New Li-Ion battery EV hits the road in UK
Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2009 12:07 am
I've seen a few of these G-Wiz cars around London. They're a bit of a joke as they are so small (much smaller than a Smart) and are pretty slow, getting in the way of regular traffic. They aren't technically cars either, rather quadracycles as classified by UK government. This means two things... you don't pay any road tax on them and they aren't subject to normal car road safety regs. The latter has meant they are very flimsy in construction (to save cost and weight) and are a bit of a death-trap to have a crash in (a real consideration on London's packed roads).
Anyway, they've come up with a Li-Ion powered version that boosts the range and ability to not get stuck on cold days (today is -6C) compared to the lead acid versions currently around.
Should be good when they put the technology into a real car...
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-g ... -ion-model
Perhaps of more interest was the bit in the news item about the fast charge stations. Presumably, this isn't actually down to the ability of the Li-Ion pack to accept charge more quickly than the lead acid ones but the design of new 3 phase chargers that can put the Amps into the pack. The current cars are limited by the 6 hours it takes to charge them from household 240V 13A mains (although with a cooker spur installed it is possible to draw 30A).
The company is ramping up production for 30,000 cars in 2009.
You have to wonder though how much the grid can support. It takes quite a long time to ramp up power generation and if 30,000 people a year actually bought and plugged in these cars to their homes every night, would we be looking at blackouts and a mass scrabble to build coal fired power stations to fill the gap? The UK has already restarted aggressive open cast mining of coal and a coal fired power station is the fastest way to plug a big generating gap... It takes too many years to build a nuclear power station and with Russia cutting off gas supplies to Ukraine (and by a political domino effect, parts of Europe) this week, there's not much appetite for building more gas fired power stations.
Anyway, they've come up with a Li-Ion powered version that boosts the range and ability to not get stuck on cold days (today is -6C) compared to the lead acid versions currently around.
Should be good when they put the technology into a real car...
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-g ... -ion-model
Perhaps of more interest was the bit in the news item about the fast charge stations. Presumably, this isn't actually down to the ability of the Li-Ion pack to accept charge more quickly than the lead acid ones but the design of new 3 phase chargers that can put the Amps into the pack. The current cars are limited by the 6 hours it takes to charge them from household 240V 13A mains (although with a cooker spur installed it is possible to draw 30A).
The company is ramping up production for 30,000 cars in 2009.
You have to wonder though how much the grid can support. It takes quite a long time to ramp up power generation and if 30,000 people a year actually bought and plugged in these cars to their homes every night, would we be looking at blackouts and a mass scrabble to build coal fired power stations to fill the gap? The UK has already restarted aggressive open cast mining of coal and a coal fired power station is the fastest way to plug a big generating gap... It takes too many years to build a nuclear power station and with Russia cutting off gas supplies to Ukraine (and by a political domino effect, parts of Europe) this week, there's not much appetite for building more gas fired power stations.