A plug is seen coming from the Chevrolet Volt electric car during the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Michigan January 13, 2009.
(Mark Blinch/REUTERS)Photos (1 of 1)
Electric cars charge ahead
At least nine major car companies promise plug-in vehicles by 2013.
By Mark Clayton | Staff Writer for The Christian Science Monitor/ March 13, 2009 edition
Staff writer Mark Clayton discusses what the Big Three automakers are working on, in terms of electric and battery-powered vehicles.
Staff writer Mark Clayton
Armin Kusig is living a new American dream – one that lightens his fuel costs and puts a smile on his face. Driving a plug-in hybrid car that gets much of its locomotion energy from a battery, he gets up to 100 miles per gallon and recharges overnight from a socket in his garage.
Average fuel costs to commute 55 miles daily? About $1.62 – 15 cents for electricity and the rest for gasoline – if gas is priced at $2 per gallon.
Yet Mr. Kusig’s reality is still the future for the rest of the nation. Only a few dozen plug-in hybrids are on the road today. Most current plug-ins are conversions by do-it-yourselfers or by companies that charge $10,000 or more. Kusig, an engineer from Wayland, Mass., converted his hybrid Honda Insight into a plug-in by adding a built-in battery charger and a mechanism that lets him control the electric motor.
But the plug-in dearth seems set to change before long. A combination of unpredictable gasoline prices, prodding activists, unsold SUVs, and hefty government financial incentives for plug-ins have changed the game. After years of foot dragging, major car companies are at last accelerating into a market for electric-powered vehicles of all kinds, analysts say.
“They’re making pretty good progress,” says David Cole, chairman of the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Mich., of GM and other companies’ development efforts. “They’re doing this for real.”
At least nine car companies worldwide say that by 2013 they will offer plug-in vehicles that use electric motors as their primary means of propulsion, according to Plug-in America, an activist group. (See the list here.) Some will be all-electric drive vehicles (EV). Most will be plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) that use small gasoline engines as a backup.
GM and Chrysler both say they will sell a plug-in car in 2010. Ford will sell a battery-powered commercial van next year, a small battery-powered EV car the year after, and a PHEV competitor to GM’s Volt by 2012. Toyota says it will sell a plug-in-hybrid Prius to companies late this year, but hasn’t said when ordinary consumers will be able to buy one. So far, despite its financial woes, GM seems to hold the plug-in lead, Mr. Cole says.
“The key issue [for GM’s new Chevrolet Volt] has been the cost of the battery,” he says. “That cost will take years to come down. But the promise is still high. Teams are meeting their milestones on or ahead of schedule.”
Still, GM officials last week were forced to defend the Volt after a Carnegie Mellon University study found the car’s battery too big and costly to fly in the marketplace. The vehicle is expected to go 40 miles on a charge – and cost about $40,000.
Battery technology is critical. At the costs projected by Carnegie Mellon, the 16-kilowatt-hour storage capacity of the Volt battery would cost $16,000. But other analysts told the Monitor that battery capacity is already much less than the $1,000 per kWh cited in the Carnegie study.
Robert Kruse, GM’s executive director of vehicle engineering for hybrids, electric vehicles, and batteries, suggests that reports saying the Volt’s battery would cost even $10,000 were greatly exaggerated.
“There’s been a lot of speculation,” he said in a January interview with the Monitor. “We’ve been able to meet the business team targets for the batteries … and it does allow, from a financial standpoint, the early Volts to be viable.”
While the battery debate rages, just knowing that plug-ins are coming has activists celebrating – as they did last month in Santa Monica with a parade of 70 or 80 plug-in vehicles, mostly all-electric vehicles.
“We accomplished our first goal: We got car makers’ attention and got them to commit to building them,” says Felix Kramer, founder of CalCars, the California Cars Initiative, which was the first to add batteries to a Prius and convert it to a plug-in. That put public pressure on automakers by showing it was doable. Now the group has turned to the next phase.
“We’re focused now on ensuring successful commercialization of these vehicles,” Mr. Kramer says.
Part of that involves creating a smooth landing zone for plug-ins, says Laura Schewel, manager of “Project Get Ready,” a program run by the Rocky Mountain Institute in Snowmass, Colo. Ms. Schewel is working with Indianapolis; Portland, Ore.; Raleigh, N.C.; and other cities to prepare new plug-in infrastructure – like putting charging stations in shopping malls.
Even though plug-in hybrids won’t technically need chargers, offering free-electricity to customers could be a strong incentive to stop and shop, Schewel and others say. Such infrastructure also would be key for several all-electric cars planned by Nissan and others.
