JRP3

It must be the UQM motor driving the price up. I can put together a 16kw lithium pack in my back yard for $6K, they should be able to do much better, the glider can't cost very much, in house battery management should be pretty cheap too. I don't get it.

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doug

You're talking about the Coda, right?

TEG

I think he must be. Apparently the i-MiEV uses a 'Meidensha' motor.

JRP3

I guess I'm just confused because I thought the Mitsubishi was also using a UQM. My mistake. In that case I have no idea why the MiEV costs so much, other than they are trying to recoup some developmental costs.

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TEG

It could well be true that it will cost less in the USA.
I don't understand all the tax / exchange-rate / other factors but I think it has been true that you pay less for a Japanese made car when you buy it in the USA compared to Japan.

By the way,




Meidensha

TEG

vfx

I like the one in the water.

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domenick

There's a whole clip of it going through the water test that was very impressive. I wish I could remember where I saw it exactly. It might be buried within a lengthy Japanese clip.

bobw

Does that $6K guesstimate for the battery pack include the capacity margin? Does it include packaging? That itty bitty bubble car will need good packaging.

The glider could be surprisingly expensive. It has to be light, yet strong. A small car doesn't cost much less to build than a large one. That's one of many things that hurt the big three. In the USA you can't price a small car nearly as high as a bigger one. That cuts profit margins to the bone, and beyond.

I'm sure there's a learning curve for automotive power electronics, too. The small scale kit manufacturers have problems. I'm sure the big manufacturers are just starting to solve similar issues. It takes time to reduce manufacturing costs. Economies of scale don't happen by magic. it takes multiple iterations.

I'm more worried that Mitsubishi is pulling another EV1. That they're pricing it below cost for lease purposes.

I don't think anybody would have leased an EV1 if GM had priced the lease at manufacturing cost plus overhead.

JRP3

I assume when they say 16kw battery that's the total size of the battery, not adjusted for usable capacity. If it's only usable capacity add 20%, but remember, this is my cost as an individual. Bulk purchasing should get lower costs. As for packaging, if the batteries are set under the floor they are already pretty well protected, and the pictures don't show any elaborate packaging. Inertia switches could be used in a few places to break the pack into low voltage modules upon impact. All of which is probably simpler and cheaper than designing and tuning just the emissions system for an ICE.
This is the big unknown which I cannot find any good information on. What is the manufacturing cost of a glider? I've found no solid information. However, an ICE glider should not be any cheaper than an EV glider.
Except they aren't exactly using cutting edge technology for the drive train as far as I can tell. Electric motor and controller, a BMS for the battery which is probably just voltage and temperature sensing, what's the big deal?
If $47k is below cost they will have big problems. Tesla is pricing their much larger and higher performance sedan pretty close to the MiEV, and Tesla has some experience in what it costs to build an EV.

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