Some of Japan’s biggest automotive, energy and engineering firms have developed a collaboration in order to overcome the biggest obstacles to the widespread uptake of electric cars.

Toyota, Nissan, Mitsubishi, Fuji Heavy Industries and the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) have teamed up to develop the CHAdeMO Association with the aim to increase the installation of quick-chargers worldwide and to develop a standardised charge system for all electric cars.

Last August, Nissan, Mitsubishi Motors, Fuji Heavy Industries, and TEPCO started a preparatory committee for the new association. Then, Toyota joined the committee, establishing the five firms as its executive members. Today the group of companies have formally established ‘CHAdeMO Association’ under the resolution of its general assembly. As of today, 158 business entities and government bodies including 20 foreign companies are expected to join the Association, such as automakers, electric utilities, charger manufacturers, charging service providers, and other supporting groups.

The association aims to encourage the global market for electric vehicles(including plug in hybrid models) in the belief that they can contribute enormously to reduction of CO2 emissions in the transportation sector. Through the technical improvements of quick chargers, standardisation activities of charging methods, and international extension of knowledge, the association will aim to prepare cities around the world for the retail of electric cars.

The ‘CHAdeMO’ name is also a trade name of quick charging method that the association is proposing globally as an industry standard. ‘CHAdeMO’ is an abbreviation of ‘CHArge de MOve’, equivalent to “charge for moving”, and is a pun for “O cha demo ikaga desuka” in Japanese, meaning “Let’s have a tea while charging” in English.

The smiling logo depicts a combination of the circuit symbol to represent ‘Charge’, and a dynamic curving line designed to represent ‘Move’. The ecological green color is used, meant to represent green tea.

The Mitsubishi i-MiEV has continued its European adventure after the Mitsubishi Motors Corporation signed a memorandum of understanding with MM Automobile Schweiz AG and Alpiq Holding AG, the country’s largest electricity provider, in Switzerland.

The three parties will work together to confirm the viability of electric vehicles and quick charger units and promote the new generation i-MiEV in the country.

Alpiq sees the Mitsubishi i-MiEV and electric mobility as an innovative solution to develop individual means of transport without CO2 emissions.

The i-MiEV has already made its way to the country as part of the Geneva International Motor Show. It is being made available for test drives within the show’s Green Pavilion. The show runs until March 14.

A final co-operative agreement has been signed between PSA Peugeot Citroen and Mitsubishi Motors Corporation.

The agreement revolves around the development and supply of the new generation i-MiEV. Back in 2009, the two companies signed a framework agreement and from there a final consensus on development and supply of electric vehicles based on the i-MiEV for the European market was agreed.

Under the terms of the agreement, Peugeot Citroen will sell the electric vehicles under both the Peugeot and Citroen brands – the i-MiEV will be known as the Peugeot i0n and the Citroen C-ZERO.

Production will begin in October this year with market launches expected before the end of the year. A total of 100,000 units will be supplied under the frame of the agreement.

After a successful introduction, production of large lithium-ion batteries for the Mitsubishi i-MiEV electric car are expected to leap by 50 per cent compared to the original plans.

Reports in The Nikkei suggest that GS Yuasa Corporation and others will boost production of the batteries as part of Lithium Energy Japan, a joint venture with Mitsubishi Motors and Mitsubishi Corporation. Batteries for 2,000 cars were produced at its Shiga Prefecture factory in the fiscal year 2009, and the initial plan was to increase this to 6,000 cars in 2010 – however, this has now been upwardly revised again to 7,000 cars.

However, in addition to this number, GS Yuasa itself will now manufacture batteries for the i-MiEV at its Kyoto Factory. The original plans are for 2,000 cars during 2010 – taking the total to 9,000 cars from Lithium Energy Japan, a 50 per cent increase on the original plans for the year.

The Mitsubishi i-MiEV will be made available for general sales in Japan from April, and with orders doing well the car manufacturer has decided to increase its planned output. The increase in battery production is expected to correspond with an increase in i-MiEV production.

In an exciting development that could greatly enhance the performance of hybrid electric vehicles, Mitsubishi Electric Corporation has demonstrated prototypes of a hybrid energy storage cell that combines the long life and fast charge capabilities of an electric double layer capacitor (EDLC) with the greater energy storage capacity of a lithium-ion battery.

The device, which would be used to store regenerated power from a motor or to level the output of a photovoltaic system, has an average voltage of 3.2V with a lower limit of 2V and an upper limit of 4V.

