Electric Daihatsu Mira goes 623 miles on a charge, but not to a showroom near you
By Tim Stevens 
posted May 27th 2010 8:09AM
posted May 27th 2010 8:09AM
[Photo credit: Japan Electric Vehicle Club]
Mira EV* Powered by SANYO Lithium-ion Battery Systems Breaks Its Guinness World Record
for the Longest Journey without Recharging
New record for a travel distance of 1,003.184 km!
Tokyo, May 24, 2010 - SANYO Electric Co., Ltd. (SANYO) is pleased to announce that Mira EV powered by SANYO lithium-ion battery systems achieved a travel distance of 1,003.184 km, breaking its own Guinness World Record for the longest journey without recharging.
The trial run was provided by Japan Electric Vehicle Club (Japan EV Club), and implemented at a training school for auto racers in Ibaraki, Japan during May 22 to 23, 2010. The Mira EV has already achieved a 555.6 km run without recharging from Tokyo to Osaka, Japan on November 17, 2009, with this travel distance of 555.6 km having been officially recognized as the Guinness World Record this past April.
The SANYO lithium-ion battery systems employed in the Mira EV were designed by assembling 8,320 cylindrical lithium-ion batteries (18650-type) which are normally used in laptops etc, similar to the configuration used in the April record.
SANYO continues to improve its lithium-ion battery technology as it contributes to realizing a low carbon society.
and I wonder how long that takes to charge.... =P
@unibrow How much of every 27.5 hours do YOU take to recharge?
BTW, that trip was less than 23 mph on average.
wonder how long it takes to charge... =P
0-60?
I know its not something people immediately think about when it comes to cars and batteries, but what happens if you were to crash this thing?
@jpxdude what happens if you were to crash this thing?
It's made of the same kind of rubber they use in super balls. It's so light, it just bounces off whatever it hits :-)
@jpxdude - It get's dented, just like a gas powered car.
@jpxdude haha, I guess I should have expected those responses.
My point is that this thing is packing 8000+ li-ion cells, I'd imagine there would be some damage/mess, but upon some further reading, I discovered the batteries wouldn't explode or burn like I thought they would lol.
@jpxdude
yeah pretty the same as pretol cars with 60 liter of gasoline in it
@jpxdude
Li-ion batteries are actually pretty sturdy, and relatively inert. Just don't stick them in a fire or short the terminals. So in terms of crash safely, its certainly no worse than a gasoline-powered vehicle.
@jpxdude It's LiFePO, not the Lithium Cobalt or similar that is typically used for laptop batteries. While the energy density is a bit lower, it is significantly more stable, and also capable of many more charge cycles. These are also the types of cells used in Lithium power tools and OLPC laptops.
Cool but is this necessary????
Tesla Roadster will get you over 200 miles to a charge
Well done.
What happens after 18 months when the batteries begin failing to hold a decent charge?
@Alex you send the car back to Apple and give you an iPad
Cool, but not impressive. 27.5 hours divided by 623 miles traveled = a rough average speed of a little under 23 miles per hour. They were driving at a constant pace since most of the corners are easily doable at that speed without braking much. Wind resistance is insignificant at that speed. 623 miles on a charge in real world conditions would be impressive. Sadly this won't happen until battery tech improves. And we all know who loves to gobble up battery patents *cough* oil companies *cough*
That's all well and good, until you have to start chucking out batteries everytime you pick up a friend. There's probably only room for the batteries and on person inside that thing.
623 miles in 27.5 hrs...? that's like 22 mph this could work in golf course and sports stadiums because i dont want to spend 2hrs getting home when it normally takes me 20minutes. Time > MPG, still fun read though.
@GN1
But at double the speed you would probably get near half of that range, and an average speed of 45mph for 300miles is pretty good going. I think the key point of this exercise was purely to try and help break down people's perceptions that EV cars are always range constricted. It's still got a way to go but it's a step in the right direction.
@TC Doubling the speed squares the power required. The range would be somewhere around 120 miles per charge at 46 mph.
Wind resistance is not usually factored in until around 15 mph, then the power required to overcome the resistance is squared with each mph gained. It starts at almost zero resistance at 15 mph, and goes up exponentially from there (obviously).
Well here is the point I never hear when we start talking about extended miles per charge. Who in the hell wants to drive this thing on a long distance journey anyway? To and from work? I get that. Out to dinner and a movie? Your date will think you are lame unless she has hairy pits, but I still get it. Driving six hundred miles to see grandma? No thanks, I'll rent a car or fly. And if your commute is really a couple hundred miles, than you should think about moving closer to your job to help the earth, and stop complaining that electric vehicles just don't go far enough.
But then again, I hate people so...
Just wait till everybody start modding their Android powered EVs... and hacking those of other people.
S x T = D, D/T = S
T = 27.5 hours
D = 623.76 miles
meaning S = 22.68 mph
The Tesla Roadster previously held the record at over 300 miles and it was faster than 23 mph.
Tesla Roadster is also commercially available and will do 0-60 in under 4 seconds. doesnt look too bad to boot.