Joule PT Panda unveiled; pricing guidelines given

[rpm]

Joule PT Panda electrical car unveiled; pricing guidelines given

Optimal Energy unveils the new working prototype of SA’s electric car, the Joule PT Panda. Availability and pricing guidelines revealed

 

[fluKe]

300km on a charge, what is the acceleration like?

What's this doing on mybroadband btw?

 

[Shake&Bake]

What? You not seen tech news here before?

It's a great South African venture being reported by a South African site.
Where's the harm in that?

300km though - that's a weeks worth of driving for me.
Wonder how long it takes to charge though.

And can you carry a spare around in case you get stuck?

 

[shogun]

Great to hear more news on this... I haven't heard much about it in the press for a while.

@fluke: At the presentation last year they said it'd be pretty quick acceleration at lower speeds (traffic light to traffic light). I think electric motors are generally pretty quick off the mark. That said, it's not intended for the sports market where I think the telsa is the clear leader (http://www.teslamotors.com/).

The tesla is out of reach of almost everyone. We need something within reach of the consumer if we're going change anything. This one is designed to be lighter on the pocket and fill a gap that is pretty empty at the moment - a six seater electric for round the city type travel.

@Shake: I stand to be corrected, but if memory serves I think they said on 3 phase you can charge it pretty darn quickly (like 15 minutes or something). You won't own the battery though... That's on a lease or something in order to bring the price down. Might be pricey for a spare

Will definitely go check it out on show next week in Woodstock. The newsletter this morning said they will have a snippet on Carte Blanch on 1 Nov.

 

[Shake&Bake]

Thanks for the info shogun.

15 mins, that is pretty quick.

There certainly is a market for it overseas.
It would still be out of reach for most South Africans, but one never knows if and when markets could change.
And if it could be made more affordablly locally.

Government should actually come along and subsidize these cars for the local markets and in so doing also making us less reliant on fossil fules... for intercity driving anyway
Still like my coal/oil powered vehicles on the long road

 

[eitai2001]

Not so great for intracity trips unless it can be charged in 15 minutes at your local petrol station ... but what will be the electricity bill following eskom's increases?

On the other hand, awesome idea ... would be nice if they could make a sub 150k model to compete with your entry level cars.

I don't like the front though, looks like a fat Citroen C1 or something ... could've have given it a better design IMO

 

[eitai2001]

Great to hear more news on this... I haven't heard much about it in the press for a while.

@fluke: At the presentation last year they said it'd be pretty quick acceleration at lower speeds (traffic light to traffic light). I think electric motors are generally pretty quick off the mark. That said, it's not intended for the sports market where I think the telsa is the clear leader (http://www.teslamotors.com/).

The tesla is out of reach of almost everyone. We need something within reach of the consumer if we're going change anything. This one is designed to be lighter on the pocket and fill a gap that is pretty empty at the moment - a six seater electric for round the city type travel.

@Shake: I stand to be corrected, but if memory serves I think they said on 3 phase you can charge it pretty darn quickly (like 15 minutes or something). You won't own the battery though... That's on a lease or something in order to bring the price down. Might be pricey for a spare

Will definitely go check it out on show next week in Woodstock. The newsletter this morning said they will have a snippet on Carte Blanch on 1 Nov.

The Tesla I wouln't say is out of reach to the guys who drive around in Merc 5/6 litre cars, Porche's, etc ... wish the SA market would bring something like this here (or is it, I haven't seen one? )

 

[Shake&Bake]

Not so great for intracity trips unless it can be charged in 15 minutes at your local petrol station ... but what will be the electricity bill following eskom's increases?

On the other hand, awesome idea ... would be nice if they could make a sub 150k model to compete with your entry level cars.

I don't like the front though, looks like a fat Citroen C1 or something ... could've have given it a better design IMO

R150k and less would be ideal.

I also considered the cost implications over the next few years.
At this time of the morning - lets not kid ourselves here, at anytime - I wouldn't be able to run the compartive figures; But it would be interesting to know how much one 3-phase charge would cost in comparison to a (conventonal fuel driven) light motor vehicle covering the same range.

So essentially, the electric cost compared to the normal petrol cost.

 

[risingtide]

I wonder what the range will be with the air-con on?

Driving range has and still is the achilles heel of electric cars.
Strange that the original specs referred to a range of 200km which has now increased to 300km. Did battery technology improve that much?

 

[Shake&Bake]

I wonder what the range will be with the air-con on?

Does it have aircon?
If the quoted range of 300km is without aircon, it's going to be very interesting to hear what that range would then be with AC running.

 

[Smooth Criminal]

What's the recharge time like? It's pointless having a 300km range with a recharge time of 48 hours.

Also I'm a bit hesitant on the quoted range as manufacturers are usually conservative when it comes to these things - they tend to quote figures achieved under ideal test conditions. I'd personally wait for some real world tests to be conducted - things that take everyday usage (such as radio, wet weather performance when you need your wipers, stop-start conditions, aircon usage etc.) into account.

