Detroit Electric FAQ: a background on electric cars
Detroit Electric issued this FAQ at the signing ceremony today aimed at clearing some doubts about the feasibility of electric cars, or at the very least why they think electric cars are feasible. Their product and marketing roadmap is also unveiled.
Sales will begin with the e46 GEN2 and e63 Persona in the first year with 40,000 units. By the third year they hope to hit 210,000 cars with 3 models, but of course this third model might not be a Proton. They are flexible to source vehicle platforms from any manufacturer and prefer working with that model but it so happens that their first two cars are Protons. By the 5th year of sales operation, they hope to be selling 315,000 vehicles from a total of 5 models.
Look after the jump for the FAQ document.
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March 30, 2009 @ 10:54 pm
This statment make me feel so proud to be Malaysian :p
“it so happens that their first two cars are Protons.”
March 30, 2009 @ 11:13 pm
Wow convincing. But then I don’t have enough time to go through all the facts presented. I still believe, that they still have not addressed the issue with battery life. What happens after 5 yrs of moderate/heavy use? what is the cost for battery replacement? Does the battery like to be partially charged? Whats the degradation with the vehicle range with the same amount of charge? Surely the batteries are made of finite material, and how is the estimated life of this resource before it becomes the same thing as fossil fuel?
An “in thing” for the tree huggers, still a distant reality for most I suppose if the Govt don’t proactively support this. No wonder DE don’t have plans yet for the Malaysian market…..
March 30, 2009 @ 11:14 pm
Those are the questions I wanted to ask but couldn’t because the press conference time was so short, due to extended VIP teh tarik.
March 30, 2009 @ 11:46 pm
40000 units of Proton? In addition to the how many units of normal Proton…I hope that they succeed…it will bring Proton into a new era.
March 30, 2009 @ 11:55 pm
[quote comment="225599"]40000 units of Proton? In addition to the how many units of normal Proton…I hope that they succeed…it will bring Proton into a new era.[/quote]
It will give Proton a bigger scale and ultimately more money.
March 31, 2009 @ 12:04 am
they have a very excellent plant..
how about proton..when will proton produce EV..
can proton do the other way?
- have a deal with the company like Detroit to supply the Electric motor and battery management for their car..heheh
March 31, 2009 @ 12:13 am
[quote comment="225585"]Wow convincing. But then I don’t have enough time to go through all the facts presented. I still believe, that they still have not addressed the issue with battery life. What happens after 5 yrs of moderate/heavy use? what is the cost for battery replacement? Does the battery like to be partially charged? Whats the degradation with the vehicle range with the same amount of charge? Surely the batteries are made of finite material, and how is the estimated life of this resource before it becomes the same thing as fossil fuel?
An “in thing” for the tree huggers, still a distant reality for most I suppose if the Govt don’t proactively support this. No wonder DE don’t have plans yet for the Malaysian market…..[/quote]
If im not mistaken The klang valley have problems on Electrical energy supply beyond 2011..I dont think we are prepared for a wide use of EV.
The G should go for nuclear power plant first..Nuclear plant is the way to go for the future..even for next 200years we can still have nuclear energy..
March 31, 2009 @ 12:15 am
Hope it will bring Proton into a new era to give Proton a bigger scale and ultimately more money to success in the car manufacture. So it called PROTON.
March 31, 2009 @ 12:31 am
What we need is the freedom to fill-up and ‘go’. Just like what we have now with the normal conventional fossil fuel. I like the idea with Tesla Motors. You go to battery station, purchase a newly recharged battery, and slot it in. Same amount of time you take to refill your fuel tank. This is the kind of freedom that we need.
The fastest Detroit Electric gives us is 15 minutes. This definitely is not going to help at all.
Another thing. Are we really helping save the environment? The way I look at it, we are just passing back the burden of electric load back to the coal-fired power plant like in Kapar, Klang – which means…. more carbon dioxide!!
March 31, 2009 @ 2:23 am
no wonder the first two car is proton because there is ex lotus employee in detroit. i think they know an advantage of proton compare to other cars kottt.hehe..40k units? proton producing 2k units/month for one model rite? dunt know it is true or not. just hear the rumorla.
anyway its just a nice start for proton. keep moving and try to reduce the problem.
go go go proton..
March 31, 2009 @ 2:45 am
I wonder if the DE is allowed to facelift the EV Persona
March 31, 2009 @ 8:17 am
yeah, more burden to the power plants. but do you know that the power plants are more efficient than our car engines. that’s why EV is so popular, it can eliminate millions of inefficient “powerplants” in cars!
March 31, 2009 @ 9:21 am
[quote comment="225668"]yeah, more burden to the power plants. but do you know that the power plants are more efficient than our car engines. that’s why EV is so popular, it can eliminate millions of inefficient “powerplants” in cars![/quote]
Second that.
anyway.. it’s look real promising.
If cheap, and available in malaysia.. i gonna buy 1.
