Solar Powered Charging Station in Portland

EV Charging Station at Farrell & Associates is Live!

Oregon is a eco-friendly state. With electric vehicles (EVs) like the Nissan LEAF arriving this year, it will be getting even greener. One business is getting ready for customers with EVs and plug-in hybrids like the Chevy Volt and Plug-in Prius that are expected in 2012.

The company is Farrell & Associates Inc. They are a real estate and property management company. They hope to attract eco-friendly customers with their new solar array and plug-in car charging station.

Mark Farrell, Principal Broker and Owner of Farrell & Assoc., said that they are doing this to be good neighbors and because it matters to customers in this region. Their business area has several recent green renovations and they are looking to stand out. Solar panels and an EV charging station help them do just that.

The solar photovoltaic (PV) system is made up of 40 solar panels and is 9.8 kilowatts in total. The PV array will generate enough energy to power an EV such as the LEAF nearly 40,000 miles per year. These solar panels are more than enough to charge any cars that plug in here while still greatly reducing the electricity bill of the business.

Solterra Systems installed the solar panels and partnered with Charge Northwest for the plug-in vehicle charging station.

Farrell said that they would not have been able to take these steps without the state and federal incentives.

The charging station has both level 1 and Level 2 charging and is open to the public free of charge!

Name: FARRELL & ASSOC / STATION #1
Address: 4772 N Lombard St, Portland, OR 97203, USA

Photos courtesy of Solterra Systems and Farrell & Associates

2010 Review & 2011 Look Ahead

Since 2007 I have been driving an electric vehicle, powered by solar panels on the roof of my house. Each year I look at how much energy my driving used and how much the solar panels generated. I want my EV transportation to be better than net zero. So how did 2010 do? Let's take a look and then see what will change in 2011.

In 2010, the solar panels generated 3575 kWh. That is enough energy to drive my electric truck 5100 miles. I drove my EV only 4506 miles. This means the PV system generated 425 kWh more than my driving used; yet another year of free driving. 

Now that the first Chevy Volt and Nissan LEAF cars have been delivered, there is a lot of press about the coming wave of electric vehicles and how they could overwhelm the grid. Our "EV driving" home does just the opposite. We supply power to the grid during sunny days when the air conditioners are running and charge the EV overnight. We supply energy when it is most needed, and withdraw it when there is a surplus. This helps to stabilize the grid, not bring it crashing down.

Sure, not everyone that buys an EV will get solar, but once I was driving with electricity, the source of that electricity mattered more than it ever had when I flipped on a light switch. And unlike with gasoline, I had a choice to produce it myself. I hope this awakening experience is a common one in the next decade.

One final note about 2010 before we look to the future: Our PV system's 2010 production was below 2008 and 2009's output by ~6%. There are two reasons, first the system was offline for 31 days starting in late January when the house painters sprayed paint into the inverter exhaust vent and killed it. Our inverter manufacturer, SMA, was very cool about it and gave me a refurbished replacement unit for free even though this was clearly not their fault. The second reason for the reduced output was the predominantly cloudy weather in May and June of 2010 when compared to the previous two years. In short, 2010 had a cloudy, rainy spring.

Looking ahead to 2011, there is one big change planned. I have ordered a Nissan LEAF. In early December I was told the car should arrive in 4 to 7 months. This means I should get the car, my first brand new car ever, before my birthday in July. This car will change my EV energy consumption in two ways. First, my heavy non-aerodynamic induction-charged truck uses about 700 Wh per mile. The Nissan LEAF is rated to use 340 Wh per mile for 73 mile range by the EPA. With a little hypermiling, I think I'll be able to use only 250 Wh per mile for a 100 mile range. This means that I'll be using less than half the energy per mile in the LEAF than I am using today. On the flip-side, with the longer 100 mile range of the LEAF compared to the 35 mile range of my truck, I'll be able to drive the LEAF far more. It will be interesting to compare energy use of these two vehicles and how the longer range changes my driving habits.

Nissan LEAF Was My Idea

Have you ever seen the commercials for Windows 7 where a user has an idea for an OS feature? In the ad, Windows 7 came out and it included that feature. The user then proclaims "Windows 7 was my idea." That is how I feel about the Nissan LEAF.

The first Nissan LEAF cars are being delivered to customers this week. This is a historic time for EVs. In October of 2008, I was selected to take part in a small focus group of EV-drivers with Nissan. We met with several people from Nissan including Mark Perry, director of product planning and strategy for electric vehicles. This was the first time that I had ever met anyone from Nissan. I had no idea if Nissan was serious about EVs, or if they would really listen to what I had to say. I had been reading a lot of press about EVs at that time and I had not seen a product that focused on what I thought were the right things. A chance to talk to a car company, any car company, was an opportunity to share my thoughts.

During the session, I was one of the last participants to address the Nissan team. Most of the other members talked to them about how great 100 miles would be and about deploying charging infrastructure. As I have discussed recently, I don't think charging infrastructure is the priority. Rather, I focused on what I thought the *car* should be. Obviously I am biased, but it seemed to me that the Nissan team was far more engaged when talking with me than with the other participants. They had several direct questions as well as open ended discussion areas. Here are some of the many things we talked about.

