Fast charger comes to Voltageville: A Glimpse at the Future

In 2001 I began driving an electric car, obtaining the last of the ZEV mandate-required EVs. As I got turned on to the benefits and technological readiness of electric cars, the writing was on the wall and EVs began to disappear from California's roads. I got enthused just as the automakers, CARB, the feds, and major environmental organizations ended their various flirtations with EVs.

The notion of the plug-in hybrid revived the hope of plugging in. I made my peace with the notion of a transition vehicle, with a plug and an engine. GM announced the Volt.

Then a couple of years ago Carlos Ghosn had some sort of epiphany and announced Nissan's belief in the inevitable electrification of cars, and Nissan's intention to lead the transition. He defied conventional thinking by moving directly toward the commercialization of all-electric cars. Hundreds of thousands of Nissan all-electric cars would be manufactured in Asia, America and Europe within a very few years.

I was thrilled. Consumers would soon begin to have a choice of vehicle types that include real electric cars. The marketplace, rather than bureaucrats and academics, would decide whether EVs have a place.

Government and industry began to plan for the rollout of plug-in cars with a plan to roll out public charging infrastructure. Level II charging stations are great for opportunity charging while shopping or working and should be widely diffused. But there wasn't much discussion about faster charging options, as it entails additional obstacles of cost and lack of standards and a presumption that cars wouldn't be fast-charge enabled. Although I knew it was technically feasible, it seemed we would have to wait. Although fast charging stations could enable long distance EV driving and are one way to meet the needs of urban purchasers of EVs who don't have parking with access to electricity, it is logically not a matter of first priority.

But just as I was pleasantly surprised to find Nissan's LEAF in the offing, so too fast charging is going to appear more rapidly than expected. The DOE grant to the Etec EV Project will put 260 Level III chargers in the ground in the next two years. Nissan's LEAF will initially appear with a fast charge connector, something that will surely be a purchase option in the future. (And is some compensation for the slow 3.3kW Level II charger in the first cars.) The iMiev, should Mitsubishi do an American release, also has a fast charge connector. And Th!nk announced intentions to enable fast-charging in its cars in an agreement with Aerovironment.

Once again, I celebrate that consumers will have options as we work our way toward the best solutions for quick charging. Better Place has pushed its proposed solution to the range dilemna - battery swap stations. One car maker, Renault, is making cars to spec, and BP has demonstrated the battery swap device in Japan. Swapping out an empty pack for a full one is enticing. It's proven to be enticing to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars. If swap stations can be commercialized and the batteries can be charged at Level II speeds and below, they too might offer benefits and be part of the clean transportation quilt. But essentially off the shelf Level III fast charge stations, capable of delivering near-to-full charges in under 30 minutes, can be put in service within months. A Level III fast charger can be installed for about $100,000, compared to millions for a hydrogen station and perhaps $1 million for a battery swap station.

Which finally brings me to the fast charger I saw the other day in Vacaville, CA. Installed by PG&E with funding from the State, it sits beneath a solar PV array amongst a handful of Level II chargers, including small paddles for RAV4 EVs, AVCONs for RangerEVs, and aTesla charge station. The fast charger uses a Japanese connector (an American standard remains under consideration) which was easy to handle. I wish I had gotten a photo of the complete line-up of chargers under the solar array, because it is evidence of real-world solutions, available now, to make plug-in cars and renewable electricity a reality quickly.

Billion Dollars a Day

VoteVets.org has a campaign to highlight the true cost of our oil addiction. Yet another argument for plug-in cars.

Guerrilla charging: theft or public service?

So you've finally got your electric car. You're going out of town for a few days and recall a few spots at the airport parking lot that have a regular 110-volt electric outlet on the wall. Do you plug in your Tesla (or Nissan LEAF or Chevy Volt)? Are you "stealing" power?

Solar Dave thinks you are. And he is taunting the authorities in Denver to fine the owner of the Tesla he found plugged in at the airport. He raises a question that should be settled quickly. And he points out one place where public charging solutions will be easier and cheaper to install than I first thought.