Mitsubishi actually displayed two prototypes of the device – the first a 10Wh, 3×3cm unit; and the second a 14Wh, 6×9cm flat-wound unit with power and energy densities of 3kW/kg and 60Wh/kg. With an 8C rate, the 3×3 proof of principles device managed to achieve 2,000 cycles before degrading 20 per cent – that’s four times the life cycle of the lithium-ion batteries that were used as a baseline.

One of the key features of the devices is an anode shared by the capacitor and the battery, each of which have a cathode and separator. In the case of the larger, flat wound device, the first two cathodes are on the front and back of a collector foil. The shared anode is made with carbon material with the capacitor anode activated by carbon and the battery cathode made active with a lithium-ion phosphate material. The structure of the shared anode is said to be the key to the device.

Mitsubishi made its all-new compact crossover RVR available in dealerships in its home country of Japan yesterday – but Europeans won’t have too long to wait for the vehicle either.

A European spec version of the RVR, known as the ASX, is scheduled to debut at the upcoming Geneva Motor Show, which kicks off on March 2. It has a lightweight, compact body with a 1.8litre, 16valve engine with intelligent and innovative vehicle electronic control system and sport mode six-speed CVT.

Among its fuel-saving features are a regenerative braking system, electric power steering and improved aerodynamics, which, alongside other low-fuel consumption technologies, mean the vehicle exceeds the 2010 fuel efficiency requirements in Japan by 15 per cent. The regenerative braking system generates electricity during deceleration with the system decreasing the burden on the engine by not running the alternator while stored energy is consumed.

The engine’s maximum output is 102kW at 6,000rpm; with maximum torque at 172Nm at 4,200rpm. Fuel economy in the Japanese cycle is the equivalent of 35.8mpg and it qualifies for the Japanese eco-car tax reduction, which is a 50 per cent reduction to promote environmentally friendly cars.

Readers Down Under should keep their eyes peeled for a host of hybrid trucks that will soon be making their way to Australia after Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corporation agreed to deliver 25 vehicles to the country by the end of March.

In what is the company’s largest delivery of hybrid trucks outside Japan, Star Track Express, an express freight company with headquarters in Gordon near Sydney, will soon boast the vehicles among its fleet as it bids to drive down emissions and fuel consumption.

The first order for Fuso Hybrid trucks from a customer outside Japan came in October last year and 10 Fuso Canter Eco Hybrid Trucks have since been delivered to the Electricity Supply Board, the biggest electrical utility in Ireland.

It has been a fast moving sector for the company, which is based in Kawasaki, Japan and is one of Asia’s leading commercial vehicle manufacturers, 85 per cent owned by Daimler. It only launched the Fuso Canter Eco Hybrid in July 2006 and has since sold more than 800 of the vehicles in Japan.

The Mitsubishi i-MiEV has  been awarded the ‘Environment Special Grand Prize’ at the 25th International Automobile Festival held in Paris on February 4, 2010.

Selected among four nominees each representing concrete projects for sustainable mobility in terms of environmental protection or security" by a panel of 18 design, fashion, automotive and media luminaries.

As commented by Kiyoshi Teshima, President of Mitsubishi Motors France who received the award on behalf of Mitsubishi Motors Corporation: "This Grand Prize is a great honour and is a further incentive for our engineers to continue pursuing Mitsubishi Motors’ pioneering work in promotion of popularisation of alternative powertrains.”

In Japan, the i-MiEV has already been on the market since July 2009 whilst production of export left-hand drive versions will start in October 2010.

Since it was established in 1986, the International Automobile Festival has wished to promote the talents of designers, artists, men and women who are at the forefront of developments in the automobile industry. Other winners include the Peugeot RCZ voted the most beautiful car in the world and the BMW Vision Efficient Dynamics voted the most beautiful concept car.

The i-MiEV is capable of a top speed of  81 mph, a range of 100 miles and can be trickle charged from flat to full in 6 hours using a UK three-pin socket, costing only 96p for a full charge. In addition, the i MiEV can be fast-charged from flat to 80 per cent in just 30 minutes.

How times have changed. If anything was learned from this year’s North American International Auto Show in Detroit it was that the motoring industry is not what it used to be.

Attendees in previous years may have fond memories of the deafening music, smoke and dancing girls that accompanied a new model. However, at this year’s event there was less of the razzamatazz and more of a focus, as it became clear that manufacturers are in a race to market electric cars.

