wasn't the first cars only for the rich until they were mass produced?

Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :

And they came in any color you wanted. As long as it was black.

Posted by JonnyNotSoBravo (Member # 5715) on :

quote:
Originally posted by TomDavidson:
So with gas at its current price, it'll pay for itself in how many decades?

Well, you need more information than gas at its current price. You need electricity at its current price, the cost difference between the car using gas and using electricity and (assuming electricity costs less) how often you drive the car (the more you drove it, the more you would "save").

Then there's also maintenance costs, etc. [Smile]

But I agree with your point that gas costs a lot right now, Tom, and that this car is still too expensive with high gas prices.

Posted by Glenn Arnold (Member # 3192) on :

There are not too many cars in the world that can hit 217 mph, or accelerate from 0 to 118mph in 6 seconds. Comparing this car to such elite sports cars (assuming it also handles reasonably well, and looks good) I'd say it's $350,000 tag is quite reasonable, just on the basis of performance.

The fact that it might also convince Jay Leno and other horsepower junkie gearheads to drive something environmentally friendlier is also quite a plus. The sooner we can do that, the sooner we can outlaw internal combustion powered automobile racing, which is long overdue for environmental reasons if nothing else.