First let's dispel the notion that there are any serious financial implications for the garage. Solar Dave writes: "My first thought was, “hey that is not fair” and that is why is (sic) costs so much to park at DIA." As if. John Voelker at GreenCarReports.com ran the numbers and found that if the Tesla arrived on empty and slowly, completely refilled the battery over the next few days, it would cost $4.50. Parking costs the driver $18 per day. And if I want to get nit-picky, I'd point out that the garage doesn't incur the expense for cleaning up after the electric car's leaking oil nor the electricity to power the fans to exhaust the exhaust.

When we consider the question of public access to electricity for plug-in cars, we have to consider the social benefit. If plugging in at the airport (or work or some parking garage or mall) allows you take your electric car rather than a gasoline car, we all benefit from reduced emissions and petroleum consumption. These shared benefits are great enough to establish "rules of the road" that encourage access to power for cars. This is not new, actually. In our far northern states, one often finds free power available in parking lots to plug in engine block warmers. Given the low cost of the electricity and the social benefits, we should encourage a positive attitude about granting access to power for plug-in cars. If solar advocates such as Solar Dave don't get it, we've got our work cut out for us.

Dave inadvertently does point us toward a good policy as public infrastructure is installed this year. Airport long-term parking is one place where fast charging, even conventional Level II 240-volt 30 amp service, is faster than necessary. The cost to install 110-volt 20-amp outlets would likely be 10% the cost of purchasing and installing chargers (J1772-compliant EVSEs, in the parlance of the industry). Installing parking spaces with 110-volt power for plug-ins at airport long-term parking should be considered by metropolitan areas as they roll out public charging infrastructure.

"Transmission Losses:" Nigeria's oil pipeline sabotaged

Shell has shut three flow stations after its oil pipeline in the Niger Delta was sabotaged.

Recent attacks have resulted in $1bn a month in lost revenue.

[Source: bbc.com]

Tesla IPO: Taking the dream for a ride

For a couple of years now, the dream ride has been in a Tesla Roadster. You strap in, feel the instantaneous surge of power, maneuver the curves above Palo Alto on electrons.

The next ride won't be the Tesla S Sedan, it will be Tesla the stock.

Tesla Motors has filed an IPO plan with the SEC to raise $100,000,000 in a public offering.

Tesla will stop production of the Roadster in 2011. The electric sedan is meant to appear in 2012.

"Transmission Losses:" West African pirates

West Africa's burgeoning oil industry has a pirate problem.

On Jan. 5 Nigerian pirates stormed a Panamanian-flagged Ukrainian tanker, the Westaf, anchored off Lagos, Nigeria's commercial capital, according to the Sovfracht Maritime Bulletin published in Kiev.

They robbed the crew, shooting and wounding the captain and six of his men. The Westhaf, built in 1986, is used as a floating storage and processing terminal.

28 attacks were logged in 2009 compared with 40 a year earlier. But shipping sources suggested that there were another 30 attacks last year that went unreported. Most were related to the oil industry.

In the Niger Delta, the pirates in armed speedboats attack tankers and work with militants in the delta's swamplands who steal around 150,000 barrels a day from oil installations or pipelines, around 5 percent of Nigeria's daily production.

The poorly equipped government forces are now receiving support from the US Navy. The US Africa Command, inaugurated in 2008, will undoubtedly play a major role to enable safe passage of this increasingly vital oil. The cost of this protection will, of course, be borne by American taxpayers. By 2015 the region is expected to be supplying 25 percent of U.S. oil imports.

[Source: UPI.com]

Wired blogger takes on Nissan LEAF

Darryl Siry blogs over at Wired's Autopia. He's pretty plugged in, having worked at Tesla and consulted for CODA. He's a bit surprised, as are all of us, that Nissan has emerged as the first big automaker to manufacture a mass-produced electric car.

In his recent post, "In Race to Market, Nissan’s Electric Car Takes Shortcuts," Siry makes the point that CEO Carlos Ghosn's enthusiasm and charisma alone couldn't be enough to get such a job done so quickly. He writes that the urgency of the project "appears to have driven the company to take some shortcuts."

