The Hypermini is a two-seater

electric Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by ...

microcar Microcar is a term often used for the smallest size of cars, with three or four wheels and often an engine smaller than . Specific types of microcars include bubble cars, cycle cars, invacar, quadricycles and voiturettes. Microcars are often ...

Nissan Motors , trading as Nissan Motor Corporation and often shortened to Nissan, is a Japanese multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Nishi-ku, Yokohama, Japan. The company sells its vehicles under the Nissan, Infiniti, and Datsun brands, ...

, which produced 219 of the cars in 1999–2001 for the Japanese market.

Description

The Hypermini is a two-passenger EV (electric vehicle)

that can move at and travel about on a single charge, according to Nissan's measurements made under Japan's 10-15 test mode. The Hypermini won the fourth annual "New Energy Grand Prize." The prize is sponsored by the New Energy Foundation which is associated with Japan's Ministry of International Trade & Industry.

Release

It was introduced in a limited way in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

in 1999. It was launched for retail sale through Nissan dealers in the greater

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...

, and

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...

metropolitan areas in February 2000, priced at 4,000,000

yen The is the official currency of Japan. It is the third-most traded currency in the foreign exchange market, after the United States dollar (US$) and the euro. It is also widely used as a third reserve currency after the US dollar and the e ...

US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

36,567) with a 200-volt mount-type battery charger and 4,015,000 yen with 200

volt The volt (symbol: V) is the unit of electric potential, electric potential difference (voltage), and electromotive force in the International System of Units (SI). It is named after the Italian physicist Alessandro Volta (1745–1827). Defi ...

non-fixed battery charger. Sales were targeted principally at national government offices and agencies, local government bodies and corporations. Nissan claims the Hypermini consumes a quarter the energy of a typical car.

Features

The Hypermini features an

aluminium Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. I ...

space frame In architecture and structural engineering, a space frame or space structure ( 3D truss) is a rigid, lightweight, truss-like structure constructed from interlocking struts in a geometric pattern. Space frames can be used to span large areas with ...

chassis made of extruded aluminium pipe, aluminium stampings, and aluminium castings. Panels are plastic. The front

suspension Suspension or suspended may refer to: Science and engineering * Suspension (topology), in mathematics * Suspension (dynamical systems), in mathematics * Suspension of a ring, in mathematics * Suspension (chemistry), small solid particles suspend ...

has independent struts while the rear has independent parallel-link struts. Brakes (front and rear) are ventilated discs with an

anti-lock braking system An anti-lock braking system (ABS) is a safety anti-skid braking system used on aircraft and on land vehicles, such as cars, motorcycles, trucks, and buses. ABS operates by preventing the wheels from locking up during braking, thereby maintaini ...

. Stock

tyres A tire (American English) or tyre (British English) is a ring-shaped component that surrounds a Rim (wheel), wheel's rim to transfer a vehicle's load from the axle through the wheel to the ground and to provide Traction (engineering), t ...

are run-flat size 145/65 R14 at the front and 165/60 R14 at the rear. Its turning circle is and its

drag coefficient In fluid dynamics, the drag coefficient (commonly denoted as: c_\mathrm, c_x or c_) is a dimensionless quantity that is used to quantify the drag or resistance of an object in a fluid environment, such as air or water. It is used in the drag equ ...

is 0.30. The Hypermini is equipped with an electric automatic

air-conditioner Air conditioning, often abbreviated as A/C or AC, is the process of removing heat from an enclosed space to achieve a more comfortable interior environment (sometimes referred to as 'comfort cooling') and in some cases also strictly controlling ...

with pre-cool and pre-heat enabling the driver to get the cabin temperature to the desired level before climbing behind the wheel. The Hypermini's

lithium-ion batteries A lithium-ion or Li-ion battery is a type of rechargeable battery which uses the reversible reduction of lithium ions to store energy. It is the predominant battery type used in portable consumer electronics and electric vehicles. It also se ...

are located under the floor and are recharged inductively. The non-contact charging system utilizes a plastic paddle with a built-in coil that generates a high frequency magnetic field. A portable battery charger can be stored on board, enabling batteries to be charged anywhere an ordinary electric outlet can be found. Nissan estimated that Hypermini could be operated at one-fifth the cost of a gasoline-powered vehicle.

Numbers produced and in existence

According to Nissan, a total of about 300 were made. Production versions were trialed in the Japanese cities of Kyoto (138), Yokohama (20), Ebina (15), Tokyo (20), and in

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

University of California, Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a public land-grant research university near Davis, California. Named a Public Ivy, it is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The institut ...

(15) and the city council of

Pasadena Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. Its ...

(11). 15 small Nissan Hypermini vehicles went into service 7 November 2001 in a research program at the University of California, Davis. Nissan was involved in three car-sharing programs using Hyperminis in Japan. About 120 Hyperminis had been sold to support these programs in the cities of Kyoto, Ebina and

Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of To ...

. City officials and private citizens were using the vehicles. Nissan took 11 Hypermini August 2006 vehicles back from city council of Pasadena, California after leases expired, stating "Nissan says it no longer makes the Hypermini and can't maintain the cars". Publicly owned examples can sometimes be found for sale in Japan.

References

External links

Nissan Motors Hypermini page
(Japanese)

{{nissan

Hypermini The Hypermini is a two-seater electric microcar by Nissan Motors, which produced 219 of the cars in 1999–2001 for the Japanese market. Description The Hypermini is a two-passenger EV (electric vehicle) microcar that can move at and travel a ...

Production electric cars CARB's ZEV Mandate Cars introduced in 1999 2000s cars