First U.S. Navy F-35C electromagnetic launch [video]

The Navy demonstrated early integration of the future of naval aviation Nov. 18 when it launched F-35C test aircraft CF-3 with its new electromagnetic aircraft launch system (EMALS).

Testing the F-35C on EMALS provided an early opportunity to evaluate technical risks and began the process to integrate the carrier variant Joint Strike Fighter with the future carrier fleet aircraft launching system.

“The test flight went well,” said Navy test pilot Lt. Christopher Tabert. “It felt very similar to the steam test launches we did this summer [in the F-35C]. It was quite an honor for me to play a small part in our launch today.”

This summer, the F-35C test team completed more than 50 steam catapult launches to perform an initial structural survey and collected steam ingestion data. The steam ingestion data produced robust results, allowing a reduction in the number of test launches by four.

Along with the steam launch data, the EMALS launch testing also provided information for the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence as the UK proceeds with including EMALS in the Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carrier.

In the past 12 months, the EMALS team launched a T-45 Goshawk, an E-2D Advanced Hawkeye, a C-2A Greyhound and several F/A-18 aircraft with and without stores.

Both EMALS and the F-35C are currently in test and evaluation, and represent technological leaps from the Navy’s current fleet. EMALS is set to install on the future USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78).

“What a great way to punctuate this year’s Centennial of Naval Aviation events,” said Ms. Kathy Donnelly, senior executive for aircraft launch, recovery and support equipment engineering at Lakehurst. “Our team is paving the way for the next hundred years today.”

The F-35C carrier variant of the Joint Strike Fighter is distinct from the F-35A and F-35B variants with its larger wing surfaces and reinforced landing gear to withstand catapult launches and deck landing impacts associated with the demanding aircraft carrier environment. Initial carrier trials for the F-35C are scheduled for 2013. The F-35C is undergoing test and evaluation at NAS Patuxent River and Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst before delivery to the fleet.

EMALS is a complete carrier-based launch system designed for the future USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) and all future CVN 78-class aircraft carriers. EMALS has six subsystems and will expand the operational capability of the Navy’s future carriers by permitting higher sortie rates and reduced costs compared to legacy systems. CVN 78 is more than 30 percent complete, with some production EMALS components already delivered to the shipyard to maintain a 2015 delivery schedule.

GM Builds on Battery Safety to Ensure Confidence in Chevrolet Volt

General Motors announced Monday initiatives for customer satisfaction and battery safety research to ensure ongoing confidence in the Chevrolet Volt extended-range electric vehicle.

The initiatives follow six months of research and testing in the United States with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration designed to induce electric vehicle battery failure after severe crash situations.

The agency advised GM on Friday that it would open a preliminary evaluation of Volt battery assemblies after NHTSA test results caused electrical fires up to three weeks after an initial vehicle New Car Assessment Program side pole crash test.

Mark Reuss, president, GM North America, said the company would take every precaution to assure the driving public of GM’s commitment to the safety of the Volt being handled after a severe incident and the total satisfaction of everyone who owned one.

“The Volt is a five-star safety car. Even though no customer has experienced in the real world what was identified in this latest testing of post-crash situations, we're taking critical steps to ensure customer satisfaction and safety,” Reuss said.

“Our customers' peace of mind is too important to us for there to be any concern or any worry. This technology should inspire confidence and pride, not raise any concern or doubt.

“The question is about how to deal with the battery days and weeks after a severe crash, making it a matter of interest not just for the Volt, but for our industry as we continue to advance the pursuit of electric vehicles.”

Senior GM engineering investigation team

Mary Barra, senior vice president, Global Product Development, said GM had established a senior engineering team to develop changes to eliminate concern of potential post-crash electrical fires and work with industry to ensure appropriate electric vehicle protocols were in place. Barra said such electrical fires had not occurred on public roads and NHTSA was not investigating any such potential imminent failure on the roads.