Sounds ominous. Ultimately, I'm not sure what he's actually getting at. Because Siry makes only two points. Neither of certain significance.

First, he suggests Nissan overstates the range of the LEAF. The 100 mile range cited by Nissan uses "a number tied to the most optimistic benchmark, the LA4 cycle." I don't doubt that this is true. The LEAF pack has fewer kWh than my RAV4 EV, but could be almost as heavy. Until we get final specs on weight, and drive the car around a bit, we won't know to what extent people will need to handicap official range numbers as they do EPA gasoline mileage ratings. Big surprise, your actual mileage may vary. Buyer beware!

Second, and the point on which the article devotes most attention, is whether Nissan is "cutting corners" by forgoing an active thermal management (HVAC) system for the batteries. Instead Nissan is relying on air circulation with a fan.

Now I don't know whether something about lithium, regardless of chemistry or packaging, will prove to require an active system. But I do know, interestingly and perhaps relevantly, that the electric car that has probably driven more miles than any other model, the Toyota RAV4 EV, does not have batteries with an active system. A fan circulates air. The Honda EV+ used the same Panasonic EV-95 NiMH battery modules with an active system, and those packs didn't last as long. Many EV+ packs were exchanged during their brief time on the road. At least with NiMH, Toyota's passive system worked out better in the real world. Of course the cooling system may have had nothing to do with the the difference in performance of the same batteries in two Japanese EVs, but we'll never know.

Siry notes the different approach being taken by GM for the Volt. They reverted to the T-shaped tunnel configuration for the battery used in the EV1. (How did that work out?)

I may be approaching this too simply, but the tunnel has never made sense to me. It eliminates the possibility of a fifth passenger seat. And I find it makes me feel confined. The batteries, too, enshrouded on three sides, require, apparently, an active thermal management system.

The RAV, on the other hand, suspends the batteries below the vehicle. There is minimal loss in cabin space and a large surface below helping dissipate heat, which is an issue with NiMH, too. And we find that the LEAF's battery pack, too, will be located under the floorboard. Maybe that's the key. Keep the batteries low and spread them wide.

I don't know, of course, but I'm willing to give Nissan the benefit of the doubt.

I'm giving Tesla and CODA and GM the benefit of the doubt, too.

"Transmission Losses": Tanker truck explodes, closes LI Expressway

A tanker truck clipped a car.
The tanker flipped over and burst into flames "creating a fireball seen for miles."
The driver was killed.
The Long Island Expressway was closed for hours in both directions.
A typical tanker truck holds between 5000 and 9000 gallons of gasoline.

"Transmission Losses": 450,000 gallons of oil spill in Texas

Two vessels collided in Port Arthur, Texas.
As much as 450,000 gallons of crude oil spilled.
Some nearby residents have been evacuated from the area because of hydrogen sulfide that was emanating from the oil.

[Source: RawStory.com]

More EVs, Faster Charging

It's official, the Cadillac Converj is to be the second extended-range electric vehicle after the Volt. I may be most interested affordable electric cars, but this makes sense to me. I only wish GM had the smarts back in the day to have rebranded the EV1 as a Caddy and continued limited run production.

[Source: Detroit News]

Volvo might be getting serious about EVs. They showed a prototype Electric C30. The car was described by EV Goddess Chelsea Sexton as "überpragmatic." An electric offering could be fit nicely into the historical perceptions of the benefits of the brand.

[Source: Wired Autopia]

Coulomb is getting ready to enter the Level III charging arena. Commonly dubbed a "fast charge," Level III is higher voltage and a considerable investment, around $60,000 (including installation) for their 480-volt, 125-amp offering. With the DOE investment in some fast chargers as part of infrastructure development in the five Nissan/Etec Leaf target regions, Level III is happening faster than might have been expected.

Fast charging will extend the range of pure EVs when deployed by freeways. More importantly, it is one of the ways to make EVs accessible to those without access to power where they park in urban centers. Whether there is a business model to make this successful remains an open question. The first Level III chargers deployed by Etec will offer free juice. I'd like to see a ten year commitment to free charging, underwritten by participating automakers and government.

