Issue link: http://resourceworld.uberflip.com/i/882975
O C T O B E R / N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 7 www.resourceworld.com 17 packs are incredible. Tesla users have com- bined their usage data together in a massive spreadsheet which shows these packs will likely last 500,000 miles or more. Jeffrey Dahn, a professor at Dalhousie University in Halifax who carries out exclusive bat- tery research for Tesla, has reported a tweak to the chemistry of these batteries which could double the battery life. This means a Tesla battery pack could poten- tially last 1,000,000 miles. Does this mean Tesla taxis instead of Priuses? Besides longevity, the Tesla battery design provides a high energy density, delivers massive acceleration, and quick recharging. One Tesla option, "Ludicrous Mode" enables the Model S to do 0 to 60 miles per hour in under three seconds. Recharging of these cars at Tesla's proprie- tary Supercharges can be done to the 80% charge level in less than half an hour, and the range per charge exceeds 300 km. In a recent long distance test in Italy, a Tesla Model S P100D (with a lawyer-sealed charging port) drove 1,078 km on a single charge over 29 hours. OK, so Tesla can tick all the boxes on the performance characteristics for its bat- teries but when packaged in a car they are still too expensive for the mass market. The median sales price for a new ICE car in the US is CDN $38,000. Tesla's new Model 3 is being marketed to hit this price with government subsidies. Its unsubsidized price starts at US $35,000 or CDN $45,000, and currently there is a US $7,500 federal tax credit subsidy. The tax credit will be phased out over the next year since Tesla will have sold over 200,000 electric vehi- cles in the US triggering a sunset of the tax credit. So Model 3's, ordered today, will be significantly more expensive than the median US ICE vehicle. They are, after all, premium sedans competing with BMWs and Audis. The key question is: Can Tesla make a profit on the Model 3 while pro- ducing several hundred thousand of these per year? It has built a massive battery plant in Nevada it calls a Gigafactory and plans to build several more of these glob- ally in the next few years, thinking that massive manufacturing economies of scale will drive costs down. The jury is out for Tesla as a world class vehicle maker. NISSAN-RENAULT-MITSUBISHI ALLIANCE Nissan introduced the LEAF to global markets in 2011 and it has become the bestselling global electric vehicle in the last six years. It is a mid-market hatchback which sells for less than the median price for an ICE car. Renault has just launched the 300-km range ZOE, a small hatchback for the European market which is proving extremely popular. Mitsubishi produces an economy hatchback, the IMIEV, and a plug-in Hybrid SUV in various markets around the world. Collectively the Nissan-Renault- Mitsubishi Alliance is the world's largest electric vehicle producer based on sales to date. Nissan's battery technology utilizes Lithium-Nickel-Manganese oxide (LMO) formulation packaged in a rectangular pouch style cell aggregated in a large box under the rear seat of the LEAF. The battery is expected to last eight years or about 120,000 miles, similar to ICE drivetrains with one major caveat. The LMO battery is subject to rapid deg- radation in either hot climates, or multiple rapid charge/discharge cycles, or a combi- nation of both since Nissan did not put a battery cooling circuit in the LEAF. The advantage of the LMO battery is low cost (no expensive cobalt), and reasonable bat- tery life and energy density. Also, there is abundant material globally to vastly increase the production of these batteries if demand grows. The Alliance is on the cusp of introduc- ing a new LEAF this year, rumored to have a 300 km range and an approximate $40,000 price tag. Nissan has just announced the sale of its in-house battery plants to a Chinese battery company, giving it flexibil- ity on sourcing its battery requirements. GENERAL MOTORS GM produces two notable electric vehi- cles, the Chevy BOLT EV, a BEV, and the Chevy VOLT an electric/ICE hybrid. The