Plug-in electric cars: New technology, familiar feel
In the past few weeks, I've had an opportunity to experience the cutting edge in plug-in electric vehicle technology. In some cases, you'd think you're just driving a regular car.
The bulk of production plug-in electric vehicles available now are either utility trucks, small cars that top out at 25 miles per hour, or the pricey Tesla Roadster sports car. Now automakers are building plug-in sedans and SUVs with lithium ion batteries designed for the mass market.
Judging from the cars I've driven, automakers are trying to strike a balance between enticing consumers with new technology but not asking them to make sacrifices. So even though electrification is shaking up the auto industry, the biggest learning curve for owners may be around fueling rather than driving. And if the goal is to make plug-ins mainstream, that's probably a good thing.
Consider the electric Ford Focus which is due out in 2011. It runs entirely on batteries for a range of about 100 miles and will be manufactured side-by-side with the gasoline edition.
During my drive two weeks ago, I was eager to feel the acceleration. Vehicles that run off electric motors have "instant torque," which means you get the car's top acceleration at all speeds. The Focus was indeed zippy and responsive, but when I asked if it was better than the gasoline Focus, Ford's director of global electrification Nancy Gioia told me that it'd be the same--on purpose.
Ford dialed back the potential acceleration of the electric Focus so drivers can expect the same from the gasoline and electric versions. The same is true for braking.
"That makes the technology less scary and more familiar--and, actually, safer. Because if you jump from an (electric car) to a regular car, you don't want to have to remember very different (conditions)," she said. Limiting the maximum available acceleration also saves the batteries to help deliver on expected range.
Electric drive
Another car in the all-electric category is the Think City, made by Think of Norway, which I got a chance to drive last week. From a design point of view, it's almost the polar opposite of the high-end Tesla Roadster. The Think City can go about 100 miles on its batteries and it's highway capable with a top speed of 60 miles per hour. In its first iteration, it only has two seats in the front and a hatchback.
Once again, I found the acceleration pretty good and responsive during my quick loop around a parking lot roof. But don't expect sports car-caliber handling. It struck me as a car simply designed to get you from one place to the next, but on electric charge. The company expects to start selling the Think City in Europe later this year and build a plant for the U.S. market next year.
Nissan, Tesla Motors, and Coda Automotive are among the other automakers betting on all-electric sedans. The thinking is that the limited range is acceptable for people who would rather fuel up on electricity than oil for their daily commutes. GM executives, for example, project that more than 90 percent of drivers could do 90 percent of their driving in electric mode.
If you drive 50 miles a day, all-electric cars probably aren't the best fit for your primary car. That said, a 100-mile range with daily charging can meet a lot of Americans' daily driving needs and rental cars are always available for long road trips.
Auto industry executives say it will be substantially cheaper to drive on an electric charge, but the high cost of batteries and power electronics raise the upfront cost. Ford's electric Focus, for example, will cost more than the gasoline version, although it should be eligible for a tax credit for plug-ins. The Chevy Volt is said to cost about $40,000, and Nissan's Leaf is said to cost in the $25,000 to $35,000 range, although the company is looking at options, such as battery leasing, to lower that upfront cost.
Plug-in hybrids
Analysts project electrics to be a very small slice of the overall market for hybrids and electric vehicles in the next five years because of the limitations on range and the anticipated higher cost associated with the new technology.
Sales of hybrids, meanwhile, are projected to grow. But what remains to be seen is how much traction plug-in hybrids will get. Toyota, Ford, and General Motors are preparing plug-in hybrids, which will start arriving in showrooms over the next two or three years. Initially, plug-in hybrids are being tested with fleet operators.
After taking the Focus for a ride, I took a spin in a prototype of a plug-in hybrid Ford Escape SUV being tested by utilities gauging the impact of plug-ins on the grid. The driving, again, was familiar; acceleration, handling, and the interior is all what I'd expect in an SUV. What was different is that I was quickly drawn to the fuel-efficiency feedback system.