[Source: Autobloggreen.com]

Mitsubishi is doubling down on the iMiev. Demand is outstripping the supply for the electric jellybean. Almost 2000 were delivered to corporate customers in Japan last year. Production targets have been upped to 8500 units for 2010. By 2013 they intend to make 30,000 units annually. The really good news is they have a target price of about $22,000 after the production hike. I suspect they'll find plenty of government and corporate buyers at the early higher price point as they strive to project greenness and meet emission targets.

[Source: Autobloggreen.com]

News from Detroit

BMW has recognized that they simply teed up GM and Nissan to benefit from the MINI E experience. Today they announced officially that MINI E "pioneers" will be able to extend their leases until 2011. At that point the ActiveE, an electric Series 1 Beemer, is projected to be available, however only as yet another "electric vehicle test program," as they put it in their wordy press release. Will MINI E drivers be so loyal to BMW they'll forgo the opportunity to actually purchase a plug-in car?

Over at GM, Bob Lutz says an all-electric Volt would be "technologically trivial." No word on when.

Toyota titillates with its plug-in Prius test program (600 vehicles worldwide over the next few years) as well as an all-electric 50-mile range "small, urban commuter BEV" and a plug-in hybrid concept small car. But they still want us to believe that their fuel cell vehicles will hit showrooms in 2015. This despite the fact that they project placing in service a mere 100 or so such cars over the next three years.

And Toyota's press release continues their "blame the consumer" rewrite of history regarding the RAV4 EV (about 800 of which, including mine, remain on the road.)

The RAV4 EV and e-com programs were short lived due to lack of commitment from the market; the consumer and the consumer's environmental mind set were not ready to commit to battery electric vehicles at that time.

Audi, too, continues to tantalize with its E-tron. They say the car will go on sale in 2012. At the moment the concept car has four wheel motors, always a red flag to me. If I remember correctly, Mitsubishi's iMiev had wheel motors when it was a concept, but reverted to a more mainstream drivetrain with commercialization. When and if Audi becomes serious, I suspect we'll see a more conventional approach to electric drive.

It's official - Think to set up shop in Indiana

Th!nk CEO Richard Canny and Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels slapped a "Made In Indiana" sticker on a Th!nk City this morning in Elkhart. According to Th!ink's press release, cars will begin to be sold stateside before the end of the year, although US assembly won't begin until 2011. Getting cars into the hands of consumers in a way that gets noticed sooner rather than later will be essential if the brand is establish itself here.

The company has announced its intention to invest $43 million in the Elkhart facility, and has been offered $3 million in tax credits and a small job training grant by Indiana. Th!nk has an active application before the US DOE under the $25-billion Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing loan program that has benefitted Tesla and Fisker. A lot may hinge on that application.

Elkhart IN to welcome Think

The Elkhart IN City Council took the first step tonight toward creating a tax abatement for Th!nk North America to open a plant to assemble the Th!nk City all-electric two-seater. A formal announcement will be made tomorrow at the site with Republican Governor Mitch Daniels and Th!nk representatives. No word yet on how quickly we'll see cars rolling off the line.

[Source: Fox28.com]

Plug-in Mercedes in 2012?

Mercedes-Benz's S-Class sedan will offer a plug-in hybrid version when it hits the showrooms, reportedly in 2012, according to Autocar.co.uk. The German automaker's R&D chief Thomas Weber says they are not presently considering an all electric version. However Mercedes' intention is to roll out plug-in hybrid versions of all its models eventually.

Jay Leno drives the Volt

"Electricity has always been the best way to power a car. They knew that since the turn of the last century." - Jay Leno

Source: Autobloggreen and NBC

Flawed PHEV report has legs

There has never been a shortage of stories in the press denigrating plug-in electric cars. Why? Because people naturally, logically believe electric cars are a good idea. Special interests who preferred to maintain the internal combustion status quo (read oil and auto companies) have long needed to plant seeds of doubt. Via paid consultants, close relationships with universities, a pliant press more apt to reprint a press release than analyze it, and print and television advertising, their negative message has been successfully imparted.

