Mitsubishi and Nissan

[Lithim]

According to a news story I heard today, Nissan now has a 34% ownership position in Mitsubishi.
Perhaps the I-MIEV will be promoted/advertised more now as Nissan would have two models to present to the public. Maybe a larger capacity battery would be in the works for the I-MIEV as the Leaf sees its range improve.
Let's hope for the best.
Any other thoughts?

[BarryP]

I could be quoting this wrong since I'm just writing off of memory.
Didn't Nissan charge their batteries to 4.2V while Mitsi charges to 4.1V? That would make the Mitsi battery last much longer. Thus I hope Nissan and Mitsi don't get their battery technologies mixed up.
-Barry

[Vike]

If the companies actually combined, the i-MiEV isn't really an attractive product for Nissan, especially with the new Nissan/Mitsu kei cars being electrified soon. Even those will be more important internationally than as U.S. products, which I doubt they'd be. It wasn't cheap to get the 'i' U.S.-ready, and Nissan is likely to think the LEAF is quite cheap enough, thanks. That's too bad, since while I believe the i-MiEV's current bargain-basement pricing is sustainable, that's really because of the cost-cutting approach to its design. It's proved to be perfect for me, so it kinda hurts my feelings that a car that suits me so well is so widely regarded as something of a blunder.

Of far more interest should be the Outlander PHEV, which I've long thought could be rebadged as a hybrid complement to Nissan's existing Rogue and Murano lines, possibly with some Nissan-y sheetmetal tweaks. Alternatively, Nissan might adapt Mitsu's hybrid AWD drivetrain for use in existing models to add a much needed "green" CUV offering to their lineup.

[davidricardo86]

I realize this is a 2 year old article but was curious if this venture ever came to fruition? An ultra-affordable $14,000 mini-EV (Kei) could be what Nissan/Mitsubishi needs to clean up the gas mileage cheating fiasco in Japan. This reminds me of how Volkswagen promised more EVs after their diesel emissions cheating fiasco as a ways to sooth over consumers.

http://insideevs.com/nissan-mitsubishi-team-ultra-affordable-electric-car/

Nissan, Mitsubishi Partner Up For Ultra-Affordable $14,000 Electric Car

2 years ago by Eric Loveday

Nissan is partnering 50:50 with Mitsubishi on a joint venture with one goal: to develop a minicar-based electric vehicle with release of the new model set for Fiscal Year 2016 (April 1, 2016 through March 31, 2017).

Both Nissan and Mitsubishi promise that this co-developed electric car will be sold for the lowest price among major automakers when it hits the market.

The plan is that Nissan and Mitsubishi will work hand-in-hand on this EV. Key components such as batteries will be procured through the economies of scale of two automakers combined.

It’ll be an electric minicar and we’re not yet sure if it’ll be sold in the US.

Lastly, I'm happy to see Mitsubishi selling the 2017 i-MiEV but saddened that no larger capacity batteries or 6.6kw charger become available. You would think with time the cost of these two key components would have dropped enough to justify their introduction. I love my i-MiEV but would upgrade it if it had a higher capacity battery and a 6.6kw charger.

[siai47]

If the I-MiEV continues in production, I doubt there could be any changes to the vehicle. At the current selling price I am sure there is little to no profit in selling it. That also leaves no money for engineering or retooling for a replacement model. It's possible that the existing parts inventory to build them is high enough due to low sales volume that they can do a small production run every couple of years until parts dry up and that will be the end of the line. If Mitsubishi originally forecast sales to be far higher than actual numbers, they would have ordered major components from various suppliers in far greater quantities than needed for actual production and therefore have a load of inventory of unusable parts. Couple that with the fact that the I-MiEV doesn't seem to break down a lot and a small crash will usually total the vehicle, the replacement parts business isn't very good. So, if you still have the assembly line and tooling, still build the KEI class gasoline car in the same body style, its a great way to get some value other than scrap for your excess inventory. The I-MiEV is a lot more expensive to build than, for example, a off road side by side utility vehicle (i.e. Polaris, Artic Cat, etc.) yet is similarly priced. If you go with Polaris' offerings in electric side by sides and motorcycles, the I-MiEV is far cheaper. With current low gas prices, low demand and internal Mitsubishi corporate problems, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out how this will end.

Nissan and Mitsubishi have worked together in the past and re-badged various models of each other's vehicles to fill gaps in their respective vehicle lineup. If there is a Mitsubishi electric vehicle future it will most likely be a Nissan powertrain in a Mitsubishi specific vehicle or a re-badging of an existing vehicle to keep the dealers happy. Volume lowers component unit price so anything that can be sourced from a higher volume vehicle will lower the ultimate cost of the lower volume vehicle.

As to battery voltages. The LEAF and I-MiEV batteries are different in design, form factor and chemistry. I don't know if Nissan will get (or want) a stake in the GP/Mitsubishi battery alliance as Nissan already has an in house battery design and manufacturing capability. A future I-MiEV replacement vehicle would most likely use a Nissan battery. Although GP builds similar cells to the ones in the I-MiEV for other uses such as stationary backup, rail use and the Boeing "Dreamliner", the cells in the I-Miev along with the module and BMS controller appear to be I-MiEV specific.