In this case, the Escape drives mostly on its 10 kilowatt-hour battery (compared to a 1.5 kilowatt-hour battery in a regular hybrid) for the first 30 miles or so. But when you need an extra boost of power, the gasoline engine will kick in, which you can hear and see on the in-car display.
The big advantage of gas-electric vehicles, of course, is that you can fuel up away from an electrical socket. Overall, fuel economy will improve the more often you can charge up. In a test of its fleet of converted plug-in Priuses, Idaho National Labs found that its average mileage was 55 miles per gallon, but fuel economy dropped significantly if cars were not charged every day.
The technological twist on the plug-in hybrids is the extended-range electric vehicle or a series hybrid--an approach being used by the Chevy Volt and Fisker Automotive luxury sedans. In this case, it's the electric motor that moves the car all the time and the gas engine is used to run a generator for the motor. When I was taken for a drive in the Volt by a GM auto engineer this summer, I found the Volt had a lot of pep and handled turns well.
Having driven a number of plug-in vehicle variants over the past year, it's clear that these cars will work just fine for everyday driving. The technology of lithium ion batteries leaves plenty of room for both utilitarian and performance cars. Nobody can say how much more the average consumer will be willing to pay for fuel efficiency from the new technology, but the biggest change to daily habits may come when drivers fuel up by plugging in rather than filling 'er up.
Martin LaMonica is a senior writer for CNET's Green Tech blog. He started at CNET News in 2002, covering IT and Web development. Before that, he was executive editor at IT publication InfoWorld. E-mail Martin. 
Would you REALLY want to put a vehicle in sport mode that only had braking, suspension and tires/wheels designed for econo-driving. That's a REALLY good recipe for putting a car shiny-side down. I imagine you'd be pissed that your car rated for a 100mi range was getting considerably less, too.
That's an example how people are applying traditional thinking to a new platform.
Electric vehicles range is actually not strongly affected by driving style. In a petrol powered car hitting the accelerator hard and braking hard is a recipe for lower efficiency. Not so with electrics. Electrics range is affected by cruise speed, but not much by accelerating and braking hard.
Regarding safety, if they tuned down the vehicle's performance to match the platform's stability and capabilities, I would agree with that. But that's not what they are doing. They are dumbing down the acceleration (especially in the low range, which is were electrics shine) to match the IC version so users don't feel odd.
I will give you a hint that this is the wrong strategy: the japanese, the european, and even the new american brands, that is those that have demonstrated they know how to manage this market, are not doing it. Only those that have proven once and again that they don't know how to adapt to new conditions are doing it. Doesn't that tell you something?
My other question is, where are they going to stock pile these batteries once they start dying? I mean we would be talking a serious number of batteries.
Last question, are we going to use gas-fired power plants or coal power plants to create the extra electricity we need to power this new fleet of cars? In any event we are still polluting the environment. Without a doubt electricity will start to cost more.
I would also be nice if they made cars less disposable. How about creating a car that doesn't break down as much or rust out as quickly. But that would reduce the number of cars we make and the economy would go down the tubes again. Consume consume that is the way... at the expense of the environment.
Perhaps everyone should put up a little wind generator at the top of their house or solar panels. They could come free with the car. That way it will be less strain on the power grid.
Just my thoughts.
#2. Even if 100% of our electricity came from coal, it would still be cleaner to use that electricity to charge electric cars than to drive internal combustion engine vehicles, as the coal is centrally burned under very efficient conditions, and less emissions are produced by far compared to burning gasoline in millions of small, comparatively inefficient combustion engines. However that's not really the point. The point is that gas engines can only run on gas. No more gas? Your car becomes useless. Electric cars are future proof, because they don't care where their electricity comes from. Solar? Wind? Hydro? Geothermal? Nuclear? Even coal? It's all the same to an electric car. That's why, as we gradually shut down coal fired plants and build new solar energy towers, wind farms and nuclear plants, electric cars will keep on working the same as always, making them an ideal vehicle to own during such a transition. Btw, Better Place, the leading charge point provider, offers 100% solar and wind generated electricity to their charge points.