“Workplace charging is really attractive,” Schewell says. “We are in economic hard times now. But lots of folks believe being part of a green economy is the way to get out of these hard times.”
Still, the cost of new plug-ins remains the big issue. Without financial incentives, Americans are unlikely to buy a $40,000 vehicle in numbers big enough to make much difference to US energy security or climate concerns.
In that light, federal tax breaks for plug-ins are a critical factor. Government economic stimulus provisions for plug-in vehicles turned out to be far larger than many expected – about $14.4 billion for plug-ins – most toward helping car companies retool and develop better batteries, says Jay Friedland, legislative director for Plug-in America, which held the parade.
Under the stimulus, each buyer would get up to $7,500 in tax credits depending on the size of the plug-in vehicle’s battery. California, Oregon, Texas, and other states are coming forward with their own incentives, Mr. Friedland says.
California will offer a $5,000 incentive, he says. Together with the federal offer, the price of a Volt could drop to about $28,000.
Federal incentives will also apply to the first 200,000 vehicles produced by any manufacturer – far broader than the incentive for conventional hybrids that helped hybrids grow to about 2.5 percent of the US vehicle fleet today.
The stimulus incentives could fund sales of 1.6 million vehicles – far more than the million-vehicle goal by 2015 set by President Obama, Friedland says.
Waiting until late 2010 will be hard, though. Some say the reason SUVs and other gas guzzlers are piling up on dealer lots is a “buyers strike.” Car dealers just don’t seem to have what buyers want.
At current gas prices, Kusig’s commuting costs driving a plug-in vehicle are only a little better than a standard hybrid. But if gas prices bounce to $3 a gallon again, a new factory model with bigger batteries that go 100 miles or more on a gallon of gas will be big winners – and Kusig will be lining up to buy.
“I converted my Honda Insight to a plug-in,” he says. “But it’s getting old with 140,000 miles on it. I want a new car – but it has to get better mileage than the 60-70 m.p.g. [average] I get now.”
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Comments
2. Huang Di | 03.13.09
Let’s just wait before buying the electricity-based ones :
- $40′000 is quite a large sum, by today’s dangling economic times.
- Pressurized air is coming down the road (1′500 Miles autonomy for the prototype .. last time I heard, it was planned to be made by India’s Tata motors)
- Hydrogen and/or Water-based cars will follow quite soon …
- Ecology-minded people, beware of un-recyclable Lithium/Platinum batteries
- “analysts told us they are better informed than Cernegie-Mellon [scientists]” ??? Did they HONESTLY swear on anything, or do their links to Detroit’s economy heavily taint much of what they might say ?
- 2013 timeline ? Odd that so many things seem to revolve around the 12.21.2012, mayan-predicted planetary conjunction date …
And last of all, find for yourself :
- How many times can you recharge an AA-sized battery before it definitely dries up, and what time does it take ?
- How much autonomy is acceptable to you ?
3. Warren | 03.14.09
What will happen to our already stressed electric grid when we start plugging in all of these fantasy cars? How much will we really save after cap and trade drives the price of electricity through the roof? People need to start asking some real questions about how all of this fantasy is going to work and what it is going to cost. A $7500 tax credit just means we pay the IRS instead of a dealer!
4. Alex | 03.14.09
Yes, just like here in Oregon….you buy an eletric car because its the right thing to do and the state hits you with a surcharge because your car doesn’t use enough gas. Gas tax you know. So you get hit by the big spenders in Government no matter what. The governments can’t seem to control their spending so we get hung out to dry.
5. HSR0601 | 03.14.09
I guess the great depression had a great deal of natural energy sources, today the current initial depression has great technologies instead. It is likely that this moment is the last chance to survive as the environment to invest in a new energy base is going to be getting worse down the road.
I would love to suggest ‘A Global Green New Deal’ and stress only two recent progresses:
1. Researchers at MIT have designed a new battery that can recharge devices about 100 times faster than conventional lithium ion batteries. The design could lead to electric car batteries that charge in 5 minutes
2. Breakthrough Spin Battery Size of Hair Could Run Electric Car For Miles:
the actual device has a diameter of a human hair, the energy that could be stored in it could potentially run a car for miles.
Physicists at the University of Miami and Tokyo and Tohoku have invented a radical new type of battery in the laboratory. The profound findings were published in the journal Nature.
As the oil reserve declines, even the oil-rich UAE is committed to renewable energy movement, which is also in the oil-producing countries’ interest, even if they keep silent, accordingly they will not keep the oil price low, I suppose. And G20 & OPEC meetings might indicate that ‘a global green new deal’ is going to be a solution as the energy is both life and common ground for world-wide economic prosperity.
Thanks.
