Your understanding of energy density needs a complete overhaul.

not if the wind turbines only pop out when the car is stationary and its windy!

Thank you Sauve.

Small wind turbines can charge the parked car on a windy day just like the Prius' solar panels operate the fan and cool the car on a warm sunny day.

Most people can't combine different disciplines and therefore it takes a long time to invent new things. Prairie burs existed forever but velcro (which uses the same principle) didn't come about until the space race.

How many of you "environmentalists" are aware that the use of fossil fuels to generate electricity is a huge percentage more than the minuscule usage in creating and using gasoline to run automobiles and SUVs?

I own a 25 year old Fleetwood, and it is precisely what I want and need (steel body, powerful and steady engine...). Its safety factor sharing the freeways with the plastic jelly beans darting around, including this Nissan, is superb... if one hits me, it will crumble while my vehicle would barely have a dent.

And folks who want to depend on solar energy... what happens when "the rains came..." and cloudy skies prevail for weeks (check out the Pacific Northwest).

My vehicle was made in the United States, by U.S.A. citizens. I do not buy alien popcorn.

Is there no wind either? Nor running water for Hydro? We don't need as much oil as you think.

Looks like they make these vans in Tennesee. Too alien for you?

The issue with wind turbines on a car is that wind power availability increases rapidly with height off the ground, a turbine situated at ground level produces very little power because the wind has been slowed by friction with the ground and is usually quite turbulent put the same turbine 10-15 meters off the ground and power produced will be significantly higher. Given this very poor power production once you add in the efficiency loss by carrying the extra weight you end up losing more than you gain. Solar panels are the same, the small available surface area and the weight penalty just make it not worth doing.

Your much better off mounting the solar panels on the roof of a carport or your house and the wind turbine on the roof where wind power is higher. Cars spend >90% of their lives parked so there's just no benefit in carting heavy recharging infrastructure around with you, mount it permanently in the windiest sunniest positions available to you and then let it charge your parked car and supply your household needs.

To Heartsquest who asks "folks who want to depend on solar energy... what happens when "the rains came..." and cloudy skies prevail for weeks?" My answer to what happens when the rains come, well then I would rely on hydro and wind which tend to be higher in the non sunny areas and months. And when they're not as available I would rely on wave power, and if there's no waves well then the tides are pretty reliable If however the tides weren't enough then there's always geothermal an always on baseload supplying form of renewable energy. Suggesting we rely fully on one renewable technology is silly, we will have a suite of them and by diversifying them the implications of the intermittency of some renewables becomes significantly less significant. A diversified grid combined with a modest amount of grid storage (plugged in electric vehicles will fit that bill nicely) to smooth the remaining fluctuations and hey presto...next issue.

HeartsQuest

Eventhough we currently get most of our power form fossil fuels, controlling emissions from a stationary plant is much easier than on a car. Also some forms of fossil fuels (for example natural gas) are much cleaner than gasoline/diesel, however storage on a car is more difficult since it needs to be compressed.

Another point that is raised about electrics is that use lose power due to transmission. But, if you run the numbers you will see that its still more efficient than a gas powered car, considering that the internal combustion engine is only about 25-30% efficient in moving the car, most of the gas you burn is lost as heat. Since fossil fuel power plants usually run steam turbines they are much more efficient, so more bang for the buck

Also assuming the US moves to more renewable sources such as solar, wind, tidal, geothermal and nuclear this becomes a mute point.

Sorry,wrong.Do you know or care that the engine in that Fleetwood converts about 10% of that gas you're buying @ 3.59/gallon into mechanical power to the wheels?Bet you dont.So you might as well pour that 3.59 cent a gallon gas onto the pavement and light it,thats almost how efficient that engine is.That is what Detroit does NOT want you to know,or does not want you to care,and is the very reason we are where we are.All due the the cam and crankshaft,the poorest way to transmit power from one point to another.You would think these highly paid engineers would have figured out a far more efficient way of burning fuel but they have not.I applaud Nissan,I am waiting for a pickup truck version next.The diesel engine is a little more efficient but not much.The large ones can get up to 30% efficient but thats it.A horrible travesty as far as Im concerned,but until we all get up a bytch,nothing will get done and poor quality will prevail in America,sorry pal,nice pipe dream.

Whyle Nissan is moving forwards with their electric car, GM Government Motors have recall for all their electric cars. The Government Motor car is so expensive to produce ,in this union controlled company that even with a subsidy of $ 10,000 of taxpayers money to reduce the price ,GM can't sell the minimum required to justify their production. My next car will be an electric Porsche.

GM are recalling their cars to perform a free 1 hour fix because the NHTSA didn't follow the recommendation to discharge the cars fully charged battery after a car destroying crash, left it on its roof allowing coolant to drip onto the battery and it therefore caught fire weeks after the crash when it presented no risk to anyone. As opposed to gas cars propensity to ignite during crashes before people have been extricated.

GM sold every Volt it produced last year, try going to a lot to buy one, there's a months long waiting list. The issue isn't no demand for the production its no production for the demand. When Volts start sitting on lots without buyers then I'll begin to believe GM's spin about demand, the same spin they used a decade ago to bury the EV1.

If I still owned Nissan stock, I 'd be selling it....right now.

Joe,

I am all for leaving a small carbon footprint. However, I drive my truck that gets 10 mpg around town by myself because that is the only vehicle that can tow my boat and take me to the far corners of my deer lease to hunt.

I will be driving my truck until the day comes where an electric vehicle can store enough of a charge and produce enough torque to accomplish what a petroleum fueled vehicle can.

Battery technology (in my opinion) is the only obstacle that is hindering electric vehicles today.

Yeah, My diesel rabbit got 45 mpg in 1980! 30 years hasn't improved very much!