#3. Electric cars are actually the lowest maintinence vehicles you can buy. An electric motor has only one moving part, and the new ones are all brushless so they don't wear down, even over a person's lifespan. EVs have no transmission, no filters, no belts, no fans, no carburetors, basically 90% of the stuff regular cars have doesn't exist in an EV. They have batteries, a motor, and a "throttle" of some sort for controlling voltage. That's the entirety of an EVs internals. The most maintinence an EV ever requires is the replacement of wiper fluid and the occasional tire replacement when one pops. You will need a new battery pack every ten to fifteen years however, but it won't cost you anything if you leased your last battery. They charge you a few cents per mile so that by the time your battery is down to 80% capacity, you'll have paid it off, and they can put in a new one.
They are composed of Lithium (innocuous, or actually healthy), Iron (good for you) and phosphate (also great). You could grind the worn batteries and sell them as vitamins! (just kidding, they probably have some minor contaminants that might be unhealthy if swallowed).
In addition to that, LiFePo batteries don't die easily. They should last at least a few decades before they need recycling.
Regarding your second point, we shouldn't. But even if we did, we would be polluting about one fourth of what we are polluring now, because the total emissions are significantly lower at a power station than at a car, even for old power stations.
I think you are making your comments based on old technology. Newest electrics are not disposable at all. They are designed to last decades, and even then their batteries are easy to recycle. Add to that that they are not throwing emissions out of a tailpipe, that they don't need toxic refrigerants, they don't need dirty oil changes, they don't make noise and all that, and you have the recipe for a better tomorrow.
That said, an electric vehicle with a 100 mile range can easily do 150 freeway miles. When you run low on charge, you'd stop at one of Better Place corporation's battery exchange stations. Like a gas station, except resembling a drive-through car wash. You pull in, your exhausted battery is removed, and a fresh one is installed in its place, all automatically and in under two minutes. Better Place tests, maintains and (when necessary) replaces the batteries, all of which is paid for by eMiles, a by the mile charge of about 8 cents that means you'll never have to shell out thousands of dollars for a new battery pack when yours goes bad or wears out.
Car Price MPG Gas Price Town CPM HWY CPM Gas Price Town CPM HWY CPM Gas Price Town CPM HWY CPM
Focus - Gas $18,000 24/34 $2.50 10.4 7.4 $3 12.5 8.8 $4 16.7 11.8
Focus - EV $25,000 N/A N/A 8.0 8.0 N/A 8.0 8.0 N/A 8.0 8.0
Focus - Gas $28,416.67 $25,352.94 $30,500.00 $26,823.53 $34,666.67 $29,764.71
Focus - EV $33,000.00 $33,000.00 $33,000.00 $33,000.00 $33,000.00 $33,000.00
The long commute like that seams a little abnormal. But I had done a similar commute once Sylmar to Costa Mesa.
But my average commute to work is 10 miles in 10 miles out right now. And that has at least for me been my historic average.
But lets say the commute is 150 miles, its not unlikely that you will find electrified parking spots. And you just plug in while you work and come out to a fully charged battery. So you can do 100 miles each direction with out much issue.
Up here in Canada, almost every parking stall around is electrified. (Block heaters for winter) So it is not a huge leaf for this to become more acceptable in other non winter climates.
But with that all said. I personally installed a Wind generator in our backyard about 2 years ago. And for the past 2 years my average over the year electrical bill has been in the negatives. Now I am tied to the grid since I can not always expect the perfect conditions for good Wind Generation. And in the winter my forced air Electric Furnace draws to much to be reliable at this point.
So for myself. Work pays for my spot its electrified, so no biggie, when I am home, I am plugged in, and I will draw off my generator. So maybe possibly the amount of money I get back from the Power company will drop down. But maybe not.
What I will love is driving past all those gas stations. And knowing I am not tied to them any longer.
I respect your opinion but disagree for the following reasons.
#1. Anyone who purchases an EV right now is eligible for generous tax rebates, often many thousands of dollars and up to 30% of the vehicle cost. Even without these tax breaks OR battery leasing the Nissan Leaf and Aptera are each $25,000, same as the gas powered Focus you used in your example.