 

[Shake&Bake]

What's the recharge time like? It's pointless having a 300km range with a recharge time of 48 hours.

Also I'm a bit hesitant on quoted range as manufacturers are usually conservative when it comes to these things - they tend to quote figures achieved under ideal test conditions. I'd personally wait for some real world tests to be conducted - things that take everyday usage (such as radio, wet weather performance when you need your wipers, stop-start conditions, aircon usage etc.) into account.

Valid points indeed.

shogun mentioned earlier that a 3-phase charge takes 15 minutes.

 

[Smooth Criminal]

Valid points indeed.

shogun mentioned earlier that a 3-phase charge takes 15 minutes.

Commented straight after reading the article so I missed his post

15 minutes is pretty impressive though, but the other concerns still remain. My biggest fear is that it starts out like the cellphone bricks did, requiring a charge 3 times a day

 

[eitai2001]

Also is 300k before its dead ... cause then it'll prob die over like 25k and get slower and slower until you're traversing the highway at 25kmh to get home to charge ... electricity doesn't just somma die, it gets deminished .. like when a torch gets dimmer and dimmer as the battery dies

 

[Shake&Bake]

Commented straight after reading the article so I missed his post

15 minutes is pretty impressive though, but the other concerns still remain. My biggest fear is that it starts out like the cellphone bricks did, requiring a charge 3 times a day

Therefore my earlier comment to having a spare handy

 

[Smooth Criminal]

Therefore my earlier comment to having a spare handy

Hehe I suppose it's cool when you're driving around town and you get stuck - just give the SO a call.

But not all that useful when you're halfway to the coast. You'd have to sommer push it to the nearest farmer's house and ask if you can use his socket

 

[Shake&Bake]

Hehe I suppose it's cool when you're driving around town and you get stuck - just give the SO a call.

But not all that useful when you're halfway to the coast. You'd have to sommer push it to the nearest farmer's house and ask if you can use his socket

Can you imagine what that farmer would charge?!?

No negotiation - either take out your wallet, or walk back to an area with cellular reception to call the AA.
And by the time you get back his irate bull has been allowed to toss your new little car around

 

[Gekco]

Some info here from their web site:

Acceleration:

Joule accelerates with unparalleled smoothness from 0 to 60km/h in under 5 seconds giving it very brisk city performance. It reaches 100 km/h in under 16 seconds. With a top speed of 135km/h and a nominal driving range of 300km, Joule is an engineering masterpiece.

Charging:

Using one normal 220 Volt home outlet and the Joule’s onboard charger, Joule will charge the 300km battery pack in approximately seven hours.

Read the fine print though re. batteries:

Q
Does Joule come with batteries?
A
No. The purchase price of Joule excludes batteries. The batteries will be leased separately and this monthly lease cost will include the warranty and servicing of the batteries as well as the electricity cost. Optimal Energy retains ownership of the batteries to ensure that the batteries remain in optimal condition and that any battery actions do not concern the customer.


Q
What will Joule’s batteries cost?
A
Battery costs are declining globally as volumes increase and as an increasing number of battery suppliers enter the market. It is expected that the monthly lease of a 300km battery pack, including the warranty and electricity, will cost in the region of R1,500 per month. At 2000km per month, this equates to 75c per km in 2009. This is expected to decrease substantially in the future.


Q
How long will the batteries last?
A
Optimal Energy expects the battery packs to last for 200,000km or 10 years i.e. for the useful life of the vehicle. However, international battery developments are ongoing, and battery performance is constantly improving.

So R 1 500 per month to "lease" the batteries

Source:
http://www.optimalenergy.co.za
http://www.optimalenergy.co.za/faq.php

 

[robgun]

So other than the environmental benefits, the driver will make almost no savings by switching over to an electric vehicle from a combustion engine in South Africa unless he travels more than 2120Km a month. Here are my calculations:

Volts x Amps = Watts therefore 220V X 3.0A (Standard rating) = 660Watts/hour. Multiply that by 7 hours and you get a total of 4.620KW/h per day to charge to max capacity (Approximately)

1KW/h of electricity is about 88.20 cents incl. vat

So 88.20c X 4.620KW/h = 407.484 cents / day to charge = +- R122.00/month

Then, battery rental = R1500.00 so total is now R1622.00 / 30 days

Petrol is currently R7.65/l and the average mileage per liter is about 10km

So to break even with an electric car, you would need to travel a minimum of 2120KM / month or 71Km / day any less mileage than that and you would end up paying more per km than with a combustion engine.

Am I right?

 

[Fazda]

300km on a charge, what is the acceleration like?

What's this doing on mybroadband btw?

Do we have another one here who doesn't realise that Mybb has a motoring section http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=199504