I have a 2001 Honda civic and I get on average 35 MPG and that is city and hwy combined driving. Of course my car is a manuel transmission.

Diesel in my area is 15% more expensive than regular gas.

Your old rabbit also weighed considereably less (several hundred lb I'm guessing) and accelerated slower than a Prius. It's safety rating would have been a 1 out of 5 stars.

Today's car weigh about 500 lb more than cars in the '80s due to added frame strength for safety, air bags galore, electronics gizmoz (power everything), refinement and sound proofing.

Yea but you get 3 times more mileage with diesel than you do gasoline.You also dont need an ignition system.Those rabbits and VW diesel trucks were awesome!Gasoline is awful..this is why you never see large machinery with gasoline engines because gasoline is so inefficient to burn

Meh spend most the year on a motorcycle myself. Lighter than a prius for less impact on roads and gets better mileage. Currently all priuses are made and assembled in japan. My bike was assembled in kansas city giving more americans than the sales rep a good paying job.

When there is snow on the ground public transit is the way to go. Since most passenger vehicles only have one person in them they may as well be on a powered two wheeler. Takes a bit of practice to transport items after shopping for food or essentials but it can be done with little effort once you shop correctly.

This is not an electric vehicle, it is a gas car which they stuck an electric power train into to show as a concept. If you read the article you would know that.

edward-

After reading the article I completely understood what was done to construct this concept vehicle. That being said, my point (and my opinion) still remain. This now electric vehicle is not aerodynamic or aesthetically appealing.

Maybe you should reread the article and the posts more closely.

The battery issue is a big one at the moment in a lot of areas. 70% of my small city rents and mostly rents apartments with open parking lots. If the battery of the electrics had a standardized systems so they could be swapped out at a convience store, ignoring the increases in theft opportunities, it would be a viable option. Otherwise at the current time unless your one of the minority that has a garage you can't charge one.

Been like for as far as i can remember too. Look at the Titan. Ugliest pick-up out there. Armada, Frontier, Versa...all have that square look.

Nissan sucks. Sorry to every city that has a plant, but it's true.

Several weeks later after it has been totalled, and then left on its roof with coolant dripping onto the fully charged battery and manufacturers recommendations to safely discharge the battery have been ignored. How many gas vehicles do you think they leave with a tank full of gas after they total them? Yeh that would be zero.

So in short I'd take my car burning three weeks after I had totalled it over the much higher risk of a gas fire whilst I'm still trapped.

I'd suggest you watch the top gear Tesla video, there are many criticisms you might level at an electric vehicle, weight therefore handling and battery range, however these things have Torque out the wazoo. They have off the line power a gas vehicle can only dream of. They can compete very well with gas vehicles for standing starts too, Tesla's roadster sport does 0-60 in 3.7 seconds compared to a Porsche Carrera GT's 3.6 seconds

And whilst many are ugly, for example the one discussed in this article is clearly a blocky commercial van. They also have the potential to be very stylish.

http://www.teslamotors.com/roadster

http://www.teslamotors.com/models

HA HA..

Don't really know what you are talking about, do you? Check out the White Zombie on youtube. It's an old Datsun, converted to a drag car. It will blow the pants off your Mustang in the quarter mile.

Get both dude. One to save gas, the other to says what the hell.

Oh no...lol..umm ya well,theoretically one can accelerate an electric motor in about 1 second to 60 easily.See,with a motor there are no gears just magnetic induction which is basically instant acceleration.May not sound as good as getting all that machinery up to speed in 3 or 4 seconds but it is sure a dayum sight faster.You never see engines driving ships or trains,you see engines driving an electric generator thats driving huge electric motors because electric motors can be driven past their rated horsepower and speed for a limited time,Its cheaper to accelerate a 1,000 ton train with railcars with a hybrid setup thanit is to directly drive the train with an engine.Oh,also...no transmission needed.

AussieRob, I am talking about a car that is affordable for daily drivers, not an $80k electric go cart made by a prestigious racing company. Cars like the Prius are effing gay!

Nissan sold Leafs as fast as they could make them. Remember the Tsunami? Stopped production for quite a while.

More like a $5,000 battery.I know I have to buy them for the lifts we use at work,and the trick is to fill them with DISTILLED water and run them down to zero charge before you charge them.IOf you do that you can get 25-30 years out ofo a battery easily.Everyone want to know why you use distilled water.Distilled water in non-conductive.If you use regular water in a battery it'll fry the lead plates because that type of water is highly conductive.

Geez Merlin, read some recent news. The Volt and Nissan Leaf and Mitsubishi i all have 8 year 100,000 mile warranties on the battery. And that doesn't mean they stop working at 100,000 miles, just the range is down to about 80% of original. And typically you don't have to replace the whole battery pack anyways, just the bad cells.

Also Fuel cells are a boondoggle promoted by the oil industry so there is still a transportation market they can have their hands in. Hydrogen is rife with technical problems that aren't easily resolved. Ever look at what it costs to fly the Space Shuttle?

I can barely contain my laughter when someone raises battery cost as an issue and then suggests fuel cells as the solution. If someone can show me a fuel cell vehicle that costs less than 200,000 and a hydrogen refueling station that charges less than 5 times the cost of gasoline equivalent then ill buy you one with a lifetime supply of fuel

Be nice if you could put a exact figure on how much you saved. Minus the extra you paid for the vehicle, the depreciation which I know is high, the fact that you probably ran on gas most of the time. For me its great to brag. But even better to know if you really saved money or you just thought you saved money.

I called him on it too. I think Rob is trying to justify his Volt. Personally I could not myself. The extra cost and limited range on battery means its mostly going to run on gas for most people.