Though the most noteworthy electric vehicle currently available, the Tesla Roadster, doesn’t come cheap at $109,000, by the end of 2010 it will be joined by a host of affordable new options. Indeed whether they are established giants such as GM, Renault-Nissan and Ford, or relative upstarts like Fisker, the market has clearly moved towards marketing electric cars.

Who are the contenders?

The manufacturers that are intent on bringing electric vehicles to fruition reads like a who’s who of the automotive world:

• BMW: The German car maker could steal a march in the luxury sector with its Concept ActiveE, a plug-in version of the BMW 1 Series coupe. It has also electrified the MINI for a test programme.
• Coda Automotive: A relative unknown at the moment, Coda may soon establish itself as a household name with its battery powered saloon car with batteries from its joint venture in China. It will launch with an internet marketing strategy in California only, but is expected to have the capacity to produce 20,000 cars a year.
• Fisker Automotive: Seen as Tesla’s closest competitor, Fisker will debut its high performance plug-in hybrid known as the Karma later this year and is working on a lower cost option known as Project NINA having been boosted by a loan from the Department of Energy (see article).
• Ford: It plans to introduce a plug-in version of the Focus from 2011 and a next generation hybrid based on its global compact car platform from 2012. As announced at the Detroit Motor Show, Michigan will be the focal point of its electrification strategy with the company planning to invest $450million in the state (see article).
• General Motors: You can’t talk about GM these days without mentioning the Chevrolet Volt, to be known in Europe as the Vauxhall/Opel Ampera, which uses a petrol engine to generate electricity for its electric motor. The car will go on sale before the end of the year for $40,000; and a Cadillac range-extended model is also planned (see article).
• Mitsubishi: Having enjoyed success with its’ i-MiEV electric vehicle on home turf, Mitsubishi has established a partnership with PSA Peugeot Citroen to bring the car to Europe in the form of the Peugeot i0n and Citroen C-ZERO. Last week it also announced plans to help build 1,000 charging stations across Japan (see article).
• Renault-Nissan Alliance: Perhaps no other automaker has been as focused on electric vehicles as Renault-Nissan. Not only will the company deploy the 100mile all-electric range LEAF this year (see article), but it is working in partnership with Better Place to deploy a Renault electric vehicle as part of a plan to boost infrastructure around the world; and it is partnering with AeroVironment to build a home charger.
• Tesla Motors: Super-car performance from an electric car – if you didn’t think it was possible, then the Tesla Roadster is active proof that it can be done. Now the company is on a roll having secured DOE funding for its Model S saloon car (see article).
• Think Global: In many respects Think is the greatest reminder of how far electric cars have come. Having been sold by Ford in 2003 and undergoing bankruptcy proceedings in late 2008 it has since bounced back with partial ownership of US battery company Ener1 and plans to introduce the two-seat Think City, which will sell for less than $20,000 (with a Federal tax credit), in the US later this year.

Add to this list the likes of Toyota with its plug-in hybrids and fuel cell vehicles (see article); Chrysler which has ambitious electric car rollout plans now its merger with Fiat is complete; Honda with the exciting CR-Z Concept (see article); and even Audi with electric e-tron vehicles (see article); and it’s clear that the electrification of the automobile is under way.

So is the revolution here?

Del Boy Trotter was famous for saying “this time next year Rodney, we’ll be millionaires.” Indeed enthusiasts of electric cars could be accused of similar misplaced optimism after so many false starts.

However, now serious government investment through loans, grants and tax credits, coupled with a host of green energy programmes, is paying off, and while the implementation of infrastructure to charge these vehicles remains a major stumbling block (albeit one that is being addressed, slowly) it seems that… this time next year… there will be plenty of electric cars to choose from.

Faye Sunderland

The 80^th edition of the Geneva International Motor Show has already got motoring enthusiasts’ mouths watering, even though we’re still more than a month away from the event.

Though the show doesn’t kick off until March 2, another major manufacturer has announced a debutant vehicle for the event – with Mitsubishi premiering its ASX compact crossover.

The European-spec version, which is one of several powertrains, will include an all-new Euro-5 compliant 1.8l turbocharged direct-injection diesel engine that has been jointly developed between Mitsubishi Motor Corporation and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. It will boast automatic stop and go technology, as well as a six-speed manual transmission.

The Mitsubishi ASX is the European version of the Japanese RVR which goes on sale in Japan next month. It will seat five and will be sequentially introduced across Europe from late spring following in the tyre tracks of the larger Outlander vehicle.