WHICH WAY TO CHARGE?: One model for recharging has private companies installing and owning individual battery recharging stations. Drivers could be charged on a per-use basis or via a monthly fee for access to the recharging network. Here a Reva i/G-Wiz is charged on a street in London.
Image: Courtesy of Frankh, via Flickr
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It's easy to knock electric vehicles (EVs): It takes too long to recharge the batteries and there are too few places to do it. And besides, who will pay for all the new recharging stations that would be needed if the cars catch on? The International Energy Agency’s most optimistic scenario puts (pdf) plug-in hybrids or EVs at 15 percent of all cars on the road by 2020; other projections predict a mere 3 percent.
The dubious outlook for EVs has much do to with uncertainty over what role utility companies should play in providing the electricity needed for large fleets of these vehicles. At a recent conference, however, industry analysts put several options on the table.
Utilizing utilities
One idea is for private companies to install and own individual battery recharging stations and charge drivers on a per-use basis, said Brett Perlman, president of utility industry management consulting firm Vector Solutions. Perlman, who served as commissioner of the Public Utility Commission of Texas from 1999 to 2003, was one of several speakers November 15 at the "Electric Vehicles, Fact or Fiction?" forum in New York City, hosted by PA Consulting Group. Another approach would be for these vendors to create a network of recharging stations and charge drivers a monthly service fee for access (much like the mobile phone industry).
Perlman thinks utility companies should play a more active role, however. "We need a private utility infrastructure and a public charging infrastructure, something that regulators are starting to look at, starting with those in California," he said.
Texas is also experimenting with this model. NRG Energy's eVgo Complete charging program in Houston includes unlimited fueling services both from a home charging dock and across the NRG-owned eVgo public network for a fixed monthly price of $89. A progressive move on NRG's part, but one that could backfire if regulators decide down the road to limit the role of utilities in establishing a universal recharging scheme. "One of the greatest impediments to EVs is that much of the legislation defining how drivers and their vehicles interact with the grid will be decided on a state level," Perlman said. This means each state could develop its own approach to recharging, which could make life difficult for interstate drivers.
Better battery
The battery is at the heart of the issue, Hugh McDermott, global vice president of Better Place, said during the forum. The firm is building drive-through battery exchange stations that use robots to swap out depleted batteries for newly charged ones within minutes. The stations are not meant to serve as the primary source of recharging—that should be done at home overnight, McDermott said. Instead, these stations provide a way to recharge when a driver is unable to charge at home. Whereas today's high cost for batteries will come down over time, the price of oil will only grow more expensive, he added.
McDermott said that Better Place has gotten traction for its model in several countries, including China, Denmark and Israel. The firm will have 40 stations installed in Israel by the end of 2012, carrying a total inventory of 500 batteries. "In Israel a policy of oil independence is a national security imperative providing incentive to seek out alternatives to combustion automobiles," McDermott said. "The challenge in the U.S. is, it's like dealing with 50 different countries."
Comparing cost
The costs of owning an EV cannot yet compete with non-hybrid combustion-powered cars. Earlier this year a team of researchers led by Wally Tyner, a Purdue University agricultural economics professor, compared the economics of driving a Chevrolet Volt, a Toyota Prius and a Chevy Cobalt. The researchers determined that the Volt, a plug-in hybrid, would be less economical than the Toyota Prius, a hybrid that does not charge its battery through a plug, or the Chevrolet Cobalt, which has only an internal combustion engine.
When oil prices are high, the Prius would be the most economical, with the advantage going to the Cobalt when oil prices are low. Tyner said to make the Volt more economical than either the Prius or the Cobalt, oil prices would have to rise to between $171 and $254 per barrel, depending on the electricity pricing system used. This disparity is because the Volt has a higher purchase price and will cost more in electricity than gasoline over the life of the vehicle.
There was a bit of encouraging news for EVs at PA Consulting's forum. During the question-and-answer session, Michael Niggli, president and chief operating officer of San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E), reported that San Diego's EV and plug-in hybrid pilot program was progressing well. In fact, of the 850 cars involved, pure plug-in EVs like the Nissan Leaf outnumbered plug-in hybrids by a ratio of six to one, he said. This was likely due in part because San Diego was also one of the pilot cities where Nissan first released its all-electric Leaf. Niggli also pointed out that 85 percent of his SDG&E's EV and plug-in customers were recharging their vehicles during "super off-peak" hours (midnight to 6 A.M.), when rates are lowest.
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24 Comments
Add CommentThey can come up with all the excuses they want, and 99% or all the excuses are probably coming from the oil companies, their subs and crones, but the fact is all electric driven vehicles has and always will be the best and cheapest way to go.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSolar panels are so advanced now that you can charge your vehicle from home for free, and with the supercharge batteries we already have - and ready to start mass producing, you will only have to recharge, according to your driving, about twice a month or less and they can stop inflating the price of the vehicle since it takes a lot less to make an electric motor than it does an ICE motor. Since they make cars out of plastic, you can probably build one in your garage with a 3D printer. That extra power can be put into the grid and lower you utility bills or supply manufacturing companies with the necessary extra power and we will be away from fossil fuels forever.