“GM and the agency's focus and research continue to be on the performance, handling, storage and disposal of batteries after a crash or other significant event,” she said.

“We’re working with NHTSA so we all have an understanding about these risks and how they can be avoided in the future. This isn’t just a Volt issue. We’re already leading a joint electric vehicle activity with Society of Automotive Engineers and other automotive companies to address new issues, such as this protocol of depowering batteries after a severe crash.”

Barra said the team would continue to work closely with NHTSA, suppliers, dealers and manufacturing teams to initiate any necessary changes as soon as possible.

Volt owner loan program

Reuss said GM would establish a Volt owner satisfaction program. Any Volt owner concerned about safety can contact his or her Volt advisor to arrange for a free GM vehicle loan until resolution of the issue.

“A vehicle loan program of this nature is well beyond the norm for a preliminary investigation, and it underlines our commitment to the vehicle and its owners,” he said. “These steps are the right ones to take regardless of any immediate impact on our operations.”

Drivers still want electric cars, Nissan says

Demand for electric cars remains steady, even in the face of slightly lower gas prices.

That’s the view put forward by Nissan. The automaker says it is seeing unrelenting demand for its limited-production Leaf electric vehicle continuing for the foreseeable future, in spite of rumors that consumer fascination with battery-powered cars is waning.

Through Oct. 31, Nissan sold 8,048 of its electric cars, giving the companies a bit of insight into the car’s appeal to customers.

Thanks to data from the Leaf’s OnStar-like telematics system, owner surveys and direct discussions with enthusiastic owners, Nissan has learned that the little battery-powered Leaf is shouldering most of the transportation chores for its owners.

Brendan Jones, director of electric vehicle marketing and sales strategy at Nissan, reports that owners say that the car they bought as a second car is actually being used by drivers as their family’s number one vehicle.

“They drive it primarily because it is fun to drive,” he said, but of course they wouldn’t have that option if the car’s driving range proved to be too short for practical use.

It turns out that owners drive about 35 miles a day, the same distance as most surveys of American drivers report as the average distance for U.S. drivers. But drivers often overestimate their own daily mileage, and this makes them wary of a car that has a cold-weather driving range of as little as 65 miles.

The “range anxiety” of being stranded with a dead battery is overblown, asserted Jones.

“Range anxiety is dead,” he stated, insisting that the real issue is driver unfamiliarity with something new. “That newness needs to be overcome with information.”

Nissan Leaf drivers are typically making three trips between recharges, so they aren’t usually in the situation of having to make a beeline directly from one plug to the next for fear of being stranded.

However, Nissan is also reducing the impact of actually getting stranded, so that it won’t be the ordeal it is today, when the car has to be towed in from the road. Nissan provides Leaf owners with free roadside assistance, and the company is adding mobile quick chargers to the response trucks, so that they can provide the equivalent of a can of gas to get a Leaf with a dead battery pack back on the road.

Customers have embraced the optional fast-charging port, which enables specialized commercial-grade chargers to quick-charge the Leaf to 80 percent capacity in just 30 minutes. Enough customers were choosing that $700 option, despite a current shortage of suitable charging stations, that Nissan decided to make the quick-charging port standard equipment on the $940 uplevel SL trim package, Jones reported. There are currently 562 such quick chargers being installed nationwide, he added.

Nissan is continuing its nationwide rollout of Leaf availability, and the company anticipated delivering another 10,000 of the cars to consumers in 2012. Once Nissan’s Leaf battery plant opens in Smyrna, Tenn., the company will have the capacity to deliver 150,000 Leafs per year.
But Jones says that Nissan is not concerned about potential difficulty finding that many customers for battery cars.

“The competition isn’t pulling out of the [electric vehicle] market,” he pointed out. “The competition is coming into the market.” That demonstrates industry-wide confidence that customers will embrace electric cars, he added.