6. Chris Lyon | 03.14.09
The rapid growth of electric car development and sales in the United States could be goverment facilitated by permitting the manufacture of cars with a normal top speed of 35 mph, and a maximum speed of 40 mph. This class of cars would be prohibited from being utilized on federal highways and on roads with posted speeds above 35 mph.
This class of car could be manufactured less expensively because the impact forces of a car designed to 35 mph would only be 25% of that for a car designed for 70 mph, allowing a much lighter car frame. Such cars would typically be utilized as the “second car” by families for in-city errands and for travelling to local mass transit, park and ride lots.
7. maddie | 03.14.09
i need as much info about electric cars as possible. If you can help me i would be sooooooo grateful to u.
Thank you,
Maddie #1 yo!!!
8. Linda Tetreault | 03.14.09
Dear Monitor,
Please explain why there is no mention of the electric cars which were already being used by approx 700 people as test cars for years in California manufactured by…I believe it was General Motors? These cars were offered only to the owners as leases. In 2004, every single one of them was demanded back…crushed and shreded. Owners protested and picketed the lots where the cars were stored until they were all destroyed. Recharging stations had been built and everything in California. Mel Gibson had one as well as many other celebrities.
Please watch the movie “Who Killed the Electric Car?”
9. Gilles Pilon | 03.14.09
In England you can have an add-on solar panel for the Prius
This is sold by third party
Why is it not a factory option and why can’t we have a plug-in hybrid now (adding a battery charger will do it; why is-it not built-in?)
This is beyond comprehension
10. Mark | 03.15.09
As soon as a bunch of people use electric cars (plug them in), the price of electricity will increase significantly, killing the enthusiasm for electric cars. Supply and demand. Sad but true.
11. Shawn Fester | 03.15.09
There are still some electric ford rangers around. A plug-in hybrid truck would be popular because 1) small trucks are one of the most popular best selling segments, 2) a tool box in the bed could hold the extra batteries some consumers seek, like a hybrid where the plug-in option comes with a tool box size extra battery pack. It would be too heavy to steal. Please somebody at ford steal this idea. Our economy will never “bounce back” until we know we can handle $4 a gallon fuel. The extra demand on the electric grid will be offset by the efficiency and weatherization in the stimulus - i’m not kidding, heat pumps and energy star homes will cut consumption by at least%30.
12. Amiee | 03.15.09
Sometimes I think these car companies and developers take the American public for fools! Has any one seen the documentary “Who Kill the Eclectic Car?” These electric vehicles have already been manufactured (back in 2006) with great success. But GM, Ford, and Chrysler took them off the market knowing good and well they would not be as profitable. The oil companies were of course a part of the conspiracy; yet know they produce what I believe to be false advertising/commercials about how they are developing and researching ways to be more “green”. They should be ashamed of themselves!!!!!! All of them.
13. David | 03.15.09
Normal electric cars do have the problem of being plugged in to a grid powered mostly by coal, so they will be burning coal instead of gas.
However, this is another way,
http://www.selfpoweredelectricvehicles.com/
14. yeoldgrump | 03.16.09
Until such time as batteries capable of holding a charge long enough to propel the vehicle the same distance as gasoline or diesel are available, the electric car is not practical. Further, the battery must be capable of recharge in the same amount of time as fueling takes, now. The only alternative, as far as electric cars go, is to develop cost effective fuel cells. Until then we must depend on the combustion engine. We must develop those petroleum and coal resources, which are in our control.
15. Ken Grubb | 03.18.09
The power grid will not come crashing down when PHEVs are commercialized and gain widespread consumer acceptance. EPRI studied the issue. Their reports are online. EPRI also concluded, even with half of our electricity coming from coal, PHEVs will reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
http://www.epri-reports.org
At least one California company puts PVs on hybrid vehicle rooftops. Some of the carmakers are looking into it, but it’s not going to power the vehicle or re-charge it. At best, it’s going to help offset one’s need for AC during the summer.
http://www.solarelectricalvehicles.com/
Hydrogen? Read “The Hype About Hydrogen” by Dr. Joseph Romm, MIT graduate in physics.
http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/1559637048
Hydrogen cars are a pipe dream. Won’t happen in my 8 year old’s lifetime. Hybrids to plugin hybrids to electric vehicles. That’s the natural evolutionary path to the ideal vehicle.
16. Ben | 03.18.09
Re: Power Grid Loading, Greenhouse Gases, and battery charge time.
The power grid is underutilised at the moment. It is sized for peak loads, which is just that, the peak. This typically occurs during the 9-5 working hours, with a not-so-bad period from about 6-9am and 5-8pm. During the hours of 8pm to 6am, the grid isn’t used much at all. It’s also conveniently when most cars are garaged (and nearly every garage has power).