We've seen it all in the press: electric cars are more polluting, less safe, require too much water, will electrocute rescuers after a crash, will spontaneously explode, and will kill the blind. It takes a sustained effort to sow confusion about the obvious benefits of electric cars. Little would have been gained by attempting to expand the reach of gasoline to laptops or refrigerators, so we've long been subjected to a decades-long preemptive assault on electric cars. As electric cars seek a place in the market, expect more such stories.

This week saw the sophisticated version with the release of a National Academies of Sciences study, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy. The press release headline blares: "PLUG-IN HYBRID VEHICLE COSTS LIKELY TO REMAIN HIGH, BENEFITS MODEST FOR DECADES." The report highlights battery cost in 2010 leading to a $18,000 premium for some initial PHEVs, and suggests no lower cost is unlikely to be achieved with economies of scale. Dubious presumptions about PHEV usage lead the authors to minimize any potential petroleum and emissions reductions. Many reports, including presentations at CARB in September 2009, see much more positive indicators on the battery front, and the NRDC/EPRI study that led to the "more polluting" story cited above, actually points to significant emissions reductions with PHEVs. [update: Felix Kramer has published a detailed debunking, as has the Electrification Coalition.]

If you read to the end of the press release, you find out more about who actually issued the report. It was something called the "Committee on Assessment of Resource Needs for Development of Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Technology & Potential Impacts of Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles" within the "Board on Energy & Environmental Systems" of the "Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences" of the National Academies of Science. An odd-sounding committee, really, albeit imbued with gravitas. According to the Committee Membership Information, the group contains at least three retired oil and auto company people, academics who do hydrogen research, consultants with oil company ties and one who has served on the National Hydrogen Foundation board and another the retired Vice President Hydrogen Systems for Chevron Technology Ventures, and a venture capitalist immersed in hydrogen. And, of course, a professional environmentalist, a Union of Concerned Scientist scientist, whose work has focused on fuel cells. Stacked deck?

The message from those attempting to derail the inevitable plug on vehicles is always the same - we've got to keep trying everything. Nothing's ready yet. We can't choose winners.

According to the report, a portfolio approach toward reducing U.S. dependence on oil is necessary for long-term success. This should include increasing the fuel efficiency of conventional vehicles and pursuing research, development, and demonstration into alternative strategies, including the use of biofuels, electric vehicles, and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.

CNN picked up the story questioning whether plug-ins pencil out for consumers.

Friday's Washington Post editorializes ignorantly against government support of plug-ins, based it would seem solely upon this report.

One of the many smaller media outlets and blogs to pick up the story got the message. The author of Don’t Believe the Hype About the Plug-In Car, opined:

There’s always the hope that a genius at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology or another top school will invent the gizmo that changes everything. But this isn’t Hollywood and technological advances are likely to be incremental. That means no immediate miracles and oil will continue to be a vital part of the economy for the foreseeable future.

In fact it doesn't take a miracle. It takes a clarity of purpose, a willingness to pay attention to the science, and the guts to aim high. We need a focused effort at transportation electrification to work in parallel with the move toward renewable energy.

Yet another CARB ZEV meeting

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) met on Thursday to discuss the Zero Emission Vehicle regulation and the revisions staff was tasked with exploring for 2015 and beyond. Plug In America President Dan Davids offered testimony applauding CARB's achievements, but faulted the agency for skewed priorities and reliance on unreliable information and projections. Mr. Davids said CARB's resource allocation has favored fuel cells and hydrogen over plug-in electric by 75% to 25%, based on conversations with Legislative Director Jay Friedland. Chair Mary Nichols said that isn't true. CARB staffer Elise Keddie said Friedland had taken back his assertion regarding a 75/25 split. Friedland sent an email immediately for the record clarifying the conversation with Ms. Keddie and indicating he stood by Plug In America's analysis. He is awaiting a response.

The representative from Honda, the most consistently pro-fuel cell automaker, said FCVs are "not yet ready for mass production" and that much work needs to be done "before even slight volume increases." The Nissan rep touted the imminent LEAF, although without the enthusiasm of the Nissan employees I've met over the recent months. Sierra Club, NRDC, UCS and Friends of the Earth each raised serious questions about the direction of the ZEV regulation, signaling a renewed interest in plug-in electric vehicles for the near-term GHG reduction benefit that could be achieved.