One interesting purchasing characteristic of Leaf drivers is that a surprising number of them are choosing to buy their cars outright. Nissan had predicted that most buyers would lease their Leaf as a way to make its acquisition more affordable, and as a hedge against concerns about battery longevity and the possibility of a pricey battery replacement in the future.

But instead, the majority of Leaf customers bought their cars, most of them either paying cash or paying for the car with outside financing. Jones hypothesized that perhaps some EV enthusiasts were worried about General Motors’ decision to withdraw its EV1 electric car fleet at the end of the cars’ leases, so they bought them outright to ensure they could keep the cars.

Today 40 percent of Leaf customers are buying the cars with cash or outside financing. But Nissan expects as the Leaf pushes into the Northeastern states, that customers there who are more familiar with leasing luxury cars will be more prone to leasing their Leafs.

Or maybe they just aren’t worried anymore about their cars going to the crusher when the lease is up.

ABB Installs Electric-Vehicle Fast Chargers at BP Service Stations

ABB announced today that it has started installing multiple fast-charging systems for electric vehicles (EVs) at some BP service stations in the Netherlands as part of a nationwide trial.

ABB recently deployed the first two direct current (DC) Terra systems in the central city of Utrecht, which will be officially opened on Nov. 30. Another charger will be installed at a BP service station in Rotterdam in December, with two more to follow at locations to be identified early next year. BP has an intention agreement with Dutch EV charging operator The New Motion to operate BP’s chargers as part of a larger network of DC charging stations throughout the Netherlands. Prestige GreenCab, a Dutch taxi operator with a large electric-vehicle fleet, took the initiative for the installations in Utrecht.

ABB’s Terra stations can recharge an EV battery in as little as 15 to 30 minutes - compared with eight hours when using a regular alternating current (AC) power outlet. ABB will install two types of Terra chargers to meet the specific capacity requirements at the various BP locations. The multi-port Terra Base Station 100.2 can charge up to two cars simultaneously and is ideal for locations that are expected to see an increase in electric-vehicle traffic over the next few years. The Terra 51 is a single-port charger designed for locations with regular traffic.

“As our market grows and new electric car models are coming to the market, we expect to see more and more segmentation. Our future-proof connectivity solutions are designed to support different types of chargers, as well as different business models and all existing and future connection standards in the same network,” said Remo Luetolf, manager of ABB’s business unit Power Electronics and Medium Voltage Drives, which also develops fast-charging infrastructures for EVs.

“We have to keep our 20 EVs operational throughout the day and can’t afford to wait eight hours for a battery to charge. Fast charging makes our business case work. That’s why we were keen to make a business deal with BP,” said George Jansen, CEO of Prestige GreenCab. “GreenCab financed one of the two chargers in Utrecht and has taken an active role as launching customer. The EV fast-charging network in Utrecht increases autonomy of our GreenCabs and at the same time stimulates new EV adopters as it is open to everyone.”

All Terra systems in ABB’s rapidly expanding global installed base come with a host of connectivity features that help service operators run their network more efficiently, such as remote maintenance, software updates and industry-leading uptime of the backbone network. ABB’s connectivity suite is compatible with the Open Charge Point Protocol (OCPP) and other commonly used standards for back-office integration, enabling real-time user authentication and authorization and a variety of other functionalities operators use to better service their customers. In The New Motion network, customers will be provided with radio-frequency identification (RFID) cards that can be used for authentication at all chargers in the nationwide infrastructure.

StreetScooter test drive of first $7,000 EV protoype [video]

The StreetScooter project is a $7,000 EV with a 74 mph top speed and an 80-mile range that aims to demonstrate that electrical vehicles can be produced at a competitive $7,000 price in small batches by a network of supply chain partners without the need for sustained government funding.

The StreetScooter project is a cooperative venture of over 80 auto parts suppliers, engineering firms, and electronics companies.

It was launched in December 2007 and is scheduled to roll out its first batch of 10 prototypes at the end of 2011. Production in Europe is slated for 2013.