March 31, 2009 @ 9:54 am
[quote comment="225668"]yeah, more burden to the power plants. but do you know that the power plants are more efficient than our car engines. that’s why EV is so popular, it can eliminate millions of inefficient “powerplants” in cars![/quote]
i agree.. i cant recall exactly, but i read somewhere that cars are still the major contributors to global warming. plus, if anyone has actually seen our TNB plants.. they release surprisingly little emissions if any.. they apparently have some pretty nifty filter systems. and i dont think its a burden on our powerplants at the moment, coz TNB is reported to have like 40% excess capacity thats not being used at the moment.
but i do agree that we should look at nuclear for the future.. i think they’re already doing research on this at the moment.
March 31, 2009 @ 10:32 am
Ya, i agree withTanasi. EV most important is the battery as the fuel.
Hence, the cost and life span of the battery is of vital prority factor
besides engine motor. The running cost of charging. For those
with electrical or electronic engineering knowledge charging maybe perhaps can help lot.
March 31, 2009 @ 10:44 am
mannn.. really proud to be Malaysian.. go Proton we support you.
March 31, 2009 @ 11:24 am
is this true?
[...The two new cars would be produced by Proton in India and modified for European, US and Chinese regulations by Detroit Electric...]
excerpt from http://jalopnik.com/5190918/detroit-electric-partnering-with-proton-for-all+electric-cars
March 31, 2009 @ 11:44 am
Time to open back BAKUN DAM..
March 31, 2009 @ 12:11 pm
what about nuke power car?
[quote comment="225605"][quote comment="225585"]Wow convincing. But then I don’t have enough time to go through all the facts presented. I still believe, that they still have not addressed the issue with battery life. What happens after 5 yrs of moderate/heavy use? what is the cost for battery replacement? Does the battery like to be partially charged? Whats the degradation with the vehicle range with the same amount of charge? Surely the batteries are made of finite material, and how is the estimated life of this resource before it becomes the same thing as fossil fuel?
March 31, 2009 @ 12:20 pm
[quote comment="225609"]What we need is the freedom to fill-up and ‘go’. Just like what we have now with the normal conventional fossil fuel. I like the idea with Tesla Motors. You go to battery station, purchase a newly recharged battery, and slot it in. Same amount of time you take to refill your fuel tank. This is the kind of freedom that we need.
The fastest Detroit Electric gives us is 15 minutes. This definitely is not going to help at all.
Another thing. Are we really helping save the environment? The way I look at it, we are just passing back the burden of electric load back to the coal-fired power plant like in Kapar, Klang – which means…. more carbon dioxide!![/quote]
That would be an infrastructure issue. If Tesla’s infrastructure plan is not patented, I guess we could redesign DE’s method of charging to suit demographic/geographic needs
March 31, 2009 @ 1:10 pm
all the best proton.DE have select the right platform to promote EV car. now days, lots super car also have been produce with electric motor that can move much faster than gas engine. some can reach 0>60 by 2.3s. Today in yahoo have some article about EV sportcar
http://gas2.org/2009/03/29/worlds-top-10-fastest-electric-cars/
even right now proton just supply the platform & assambly, sure proton can do R&D of EV. The future with 0% emission.
March 31, 2009 @ 1:25 pm
about recharge. i think much batter if they produce methode like plug and drive that 1 time buy the battery pack like RM300/pack (RM250 deposit for battery pack & RM50 for charging). after the battery low, just go to any electric station (like petrol pump) exchange the battery base on power used, plug and drive. ok with that ?.
March 31, 2009 @ 1:30 pm
Thanks proton for going for EV. No doubt some of the electricity in Malaysia is coal powered but it can also be from wind, solar, tide ..etc…Nano solar technology seems to be most promising as it is said to be cheaper than conventional solar silicon based. In support of EV, F1 racing be EV type rather fossil fuel based…we will then see better EV being developed.
March 31, 2009 @ 2:44 pm
[quote comment="225694"][quote comment="225668"]yeah, more burden to the power plants. but do you know that the power plants are more efficient than our car engines. that’s why EV is so popular, it can eliminate millions of inefficient “powerplants” in cars![/quote]
i agree.. i cant recall exactly, but i read somewhere that cars are still the major contributors to global warming. plus, if anyone has actually seen our TNB plants.. they release surprisingly little emissions if any.. they apparently have some pretty nifty filter systems. and i dont think its a burden on our powerplants at the moment, coz TNB is reported to have like 40% excess capacity thats not being used at the moment.
but i do agree that we should look at nuclear for the future.. i think they’re already doing research on this at the moment.[/quote]
Can TNB operate at 80 or maybe 100% capacity?I dont think so..Electric demand varies very much and TNB need to have spare capacity for any unpredictable peak demand..imagine all people charge their car at the night after simultaneously..there might be a huge problem if TNB is not ready..the demand change might be more rapid then before..
the best way is maybe like some of us said, make the battery like the Tong Gas..hehe..just replaced with a refueled one..
March 31, 2009 @ 3:56 pm
http://www.wired.com/cars/futuretransport/magazine/16-04/ff_zapped?currentPage=all
March 31, 2009 @ 4:13 pm
[quote comment="225802"]http://www.wired.com/cars/futuretransport/magazine/16-04/ff_zapped?currentPage=all[/quote]
Now this is a very good entertaining read!