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April 2009 Posts
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Update on S.T. Tripathi 3 minutes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ug7JMHpH5SQ
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Good find John. What do you know! Still "3 weeks away". Next week, I will give a call in to my contact at NHSTA to see if this car is any more legal than it was back in October, the first time it was "3 weeks away".
Bo, It is an interesting case study for EV's. Let's assume (for a moment) that the car is wonderful, crashworthy, and everything it is advertised to be. What have we got.
$28,900 for the car 60 mile range (at unknown speed). highway capable small car manufacturer with no track record.
I have very mixed feelings about this car. It certainly seems more capable than a typical NEV (like the GEM or ZENN). So that is good. But then you look at the price and say wait a minute. You can get a very well equipped Prius (51/48mpg) for that money. Is it really worth it? Next consider the range: 60 miles. hmmm. That is not very good. My commute is about 24 miles round trip. So this car should be more than enough, but I wonder if it will be when it is cold outside. In the end, a car from an unknown manufacturer with limited range and a high price might be a difficult sell.
LaterJohn C. Briggs
Did you hear the part when they said there is another battery pack you could buy and get 400miles to a charge.
Yes, we interviewd the guy behind the "400 mile battery pack" many month ago (see Microbubble). Our conclusion was that his battery was indeed science.... fiction. Could it be true? Sure. Could ST pull off this car and get it on the market a years before his next competitor? Possible. But my EV sense is telling me too many things are wrong with this picture.
Normal lead-acid batteries have an energy density of about 30w/kg and you really don’t get all of that with an EV because large power draws are inefficient , normal lead-acid also is very inefficient in regards to regenerative braking - but with all that being said, the theoretical limit of lead-acid battery chemistry is around 180w/kg, there are many people working with this chemistry (firefly, EFFPOWER, Greensaver, and about three others that I can’t think of off hand) each is touting gains in energy density, power density, reductions in charge time , increased number of cycles, better cold weather performance and so on- I wonder if more than science fantasy “micro bubble” ran afoul of patent law- because if you put company A’s advanced anode, with company B’s advanced cathode, and add company C’s revolutionary electrolyte, and company D’s innovative cell design - you might get a hell of a battery.
Damn . . . nice find Mr. Briggs. I had not see that ST Tripathi before.
Let us see now . . . they said 12 of these batteries:
http://www.coloradoautoconnection.com/pdf/EV-2-LP%20Battery%20Sales%20Brochure.pdf
So that is 12 * 12V * 110Amp-hour = 15.8 KWH total battery. I can see that little car getting 60 miles on that battery pack (not at full highway speed). Damn, that actually looks real. That pack has got to be somewhat expensive but that would explain the $28,900 for such a little car. And with a 15.8KWH battery pack, it should qualify for the full $7500 Tax credit, so you down to the low $20Ks. Not bad. That car is a lot like the Th!nk City.
I just doubt it has passed the FMVSS crash tests so I can't see how he can sell them legally but this is very interesting!