StreetScooter

Mitsubishi Motors to supply electric vehicles to Suzuki

Mitsubishi Motors Corp said it plans to supply electric minivehicles for commercial use to Suzuki Motor Corp on an OEM (original equipment manufacturer) basis from February of next year.

Suzuki will receive the Minicab-MiEV, which is set to debut by the year-end. Suzuki will market it under its own brand name, adding the first electric vehicle to its lineup.

Mitsubishi plans to build around 4,000 of the vehicles in the financial year to next March.

Suzuki already supplies its Solio subcompact to Mitsubishi Motors.

Mitsubishi Motors has been actively expanding its OEM arrangements in the domestic market to cut costs and expand its product offerings.

It supplies Nissan Motor Co with three minivehicle models, while Nissan supplies Mitsubishi with minivans and is due to begin supplying luxury vehicles in the 2012/13 financial year.

Mitsubishi to Launch MINICAB-MiEV Commercial Electric Vehicle in Japan

Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (MMC) announced that it will launch the new MINICAB-MiEV*1 minicar-class commercial electric vehicle (EV)-the second product in its next-generation EV lineup-on December 8, 2011 at dealerships throughout Japan. Depending on specification the new model will carry a pre-incentive manufacturer's recommended retail price (MSRP) of between ¥2,400,000 and ¥2,971,000,(US$31,131 to US$38,538) consumption tax included.
*1: Mitsubishi innovative Electric Vehicle

Derived from the MINICAB Van minicar-class commercial vehicle, the MINICAB-MiEV has been developed maximizing the technologies and knowhow gained from the development of the i-MiEV in delivering the superior environmental performance inherent to an EV, together with the high levels of operating economy, payload capacity, drivability and reliability demanded of a commercial vehicle.

The MINICAB-MiEV will come with a choice of two sizes of drive battery to allow the customer to choose the cruising range best suited to his or her needs. The CD 10.5 kWh battery version provides a cruising range of 100 km (at JC08 mode) on a single charge, while the CD 16.0 kWh version takes this up to 150 km. MMC has set prices at an accessible level: with the application of the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry's eco-car subsidy, the final cost to the consumer for the CD 10.6 kWh and CD 16.0 kWh battery versions will be reduced to ¥1,730,000 and ¥2,020,000 respectively. As with the i-MiEV, the MINICAB-MiEV will be sold on a maintenance lease, credit or cash basis.

When MMC started sales of the i-MiEV new-generation EV in the Japanese market in July 2009 it was the first auto manufacturer to offer a truly "ultimate eco-car" that fully addresses issues facing our society today including environmental pollution, global warming and exhaustion of petroleum-based energy supplies. Since then MMC has sold some 5,000 units in Japan and has shipped a total of about 17,000 units (as of October 31, 2011), including units supplied to PSA Peugeot Citroën. As a leading manufacturer of EVs, MMC is confident that as it expands its lineup of EV models it will serve as pioneers on the path toward quickly making possible a low-carbon society.

1. MINICAB-MiEV Product Features

The new MINICAB-MiEV is derived from the CD model in the MINICAB series of minicar-class commercial vehicles. Powered by the same drive battery and motor drivetrain already well proven in the i-MiEV, the new model offers payload capacity on a par with the MINICAB CD, as well as a cruising range that is ample for the requirements of a minicar-class commercial vehicle. The new MINICAB-MiEV also provides outstanding operating economy at an accessible price. MINICAB-MiEV provides a level of all-round performance that is well above that of conventional minicar-class commercial vehicles as its electric motor drivetrain delivers superior environmental performance and outstanding power and its whisper-quiet driving make for a pleasant and comfortable operating environment.

1) Environmental performance

The MINICAB-MiEV is a "zero-emissions vehicle" (zero drive-time emissions) and so is the ideal type of vehicle for transporting foodstuffs, fresh flowers and other sensitive cargo, or for delivery/collection work in areas normally inaccessible to a gasoline-powered vehicle (within facilities, in an environmentally protected area, etc.).

