Search found 40 matches

by microman
Mon Feb 14, 2011 8:01 am
Forum: General
Topic: Mitsubishi iMiEV v. Nissan Leaf
Replies: 3
Views: 12121

Re: Mitsubishi iMiEV v. Nissan Leaf

Interior quality - cheap looking and finished upholstery in the iMiEV with almost grotesque heater controls facing you, nasty plastic door handles, a shift lever that looks like its borrowed from a JCB. Very narrow as one must expect for a diminutive car - you need to be very friendly with the front...
by microman
Sun Feb 13, 2011 11:34 am
Forum: General
Topic: Mitsubishi iMiEV v. Nissan Leaf
Replies: 3
Views: 12121

Mitsubishi iMiEV v. Nissan Leaf

I test drove the iMiEV and the Leaf last week. Just no contest at all, they're in different leagues with the Leaf way, way ahead. I don't see how Mitsubishi can expect to sell any except possibly as a very compact inner-city car given that they're the same price. So we going ahead with purchasing a ...
by microman
Thu Aug 27, 2009 7:07 pm
Forum: Hybrid's Corner
Topic: Converting a Prius for PHEV
Replies: 14
Views: 77421

There have been so few gen2 traction battery failures that all one can reasonably say is that the batteries last the life of the car (so far). Ditto for motors. There are statistics floating around on the US Prius forums somewhere. The last figures I saw for Toyota replacement batteries was I think ...
by microman
Thu Aug 27, 2009 6:13 pm
Forum: Hybrid's Corner
Topic: Converting a Prius for PHEV
Replies: 14
Views: 77421

There are some simple ways of raising the EV limit - see http://techno-fandom.org/~hobbit/cars/nosquirt/ for example - but note the caveats. Intercepting and spoofing the communications on the CAN bus is one way of changing the operation of the Prius without hacking the ECU firmware(s). But either w...
by microman
Thu Jul 16, 2009 3:43 pm
Forum: General
Topic: life on here
Replies: 23
Views: 49048

SimonR, If you post a question purporting be an fairly naive enquirer genuinely seeking information you should not be surprised or offended if the answers you receive make the assumption that that is indeed what you are. I answered your question supposing that your knowledge was limited perhaps to O...
by microman
Tue May 19, 2009 10:35 am
Forum: General
Topic: Flywheels For Short-Term Power
Replies: 23
Views: 51928

Andy, I think Deker is right, you need to consider carefully what your specification actually is. You say you want 10 mile range and you might be operating the cells at 20C average. 20C corresponds to 2 or 3 minutes discharge time. For 10 miles that's an average speed of 200-300 mph. And you want ex...
by microman
Mon Apr 20, 2009 6:44 am
Forum: Hot off the press....
Topic: Government to offer up to £5000 subsidy for buying electr
Replies: 20
Views: 45304

Set up a junk email address on gmail or whatever just for this sort of thing. You need access to it in this case to confirm the signing.
by microman
Sat Apr 18, 2009 8:29 am
Forum: Hot off the press....
Topic: Government to offer up to £5000 subsidy for buying electr
Replies: 20
Views: 45304

Yes, its spin, smoke and mirror stuff. And given that the likely next Chancellor has said he will reduce public spending I doubt anything will happen at all.
by microman
Thu Apr 16, 2009 2:54 pm
Forum: Hot off the press....
Topic: Government to offer up to £5000 subsidy for buying electr
Replies: 20
Views: 45304

Don't overlook the 'up to' bit. There's no chance you'll get $5k off a G-Wiz.
by microman
Wed Apr 15, 2009 12:54 pm
Forum: All things battery related
Topic: Dumb charging idea?
Replies: 7
Views: 20358

The difference between your simple charger and regeneration is that the latter has series inductance from the motor/generator windings which smooths the current waveform. You could do the same to provide a nice clean charging current - but the inductance required will be large because the frequency ...

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