Went over to Pier 27 yesterday to check it out, and also catch the Blue Angles (I think this was the first time I've gone to Fleet Week this century). Cars present: 3 Mirais, 1 Clarity, 2 or three Mercedes F-cells (B-class), a whole passel of Soul EVs, plus single examples of the Volt 2 and C-Max Energi, and three different e-bikes which I'll describe in that thread. Also, Envision Solar was there with one of their portable PV/battery charging stations http://www.envisionsolar.com/ev-arc/
Base price for 2 x L1/J1772 was $47k (eek!), and with a single L2/J1772 it was $57k (double eek!); they also offer a 3 x L1/receptacle only. Max charging power is 4.2 kW, Battery storage is 24 or 30kWh, and they're offering two sizes of array, either 3.4 kW or 4.1 kW (nominal, slight variation depending on PV supplier). Truck mobile, and folds down to 24' x 7.5' x 7.5' and weighs less than 8,000 lbs, so will fit on a standard flatbed trailer or in a container. Your choice of free or networked EVSEs, at more cost.
There was also a company called Freewire Technologies with one of their portable, self-mobile (-4 mph/9% grade) battery-storage QCs: http://www.freewiretech.com/mobi-charger/
Actually, the one they had there was only L2. The product brochure they were handing out said they currently offered Tesla and ChadeMO, with CCS soon. So, for those of you who want your own home or small business QC, but don't want to pay exorbitant demand charges, here's one possible answer, as you've got the option of recharging the unit off either 240V/single phase or 208V three phase - actual input voltage can be 190-260V single phase, max. output is 50kW, the battery is 48kWh (but LiMn2O4, same chemistry as the LEAF's original battery). No TMS AFAICT, and the operating temp limits are 0 to 50 deg. C. The L2-only model is priced about $40k per the rep I talked to, and the QC would be more. Each unit only appears to support a single QC connector, and I suggested that they really needed to offer dual-standard on each unit.
As for the cars, the Clarity is better looking than the Mirai, but the Mirai is IMO better looking than the Gen 4 Prius, not that that takes much. I didn't bother to drive either as both are sedans and the rear seats don't fold down. The Clarity's trunk is a joke, about half of the distance from the back of the rear seats to the tailgate is taken up by a rectangular hump that presumably covers a fuel tank, at least half the height of the trunk and pretty much full width. You might be able to put a single golf bag without cart back there, plus a small/medium suitcase or two on top of the tank.
Sat in the back of the Mirai with the front seat adjusted where I need it as I do with every car I'm looking at, and found toe room blocked by something under the front seat, knee room okay (6', 34" inseam) and headroom fine. The Clarity seemed to be in constant use for test drives so I didn't get into it. Lacking a Tucson, I checked out the F-Cell, and found it had enough space for me to lie down in with the seats folded flat, good rear seat space (knee room a little tight but better toe room than the Mirai and plenty of head room). Driving consisted of taking it around the parking lot, so not much can be learned from that, but in general I liked it.
Also looked at the Volt 2 (not available for test drives) and looked at/drove the Soul. Surprisingly, both had enough room for me to lie down in back with the rear seats folded flat and the fronts slid all the way forward, although the Soul's rear seat backs don't lie totally flush, but stick up at a small angle, say 10-15 degrees. Rear seat headroom in the Volt was much better than I thought it would be, as my head actually stuck up in the area of the rear hatch glass (sun-masked at the top) instead of the roof headliner. People with longer torsos might hit, and I wonder just how much solar heat would transfer to your head back there, and how safe it would be in a crash.
I've always liked the look of the Soul (also like the Element), and it surprised me that I could lie down in it so easily. As it's 1" shorter than the Bolt, this bodes well for that car, although the Bolt's seat backs stick up much worse so it would probably fail the 'can lie down comfortably' test. Really liked the Soul's more basic controls compared to the all-touchscreen one in the Mirai, which would rule the latter out for me even if I loved the car; the Volt also had enough manual buttons and switches. The Soul's acceleration had a bit of a pause in it right off a standing start, almost a hesitation, but then it picked up quickly. Good vis out of it, too. If I were prepared to give up AWD I could easily see owning (an ICE) one of these, assuming it has adequate power at altitude. If they gave the BEV the range of the Bolt and built the infrastructure where I needed it . . .