#2. When you lease the battery, the initial cost of an EV is * much less* than that of a gasoline auto. Your figures assume that one would buy the whole vehicle, price of the battery included, *then* go on to pay eMiles. That's not how it works. eMiles are a battery leasing scheme. If you pay eMiles, the price of the battery is subtracted from the initial price of the vehicle.
#3. Gasoline autos require much, much more maintinence than EVs over time and you don't seem to have factored that into the operational costs.
#4. eMiles obey Moore's Law. As battery technology improves and economies of scale bring down their cost, the eMile is projected to steadily drop to somewhere around 2 cents per mile.
#5. At present rates it costs about $3 to fill a 28kwh battery like the one in the Leaf or Aptera. Each has a 100 mile range at 8 cents per eMile, so that's an extra 8 bucks on top of the $3 or so it costs to fully charge up at night. So $11 total, to go 100 miles. That's 11 cents per mile. Most cars on the road today average 21mpg, and trucks in particular often get as low as 13-17mpg. At $2.50 per gallon, it would cost $11.90 for the average gasoline automobile to travel that same 100 miles.
Take a look at the 2010 Toyota Prius. It has Solar Panels on the top to help cool the car in the Summer heat without killing the battery.
Adding the Solar panel will easily extend the charge of the battery for another 10- 20% of driving range.
Meaning, for a whole day, you'll earn a whopping 308 watt hours! The solar panel on the Prius can provide you energy to move the car 1.232 miles per day!
Wha aat ?!?
Esthetics! Zoning codes! You know how picky neighbors are!
Come on man!
(By the way I agree with you...)
"As I see it" there are two major problems. A car with a 100 mile range would be useless for many of us even if we do the majority of our driving around town. Coupled with the high prices and short range they should like a loser. The second problem is power. How do we get it and how is it made. It's true that "currently" the electric cars are cheaper to drive when only energy is taken into account, but overall they are just as expensive per mile when the cost of the car is taken into consideration. How we get that power is the power grid and the grid is not capable of Handling a large number of cars even if they are charged "off peak". California is already worrying about this and how much this will increase electrical rates for home owners, let alone drivers. Also that electricity is normally made by using coal which is the most polluting source of energy.
Currently an electric car would save, but in the long run will the energy costs stay cheaper and can they keep the pollution down.
#1. I should think one would feel safer getting into an electric when alone at night simply because it's guaranteed to start. While extreme temperatures do affect range, an electric vehicle is mechanically very simple and requires essentially no maintinence aside from the tires and wiper fluid. Gas powered cars regularly refuse to start in harsh winters, and overheat in the summers. An electric car will at least take you 80% of the advertised range regardless of outside conditions. It will never refused to start in the winters. It will never overheat in the Summers. The worst case scenario is that you're stuck at a Burger King for an hour or two while you charge it up enough to get home.
#2. A hundred mile range meets the needs of 90% of Americans. Keep in mind that the actual daily range is potentially well over 100 miles if you remember to plug in wherever you stop (at restaurants, on the job, etc.) with regular 'top-ups' like this, you could easily drive 200+ miles in a day on a 100 mile battery. And if that's not good enough for you, look into Better Place, the leading provider of charge points. They're in the process of building battery exchange stations compatible with the upcoming Nissan and Renault electric cars that will enable you to stop, swap your exhausted battery for a fresh one, then keep driving. There was a video of a battery swap station demonstration earlier in the comments if you'd like to see how they work.
#3. Many electric cars will actually cost as much as or less than comparable gasoline autos, at least in terms of the sticker price. The expensive ones you've seen are only the ones that include the price of the battery. However some will allow you to *lease* the battery instead, gradually paying it off over 10-15 years by way of a small per-mile fee (the 'eMile') similar to a by-the-minute cell phone plan. It's going to be around 8 cents per mile, slowly declining to 2 cents per mile over the next decade or so as battery technology improves and mass-manufacture of lithium ion battery packs brings down their price.