They can install solar parks at every gas station, to replace gas pumps when there are no more gas vehicles on the road and the station will still continue to make a profit. That should encourage people to take vacations again and boost the economy.
Instead of the state governments listening to these stagnant crones; why don't they herd them all into the toilet and flush them and start coming up with solutions. It shouldn't take a rocket scientist to figure out how to build a battery and charge it...we have been doing that for over a hundred years.
Interesting, I just heard on NPR this morning that electric cars still have many of the same problems as the one Henry Ford's wife drove. (Yes, electric cars have been around for a lot longer than most of us.)
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe problems included expensive hookups and low travel range. Electric cars in the past were 'fashionable' for people of means who didn't travel very far.
Of course technology is making them more practical, but they still have a ways to go to satisfy the average consumer.
(http://www.npr.org/2011/11/21/142365346/timeline-the-100-year-history-of-the-electric-car)
Hint...the world is not the USA. Fossil fuel powered cars make up a GREATER percent of vehicles than 5 years ago. The idea of 3% of vehicles being electric in 2020 is silly. It will be less than 1.6%.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisTake away the greenwashing incentives and there would be ZERO elecrtric cars in 2020...it's all smoke and mirrors.
JamesDavis: I hate to say it, but if you preceded every one of your sentences with 'I wish...', your comment would make sense. From the oil company conspiracy theories to the idea that 3D printed plastic is not brittle, it's all wishful thinking. Let's hope for the future.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisTake away the $500+ billion/yr oil company subsidies and you might be surprised...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe ICE is a suspect in the current genetic bomb threat. IMO. That would bring a quick death to that technology. Without the ICE roads will die. Air travel might be the " wave" of the future.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisElectric cars still pollute via electricity generators.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhen generators will be equipped with CO2 scrubbers, they should get subsidies from carbon tax on gas guzzlers. That would free up the market.
Yes, electric cars do have a ways to go and so does the batteries that power them, but take a look at the first ICE car; it has taken us a hundred years to get it where it is today. We should have the technique mastered by now and maybe we should build a plant that manufactures only electric cars, their batteries and charging systems, like Germany has done. Within five years or less, you will not need a charging station for your electric car. Wireless charging is coming up the ladder faster than plug-in charging stations are. With wireless charging, you can pull off the road to within a foot or two of the charging posts and it will charge your battery for another 2 to 5 miles in less than five minutes. If you want a full charge, insert your credit card and sit there for 15 to 30 minutes.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe only thing that is really holding back electric vehicles are the ICE vehicle manufacturers.
Please show me the market research you used to come up with your EV sales projections. Please show me your calculations where you determined "Take away the greenwashing incentives and there would be ZERO elecrtric cars in 2020...it's all smoke and mirrors."
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisPlease include how the $20B PER YEAR to oil companies directly from the government (out of the pocket of taxpayers like you and me!) doesn't tilt the market against EVs, or how about the fact that the oil companies don't have to deal with the harmful pollution that use of their products generates. Finally, please share with me why you NEVER actually respond to my requests to see the data / facts / calculations you use to form your opinions. Might it be that you don't actually THINK and just regurgitate what the guy screaming into the radio mic tells you?
Right. Basically what we need is for the externalized costs of fossil fuel use to be internalized and subsidies ended. That creates a fair market and in that market existing EV technology is around cost parity, and renewable energy (especially for vehicle charging, which can deal with intermittent power) is also around parity.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI'm not so sanguine about your vision there JamesDavis. Wireless charging will be a convenience, but the difference between that and hooking up a cable is fairly trivial. It might be different if the charging infrastructure could be embedded in roads, but there you're into a whole set of new issues and trade offs.
It seems to me the easiest approach would be to simply leave the charging issue to the market in terms of availability of chargers and billing, while making sure standards are established (which is no more onerous than those that already exist for gasoline and filling station equipment).
I agree, "alan6302", that air travel will be the wave of the future, in a very short time, since Israel has already developed a quad-copter car with an incredibly advanced GPS system that is also auto controlled. The quad-copter car also runs on electricity - nuclear electricity, that can take you 300,000 miles on 8 grams of Thorium.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI don't think that any of the commentators actually drive an electric. I have owned a volt now for almost two months. I charge at home, and even at my inflated NY electric rates it still costs half what a gasoline powered car would ( I go about 35 miles for 10 kwh which costs me less than $2.00, again at our inflated rates ). The car drives like a dream, especially in traffic. I am averaging lifetime 70 mpg, and that is with a drive to North Carolina where I used gas on the hway (35 mpg ). The car went up to 97 mph and felt fine. I think this is technology whose time has come, it works as well or better than ice alone, and means less moolah for the oil cartels. See any steam locomotives around?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisfor the 3D printers, what you get out depends on what you put in.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIf you use an epoxy compound, you do get a brittle plastic out. If you use cheese whiz, you get something edible. If you use a rubber based compound, you get a rubber like plastic out. There is even one 3D printer out there that used Tungsten, to get something as near to unbreakable as we know how to make.
There is a lot of work going on with this idea. But the biggest drawback for making a car is that most of the systems used today only make things up to around 25 cm in total size. Kind of small for a car body.
