Stella performance from Subaru EV

Subaru will have the electric version of its tiny Stella model on display at the Melbourne International Motor Show (MIMS) when doors open this Friday.

Known officially as the 'Plug-in Stella', the Subaru forgoes the conventional Stella's petrol engine and transmission for an electric motor driving through a single reduction gear to the front-mounted differential. Power for the 40kW motor is stored in 16 lithium-ion battery modules, with eight under the front seats and the balance under the rear seat.

Capable of reaching approximately 100km/h, the EV will run its motor up to maximum revs of 6000rpm and produce 150Nm of torque, according to Subaru.

The beauty of the Stella (first reported by the Carsales Network in December, more here) is that it can be recharged by two different means, both addressing infrastructure shortfalls that hinder the wider adoption of electric vehicles. There's a standard recharge socket behind the car's front grille, which will accept a power lead plugged into a standard AC-mains circuit. In Australia, the national grid runs 240 Volts, which provides householders with the means of recharging the Stella in approximately half the time it would take in other markets, where the standard power outlet voltage is 110 Volts.

Subaru's Manager for Corporate Planning and the EV Business Promotion Office is Takashi Suzuki, currently visiting Australia for his baby's debut here at MIMS. Suzuki-San explained that from a standard power outlet in Australia, the Plug-in Stella would require four hours to recharge, based on 240 Volts, 10 to 15Amps and 2.4kW.

The other method to recharge the Stella, which can cover an 80km range without operating air conditioning or heating, is a 'rapid recharge' method. This means of recharging the car's batteries has been developed by the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) and can charge the battery up to 80 per cent of capacity within 15 minutes. TEPCO is committed to reducing the recharge time to about the same as required to fill the fuel tank of an internal-combustion car.

Specifications for the three-phase power unit are: DC (Direct Current) supply, 400 Volts, 100Amps and 40kW -- substantially more convenient for the recharging of the batteries than the household method, but limited to a recharge ceiling of 80 per cent of battery capacity. TEPCO is already testing the system (which looks like an oversize fuel bowser) in Tokyo parking stations. This type of recharge unit could be integrated on the islands at service stations throughout Australia, as and when electric vehicles become more popular.

For prospective owners of the Plug-in Stella, the beauty of the car is its low running costs, since it can be recharged overnight, relying on offpeak electricity. Subaru estimates that the Stella EV would cost AUD$0.93 per 100km travelled, and since the urban runabout is limited to an 80km range between recharges, it would cost less than that figure per day. By way of comparison, Subaru quotes daily running cost figures of $1.48 for a reverse-cycle air conditioning system and $0.46 for a 500-litre fridge/freezer over a 24-hour period. Driving 100km in a 2.0-litre Impreza will set you back $9.24, according to Subaru's figures.

Subaru has no corporate viewpoint when it comes to 'A Better Place', the multinational company proposing the set up of recharging and battery-swap infrastructure in Australia, but on the face of it, the TEPCO system appears more practical than battery-swapping, provided Subaru and TEPCO can push through this system as a default for recharging systems around the world. Safety would be another issue to address before this system might be widely adopted by service stations. How will recharging units mix with fuel vapours, for example?

According to Suzuki-San, Subaru and TEPCO intend for their rapid recharge system to find favour beyond the shores of Japan, but the Plug-in Stella offers the home recharging facility also, for those countries that cannot develop the rapid recharge infrastructure in a reasonable timeframe. When the Carsales Network put it to him that this system must be adopted as an industry standard, lest it be a new Betamax or eight-track cartridge system, Suzuki-san responded that TEPCO was already on top of that.

"Mitsubishi and [our cars] can use this charger," he said. "They're exporting the technology... not just Japan..."

If there's one aspect of the Plug-in Stella that might be a little hard to swallow, it's the car's prospective price. Subaru is building and selling 100 units for a "trial launch", with local government prefectures in Japan driving the cars on test.

Suzuki-san couldn't give us an exact price, but did say that the Plug-in Stella would sell for at least three times the price of a conventional Stella. The price of that car, in Japan and converted to Aussie dollars is $15,000. Multiply that by at least three (over $45,000) and you begin to approach the asking price for a commercialised Plug-in Stella. That's astronomical, even for a car named 'Stella'.

Watch our for a first drive report on the Plug-in Stella.