Nissan Breaks Ground on Leaf Battery Plant
According to Nissan, roughly 13,000 people in the US have signed up to buy the Leaf since reservations opened on April 20. The EV will start rolling out to select markets in the US, Japan, and Europe in December, followed by increased availability in spring 2011 and full market rollout in 2012. See the Nissan press release.
On May 26, Nissan broke ground on a lithium-ion battery manufacturing facility in Smyrna, Tennessee, which will produce batteries for the Leaf.
Although the car will initially be produced in Japan, it will be manufactured in Smyrna beginning in 2012. Nissan is spending $1.7 billion to modify an existing vehicle assembly plant in Smyrna to produce the Leaf and to build the new battery plant. A DOE loan provides 80% of that investment.
Ford announced a $135 million investment in Michigan to design, engineer, and produce key components for its next-generation hybrid vehicles. Ford engineers in Dearborn will design the battery packs, while engineers in Livonia will design electric-drive transaxles. Ford is adding about 50 engineers to build an in-house capability for EVs.
Beginning in 2012, Ford's Rawsonville Plant in Ypsilanti will assemble the battery packs, while Ford's Van Dyke Transmission Plant in Sterling Heights will build the electric drive transaxles, creating 170 new green jobs at the two facilities. Ford plans to launch an electric commercial van in North America later this year and will introduce an electric version of the Ford Focus in 2011. See the Ford press release.
Mississippi State University Wins EcoCAR Competition
On May 27, after nearly two weeks of intense competition, Mississippi State University (MSU) won the second annual EcoCAR competition, a three-year automotive engineering competition sponsored by DOE and General Motors.
"EcoCAR: The NeXt Challenge," invited university engineering students from across North America to re-engineer a GM-donated SUV to achieve improved fuel economy and reduced emissions. The 16 competing teams also strove to retain the vehicle's performance, safety, and consumer appeal. The competition included a series of safety and technical tests at GM's Desert Proving Grounds in Yuma, Arizona.
The MSU team built an extended-range electric vehicle (EREV), using a 21.3-kilowatt-hour (kWh) battery pack from A123Systems. The car, which has an electric range of 60 miles is backed up with a 1.3-liter, biodiesel-fueled, turbocharged diesel engine that powers a 75 kilowatt (kW) generator from UQM Technologies.
The team kept the two systems separate. The battery pack powers an 8 kW motor on the rear transaxle, and the engine powers a 45 kWh motor on the front transaxle. During the competition, the vehicle achieved a fuel economy equivalent to 118 miles per gallon of gasoline. See a video of the car's design on YouTube.
Virginia Tech University came in second place with an EREV with a 40 mile electric range, also driven by a 21.3 kWh battery pack, but with a 90 kW motor. The extended range was achieved with a flex-fueled, 2.4-liter, four-cylinder engine. Landing in third place was Pennsylvania State University, again with an EREV, which used a 12.8 kWh battery pack to power an 80 kW motor. Like the MSU team, their backup power source was a 1.3-liter, biodiesel-fueled, turbocharged diesel engine, which powered a 75 kW UQM generator.