#4. The grid in its current form can handle 180 million EVs:
http://www.autoblog.com/2006/12/12/turn-off-your-ac-nations-power-grid-can-handle-180-million-evs/
Keep in mind that American driving habits are such that most would be charging off the grid overnight, when usage is at its lowest. During the day they wouldn't be charging off the grid, they'd be plugged into a paid charge point at work, which would be fed power over the proprietary network owned by the charge point company.
#5. The state is California is also investing heavily in solar energy towers. They use a molten sodium boiler that retains heat and keeps driving a heat exchange engine overnight, so it keeps putting out energy even while the sun is down. Google is one of the big investors and the first tower is already complete. This new type of solar plant is the first to solve the problem of producing energy overnight without huge, costly battery arrays, and it's also the first type of solar power plant to compete with small nuclear power plants in terms of raw output (300-500 megawatts)
#6. Even if 100% of our power came from coal plants, it would be cleaner to use it to charge up electric cars than it is to burn gasoline in millions of internal combustion engine vehicles as large scale power plants are considerably more efficient. However, Better Place and nearly every other charge point provider offers the option of "green charging", where for a few cents extra, 100% of your power comes exclusively from solar and wind farms owned by their corporate partners (Microsoft and Intel). And look at the big picture: An internal combustion engine vehicle can run only on gas of one sort or another. They are also notoriously inefficient as most of the energy in the gas is released as heat and only 60% or so of the engine's power makes it to the wheels due to the transmission. Electric vehicles are 90% efficient at turning stored energy into forward motion, and they don't care where their energy comes from. If you run out of gas, your gas car is useless. But your electric car would keep on being useful even as we run out of oil, and start converting to nuclear/wind/solar energy production on a national scale.
Let me know what you think.
Consider my situation in Australia, where at USD4.35 per US gallon for regular unleaded, it costs me $70 to $80 (US$65 to US$75) to travel 500km (311 mi) in my middle of the range SUV.
At 8c per eMile, that same travel distance would cost me $27 (US$24.85) and I would not even be paying for the batteries. That's like paying 48c per litre which we last seen in the late 1980's.
This is the biggest no brainer I have ever seen. Bring it on NOW!
Gas in Australia is cheap by European and some Asian standards.
What's the problem with a 100 mile range? Who knows anyone who commutes that distance. At city driving speeds, it would take you 5 hours to do a round trip (200 miles). Even if you could do highway speeds from your front door to the parking bay at work, you would still be "commuting" for over 3 hours every day.
Remember when a 42" plasma cost $15,000 less than 10 years ago? Getting the technology into the mass market made the product better and affordable for everyone. EV needs the same evolution driven by consumer demand to produce better, cheaper, more efficient storage.
Perhaps someone needs to start a world EV racing circuit. Which manufacturer would want to be seen to be snubbing clean green auto development and if there is one place where technology is developed quickly it is on the racetrack. Then you will see battery technology evolve.
Check this out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qDZOBQs60w
An electric racing league might sell the public on electric cars but it would be a dishonest tactic as when traveling at racing speeds, electrics exhaust their batteries very very quickly, even the Tesla does only 55 miles when you floor it 100% of the time, and take a lot of hard turns and such.
- by Desertstraw November 4, 2009 3:08 AM PST
- Like generals always ready to fight the last war, too much discussion on electric cars is based on existing lithium batteries. People are working on better energy storage devices all over the world. It defies the history of technology to think that nobody will succeed. I remember the days of black and white TV when everybody wanted color but nobody knew how to it. More than one solution was found.
- Like this Reply to this comment
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(35 Comments)As one example, on November 18 Micro Bubble Technologies will reveal its CNT battery to the world. Should it live up to the claims on their website which they say have been verified by independent laboratories, the limitations discussed here will no longer apply. "The CNT-Battery?s advanced technology demonstrates eight times the reserve capacity of traditional lead acid batteries, two and a half times the energy density of lithium-ion batteries, and a recharge time of just five minutes; all at a fraction of the cost of lithium-ion batteries. Its diverse applications range from electric cars to cell towers and feature numerous economical and environmental benefits."