CARB's policies do not appear poised to utilize the historic opportunity offered as plug-in electric vehicles are achieving commercialization. Given their professed "technology neutrality," one might expect to see the state agency newly responsible for greenhouse gas reduction policy to aggressively support the zero emission vehicle technology arriving in the market soonest. Yet much of the white paper simply reaffirms CARB's intention to focus on hydrogen and fuel cell vehicles, despite their own belief that even pre-commercialization of fuel cell vehicles remains over five years away. CARB's continued unbalanced allocation of resources is reflected on its website homepage and in the white paper itself (for example, 658 words are devoted to hydrogen infrastructure; 109 to BEV infrastructure.)

Despite CARB's preference for H2/FCVs, its policies have helped bring major manufacturers back to California with plug-in electric cars. CARB ought to recognize that near-term commercialization of plug-in electric cars is happening. The greater near term carbon reduction benefit of plug-in electrics should not be sacrificed to projections of cost and consumer preferences decades hence.

Two new EV initiatives

Two items caught my attention this week.

Plug In America has a new ally with the announcement of the creation of the Electrification Coalition. The goal of this high-powered group of corporate executives is nothing less than the complete transformation of our transportation sector, one in which electricity plays the dominant role where possible. Quoting from their website: "electrification is the best path to the fuel diversity that is indispensable to improving the nation’s economic strength, environmental health, and national security." Along with one large automaker (Nissan), infrastructure providers and utilities, FedEx is among the founding members.

Comprehensive does not begin to describe Electrification Roadmap, the report they have issued. Download it.

Bowing to the burgeoning electric vehicle industry in both countries, President Obama and President Hu Jin Tao announced the formation of the U.S.-China Electric Vehicles Initiative. The Initiative is meant to work on joint standards and provide for data sharing as cars roll out in both countries. Public awareness and engagement is one area of specific attention.

With corporate execs and world leaders coming on board, can the cars be far behind?

Reva to bring new electric car to Iceland

Reva, the Indian electric car company best known for the G-Whiz in England, has signed a deal to bring their new product to Iceland with sales beginning within a year. The NXG and NXR, revealed at the Frankfurt Motor Show recently, have a Th!nk City-like footprint, 100 mile range and 65 mph top speed.

Electricity is a more renewable resource than ice in Iceland. This provided hydrogen utopians with the world's best-case scenario for transitioning to a hydrogen economy. Yet after a decade of hydrogen hype and fuel cell fever stoked by car and oil companies, few cars have arrived. None for sale. At one time there were 16 hydrogen cars in Reykjavik. As of July, that was down to 12.

"In the past years, teams from all the big car manufacturing companies visited us and said they intended to market fuel cell-powered hydrogen cars shortly after 2010," said Bragi Arnason, a professor of chemistry at the University of Iceland in Reykjavik.

Three hydrogen busses once served regular Reykjavik routes. "The bus project has now been terminated; we are waiting for the next generation to be built," Arnason said.

Now Mitsubishi's iMiev and Reva are poised to begin the viable zero-emission transition in Iceland.

[Sources: autobloggreen.com and eenews.net]

Nissan sketches electric commercial vehicle; envisions electric ambulance

Nissan has released an official sketch of an electric urban delivery vehicle that looks closer to viable than many EV concepts that have appeared at auto shows over the last few months. It is a somewhat stylized take on the NV200 light commercial gasoline van Nissan sells in Japan and Europe.

The press release from Nissan highlights the potential use as an ambulance which could drive directly into a hospital. One time when I took a friend to an emergency room in my Th!nk City I realized hospital emergency areas would be designed differently if EV ambulances existed. How absurd that critical care cases are transported through a plume of toxins between the ambulance and medical attention. Significant moments wasted because the internal combustion vehicle can't drive directly into the hospital.

Yet another benefit of EVs. Yet another market.

[Source: AutoBlogGreen.com]