Embedding the charging system in the roadway is feasible. You would need a mean link distance, and a sizable infrastructure to install it.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThere would also have to be a power supply. The amount of power lost in the system would be large, but not as large as the power used. It would be a very great increase in the total power needed in an area.
The best way to get the new power would be, of course to built many big Nuclear Reactors. Someday Fusion, but for now, only Fission works well enough. Otherwise, we will just be trading oil for coal. Oil is cleaner.
The total overall efficiency of the system would be comparable to what we have now. The efficiency of a good mileage car with an automatic transmission is around 35%. The efficiency of a typical electric car is close to 90%. with the efficiency of batteries at around 50%, Even if half of the power is lost in transmission for an electrified roadway, we would have a system with an overall efficiency as good as what we have now.
Then, our transportation could be all electric, and we would just have to worry about where the best place is to get the electrical power from.
Electricity is the best way to power our society.
When comparing the cost of electric powered vehicles to gasoline powered vehicles, it is important to factor in their resale value. An electric powered vehicle may cost more than a gasoline powered vehicle in today's market, but it's likely that the gasoline powered vehicle will lose value as the cost of oil goes up. The electric powered vehicle may lose value, but more slowly. There is already evidence of this effect in the hybrid resale market. This effect may also apply to the infrastructures for electric and gasoline powered vehicles. So, let's skate to where the puck will be and invest in electric vehicles.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYour calculations showing the Prius is better value for money than the Volt agrees with similar calculations I made when considering a fuel efficient vehicle. However You did not calculate how cost efficient the Nissan LEAF is that you also mention in this article. Please be aware that the Nissan LEAF is more cost effective than a Prius or low cost ICE as long as gas costs $2.86 or more.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisTo see how I came to these numbers please visit
http://wp.me/p1sK3k-i
Hint. Get your head out of your American a$$. The world is not the USA. The world doesn't turn on the internal squabbles of American domestic policy.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisShift subsidies to consumer owned rooftop solar PV. Let the consumer do the math for FREE sunshine instead of gasoline costs. Do the same math for a FREE electric bill every month. Add these 2 costs together and if they do not come to zero then, subtract the cost of health care (that would be unnecessary) that are caused by millions of carbon monoxide spewing gasoline engines and tons of coal burned by utility companies. If they still do not come out to zero, add in the military cost expended to control the price of oil in the mid-east. If it still does not come out to zero, throw in the cost of providing oil subsidies and tax breaks for oil companies.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisElectric vehicles will create even more peak demand during business hours in downtown areas causing utilities to overbuild transmission and distribution lines and substations for vehicles that may currently be 'the next big thing' only to see them fall by the wayside as the real next big thing, hydrogen powered vehicles or super efficient gas powered vehicles takes their place.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAnd at home, even more redundant power distribution facilities will be needed for night charging. It is amazing how many readers of Scientific American have little ability to think through the issues. Ditto for most of the authors.
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Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisUnlike most of the ignorants here like jellyroll I actaully drive my EV's every day at a fraction of the cost of a similar ICE version. Plus I have a generator that gives unlimited ramge at over 100mpg.
Since I built it myself using raceboat composite and forklift EV drive tech costs are both low and rare.
Since they are lightweight, eff they cost only $.02/mile for battery and electric. JR how much does your transport cost/mile? Are you one of the supporters of oil dictators and terrorists?
Facts are oil and coal are so subsidized, and who said big oil doesn't like socialism, that their costs would double if they were in them. Fact is that amount is about 30% of our yrly deficet where we get the costs and they get the profit.
And please the old canard that powerplants pollute, yes some do but are getting far better as all the old coal plants get replaced mostly by NG cogen units. But even using old coal EV's because they are so eff, 21-65%, vs gas at 7% as used in a car, you can see why EV's pollute far less. I buy for a small premium green power because my homesite isn't good for RE.
No wireless power isn't going to happen. Basic physics. And yes I know all the different ways. If you try it while driving it would drag you to a stop!!
Now a siderail or overhead wire could work. But not needed because 100 mile range does 95% of US trips and a built in generator, much smaller than the Volt's, gives EV's unlimited range until real fast charging/battery swap stations are installed. I've charged lead batteries at 1000amps to 80% charge and EV'ers have done that for decades.
You are right it's the oil it's always been the slick polluting handicap of our Imperialist society that uses every aspect of a once free society to stop progress and keep us on this horse and buggy system that is way due for and overhaul in including the judicial system! I could provide and battery that runs a city but they would use it to destroy not to protect!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAND yes I am a scientist
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI had an MG Midget when I was in school. So, I know small cars.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhen you're driving one of these tiny toy cars, what happens when you get hit by an Escalade? Maybe a semi-truck?
Can you spell SQUISH? I knew you could.
Pass on the human sardine can.
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I still have my wonders about cars that you have to charge. I think that the technology behind it is brilliant, Im just hoping they are durable enough to stand the test of the ages. However, Im excited about the potential of an <a href="http://www.broderelectric.ca">electric car charging station</a>! Google Maps is a clever catch for sure!
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