^^^
So, out of the bunch, BMW is the only one w/a serious BEV program, but again, you're correct, it the i3 doesn't ship until 2Q 2014 and it has an optional range extender engine. Base price on the 4-seater i3 (w/o REx engine) is $41,350, ~$14.5K more than a Spark EV and ~$12.5K more than a 5-seater midsized (per EPA classification) Leaf.
Give some estimates as to how many they will ship in their 1st year in the US and 2nd year along w/how you arrived at it.
The rest aren't doing squat. The delayed Tesla-based Mercedes B-Class BEV won't have ANY DC FC capability. Have you looked at the tiny numbers of BEVs that Chevy, Ford, and Fiat are selling in the US, none of which have DC FC.
The Fiat 500e is a CA ZEV compliance car that their CEO doesn't like making in the first place (http://green.autoblog.com/2012/05/30/marchionne-were-only-making-fiat-500-ev-because-californias-f/). The Spark EV is barely more than a CA compliance car.
Out of the above players, serious and otherwise, how serious are they about getting J1772 CCS DC FCs infrastructure installed? In other words: putting their money where there mouth is.
It seems the only purpose of Frankenplug is to create consumer confusion and slow down Nissan. Some of the posts here on this forum are perfect examples of the consumer confusion it created.
From http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=183351#p183351 in March 2012 (reasonably accurate for the time):
walterbays said:
Ford press release said:
Audi, BMW, Daimler, Ford, General Motors, Porsche and Volkswagen agreed to support a harmonized single-port fast charging approach for use on electric vehicles in Europe and the United States
Translation:
Seven European and US auto makers declare that the Japanese quick charging standard, currently with over 1,000 chargers and tens of thousands of vehicles worldwide, cannot be used. Three of the seven sell BEV's in small scale pilot test programs. One sells production quantities of an EREV which neither has nor needs quick charging. None sell BEV's in full production, and none have announced plans to sell any BEV that can use quick charging. And no company has announced plans to build an SAE quick charger - if the standard existed yet.
Look at the barbs that GM was tossing at http://www.torquenews.com/1075/gm-and-nissan-trade-punches-over-electric-car-fast-charging from mid 2012
Balch went on to describe the current situation as a "hodgepodge of fast charging standards" with Tesla having its own proprietary level 3 system, Nissan and Mitsubishi using CHADEMO. He noted that last week, at EVS26, an alliance of 8 automakers (including GM) announced support for a the "combo plug" designed by the SAE DC Fast Charging committee. He described this as "a new standard," one "that is going to come, probably before the end of this year," meaning the SAE committee is expected to approve the standard this summer, charging stations are expected to become available late in the year, and cars to become available in 2013.
The bombshell then landed when Balch said "we need to make sure, especially because we're talking about taxpayer money, that ONLY those standards are installed going forward." Meaning that because the SAE DC Fast Charge standard is the only "standardized" fast charging system, this is the system to endorse. Balch was actually boooo'd at this point, but he went on to remind us of the past history, that we know its a bad move to have competing charging connector standards. Finally, he said "there is a very small group of cars that use a non-standardized level 3 charging connector," referring to the Nissan Leaf and Mitsubishi i-MiEV and the upcoming Tesla Model S.
Right... so about 1.5 years later, 0 Frankenplug capable cars have shipped in the US and there are virtually 0 publicly accessible Frankenplug DC FCs.
TonyWilliams posted a reasonably accurate count at http://www.mychevysparkev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=4687#p4687 (shared by the Leaf and i-Miev and its PSA Citroen-badged version).
xylhim said:
Also, when Nissan first made available the leaf with fast charging, how many other auto manufactors had veichles with CHAdeMO installed?"
I don't know CHAdeMO and the compatible BEV history but http://www.chademo.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Brochureshort20130327.pdf mentions
The R&D of CHAdeMO dates back to 2005. After more than four years of thorough testing and on-site fleet demonstration, the first commercial CHAdeMO charging infrastructure has been commissioned in 2009.
The first Leaf didn't ship until December 2010. i-Miev came before, but I don't off of the top of my head know when the first CHAdeMO ones were in use.
http://www.nissan-global.com/EN/NEWS/2010/_STORY/100521-01-e.html was announced in May 2010.
BTW, to put throw out some other numbers in perspective, Nissan/Renault, which do have serious EV programs have sold more than 75K Leafs worldwide and over 100K EVs between the two of them: http://insideevs.com/global-nissan-leaf-sales-zip-past-75000/ and http://nissannews.com/en-US/nissan/usa/releases/a95e2c2c-8ce6-42ea-822d-3732c0588870.
They've made some bold promises about DC FCs: http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=11426 and http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=13522 and have done a not-so-good job of delivering, so far.
From http://insideevs.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Monthly-Plug-In-Sales-Nov-2013-v4final.png, that I linked to earlier, Nissan's averaging ~1800 Leafs/month in the US (and I mentioned the average of $49K per DC FC install at a dealer). The Spark EV in 5 months has sold about 1/5th what Nissan moves in a month.
You really think GM is going to bankroll for DC FCs somewhere like at their dealers w/those kind of costs coupled w/tiny sales of essentially a CA ZEV compliance car?