Greenhouse gases are about even at the moment for oil based and electric cars, with the high range electric cars capable of being produced (ie 500km) being heavier and less efficient slightly worse than oil based cars, and one with a range of 200km or less seem to be slightly better. However the saving grace for pumping out more pollutants at the power station is that most of these are better controlled than the average car. As in all power stations must meet current standards, not just the ones built this year (which is the situation for cars).
And charge times… A car doesn’t need to be filled in 5 minutes unless it’s in constant/long range use. If your car was drip fed gasoline into it’s 10 litre (small) tank overnight in your garage (about the same as an electric car being charged), would you have to fill up anywhere else in your daily commute? Most people wouldn’t. And for those that do have to, I’m sure a battery exchange system similar to BBQ gas cylinder exchanges could be set up.
17. Paul Scott | 03.18.09
I have been driving a Toyota RAV4 EV for over 6 years and 67,000 miles, all of it on electricity generated from the sunlight falling on my house.
The car has performed perfectly, and to this day drives exactly as when it was new. The battery is expected to last well over 100,000 miles as many have already done. After it is no longer useful for the car, the battery pack will be purchased by our utility and used to store wind energy generated at night and dumped onto the grid during peak demand in the day.
Many studies have conclusively proven that charging an EV on the grid, which is just over 50% coal, is still cleaner than driving a gas car. And just as importantly, none of your money goes to the oil companies, and by extension, the Saudis and their madrassas.
We have never fought a war over electricity, and we never will.
Every car maker on the planet is now in development on plug-in cars. Between now and when the cars are available in the next couple of years, you should work to get your house off of dirty electricity and onto a wind program from your utility, or if you have the roof for it, buy a solar PV system. Then, when you get your EV, you’ll be zero emission, well to wheels.
18. Arnold Berk | 03.19.09
An old, re-invented solution is to provide power lines on the interstate roadways. The interstate drive is the largest fraction of total energy burned per commute. The rest could be handled by smaller batteries for the remaining 10 - 25 miles a day.
Now, a 1 ton electric car cruising down the road at 60 mph uses 10 KW of power (this is about 100 Amps at 120 V). 100 A is the capacity of most home load centers. So each new car on the road is like a new home added to the grid drain. Substantial buildup of the support grid is needed.
The communte at 6-9 AM and 4-6PM occurs when power loads are intermediate.
POWERSTRIPE, Inc.
19. Ben | 03.19.09
I find solar panels are quite expensive as well. A decent solar setup (ie one that can actually power your house with no grid connection) involving batteries and a high powered inverter is more expensive again. But I see 500w wind generators available for $500Au. It’s only useful where you have constant wind, but here on top of a hill at a very low lattitude (I think that’s the term, I am closer to antarctica than the equator anyway) with more overcast days than sunny ones it makes more sense than solar.
I still want an electric car. Even if I could do a conversion on a car that got me 40km down the road, a DIY series hybrid would be do-able for longer distances.
How much did it cost do convert your RAV4? If you have any pictures/write-ups you can link to it would be great.
Thanks
Ben
20. electric car | 03.21.09
I guest electric car can make better gas mileage and safe the fuel. Electric car also friendly environment and can make reduce air pollution.
21. John T. | 03.23.09
The need for a new batterycharging infrastructure has been expressed several times. Would in not be sensible to have Battery Charging Banks at exisiting gasoline stations, where you could exchange for a fully charged battery. The filling station could use a gasoline generator to charge batteries during peak power load times or when back up is needed. It would also keep the present infrastrucure set up in business for there’s more to electric cars than just batteries. Chevron Oil must know, since they bought the Patent for a highly sophisticated battery, which they haven’t utilised.Autoworkers Unions need not feel threatend, but would have to embrace re-training and flexible adaptation, It’s all do-able, only if the population have a mind to do it…….John T.
22. Ken Grubb | 03.25.09
Ben,
RAV4 EVs weren’t conversions. They were offered by the factory.
http://www.toyota.com/vehicles/rav4ev/
Many are still on the road today.
http://www.evnut.com/rav_owner_gallery.htm
Some have gone 100K miles.
http://www.evnut.com/rav_owner_100k.htm
For the life of me, I just can’t understand why Toyota persists in refusing to revive the RAV4 EV.
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1. 15Maineosi | 03.13.09
Eventhough the hybrid and electric cars are expensive, they’d actually save you money in the future. After awhile gas is going to keep on rising and rising, so why not spend a few bucks now and save for the future. In the long run it’s cheaper to go electric.