2) Economy

Being derived from the low cost/high performance MINICAB Van and employing most of the same major EV components as the i-MiEV allows Mitsubishi Motors to sell the MINICAB-MiEV at an accessible price. In addition, with the application of the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry's "Subsidies for measures designed to promote introduction of clean energy vehicles," the CD 10.5 kWh version comes with an attractive price tag starting at \1,730,000.
Commercial vehicles are usually owned longer and cover longer cumulative mileages than family cars; so the MINICAB-MiEV also offers possible advantages over a comparable gasoline-powered in terms of total operating cost, including the price of the vehicle, because the main running cost is just that of the comparatively inexpensive electricity used to charge its battery. Further, because the MINICAB-MiEV can be charged at the business or at home it eliminates the need to make separate journeys to gasoline stations.

3) Payload capacity

The MINICAB-MiEV sports the same outstanding packaging as the i-MiEV where the high-capacity drive battery is located under the floor and the motor, inverter and other EV components are located under the cargo compartment. The result is cargo compartment space and payload capacity (350 kg with two occupants) which are on a par with the MINICAB CD, therefore delivering the high levels of utility required in a commercial vehicle.

4) Driving performance

The MINICAB-MiEV leverages the electric motor's inherent characteristic of generating maximum torque as soon as the vehicle starts to move off to enable stress-free gutsy performance even when fully-loaded.

In addition, because of the EV's inherently quiet operation, the MINICAB-MiEV makes the ideal commercial vehicle for delivery work early in the morning or late at night in residential districts. The lack of vibration also makes it well suited to transporting delicate goods. The stress-free and very quiet performance are complemented further by excellent ride comfort and all this helps to reduce fatigue in full-time drivers who are behind the wheel for many hours a day.

5) Reliability

The MINICAB-MiEV uses the same drive battery, motor and other major components that have been well-proven in the i-MiEV and also shares the advanced MiEV OS integrated vehicle management system. Constantly monitoring the charge remaining in the battery while at the same time regulating the regenerative braking system, the MiEV OS operates to ensure smooth and powerful off-the-line performance. The system contributes to pleasant, safe and reassuring vehicle operation while optimizing and saving energy use.

2. Product Overview (Main changes over MINICAB CD base model)

• MINICAB-MiEV specifications (2-seater with high-roof model)

Trim level		CD 10.5 kWh	CD 16.0 kW
Drivetrain		2WD (rear wheel drive)
Vehicle weight *3		1090 kg	1110 kg
Interior dimensions *4		1825 (935) mm x 1370 (1360) mm x 1230 mm *5
Maximum payload *4		350 (200) kg
Performance (JC08 mode)	AC power consumption	125 Wh/km
	Range per charge	100 km	150 km
Motor	Type	Permanent magnet synchronous
	Model	Y4F1
	Max. output	30 kW (41PS) / 2500-6000 rpm
	Max. torque	196 Nm (20kgf-m) / 0-3000 rpm
	Rated capacity	10.5 kWh	16.0 kWh
Drive battery	Type	Lithium-ion
	Total voltage	270 V	330 V
	Rated capacity	10.5 kWh	16.0 kWh
Charging time (from empty)	200V AC(15Amp)	Approx. 4.5 hours  (full charge)	Approx. 7 hours (full charge)
	100V AC(15Amp) *6	Approx.14 hours  (full charge)	Approx. 21 hours (full charge)
	Quick-charger: 200V 3-phase (50 kW) *6	Approx. 15 min  (80% charge)	Approx. 35 min  (80% charge)

*3:	Add 10 kg for 4-seater model
*4:	Figures in parentheses indicate dimensions for 4-seater model (with just 2 occupants, dimensions are same as for 2-seater model)
*5:	Standard roof model cargo compartment height is 1125 mm.
*6:	100V AC charging cable and quick charging cable are factory options.