Set Realistic Expectations
Their opening statement was "We will be selling an affordable, mass market, 100-mile range, fully electric, freeway capable car. It comes to market in late 2010. What do you think the car needs in order to be successful and what do we as a company need to do to make it work in your region?"  I was skeptical. Remember this was 2008. It is easy to make big claims like this and no one had ever delivered on them. Every EV that had been brought to market up till that point had been a niche vehicle. Even the highly priced Tesla Roadster had slipped its delivery date multiple times in 2007 and in 2008 only a handful of Roadsters had been delivered. It was the only freeway capable EV being sold at that time, and with the $100k price tag it was a niche vehicle. With Tesla having CEO troubles, it was not clear if the little up-start would survive and ever make it to their "Blue Star" project. In 2008, wildly hyped vaporware was the norm in the EV world. I suggested that they take the opposite approach and "under commit and over deliver" rather than fall into the hype-cycle syndrome. If the vehicle was really only going to get 70 miles of range in real-world driving, start saying so now.

The rule of thumb is that an EV must exceed the 70/70 point to have any hope of broad appeal. That is minimum of 70 miles range in real world conditions and minimum of 70 MPH top speed. If the goal truly is a mass market vehicle, they must surpass these minimums, or go back to the drawing board.

Range Anxiety
Our next topic was range: One hundred miles of range was the stated goal. Many of the participants in the room talked about how great that was and how it is more than enough for most people, even if they don't know it. And while I agree with that, the important thing is to make sure the vehicle alleviates range concerns whenever possible. Make the vehicle to sell to the customers as they are; not how you want them to be. People currently are concerned with range. When I am showing my EV, the most common question is how "far will it go?". Right or wrong, some people will be concerned about range until EVs can drive the 300+ miles per charge, comparable to a typical full tank of gasoline.

To address range concerns, Nissan must give drivers the range data in a clear picture. My recommendations were:

1. Show how far the current charge level will take the vehicle. Not with just a number, but I wanted to see on the map if the place I want to go is within my currently available range. I wanted to be able to check this even if I had not entered my destination, because most of the time I know where I am going and do not need to enter an address.
2. Include charging station locations in the navigation system maps. This seems obvious now, you can find Google mash-up maps of just about anything, but back then (over 2 years ago) it seemed like a great idea.
3. If I enter a destination beyond the range, suggest charging points along the way.
4. Have a "Find Nearest Charging Station" button that is prominent. The button should be on the steering-wheel or a fixed button near the navigation system. I don't want to have to go through levels of menus to get to this. This is the "Oh no, low battery!" button.

Charging station locations will be added frequently over the first few years that the cars will be on the road. It is a pain to keep car navigation system maps up to date. You have to download files, burn a disc or use a thumb drive, take it to the car... Forget all that, it is a hassle and I would not want to do it on a frequent basis. Rather, I said they should include a telematics system that automatically updates the maps in near real-time.

Size
When they asked what size I thought the vehicle needed to be, I told them the story of buying our first hybrid. Early in 2000 our Subaru Outback had been totaled. We wanted a fuel efficient car to replace it. After some research we had found that Honda and Toyota were coming out with hybrids within the next year. These were the top two candidates. A few months later, a nearby Honda dealership had an Insight that we could test drive. It was not a good fit for us. The 2-door felt crowded and impractical. Based on that test drive, we went to Toyota and put down a deposit on the 4-door Prius, sight unseen, no test drive (there were no cars in our area to drive yet).

We were on a waiting list to get one of the first Prius sold in the US. It was 9 months before the car arrived. During which time my wife took the bus to and from work. She was determined to get a car that used less fuel and was already loyal to a car that she had never driven.

What does this anecdotal story mean to Nissan for their (then yet-to-be-named) electric vehicle? If they truly want it to be mass market, make it a 4-door. I also mentioned that the car should be sized for Americans; we are big people and generally need a little more room than people from other parts of the world.

Naming
Multiple participants asked in various ways what they were going to call the vehicle. They did not give us any hints. When the name topic came to me, my only suggestion was that they have a dedicated EV name. E.g., they should not launch with an "Electric Altima" or an "Electric Cube". My example was again the Prius. Prius sales were far better than Hybrid Camry or Hybrid Civic. If they wanted electric versions of their existing line, they could do this later. They must have an EV flagship product first.

For early adopters especially, part of the experience of buying a new breed of cars is being part of something special. This does not mean the vehicle has to stand out as weird, but it does have to be recognizably badged as an EV. It has to be its own brand and not "just a sub-brand". Owners will want a name they can rally around, with their own fan sites and discussion groups. They don't want to be some sub-group on a gasoline car forum. 

Ford's hybrid badge uses a leaf

Later after the name LEAF was announced I found out why they did not give us any hint at what the name might be. They wanted a single worldwide name for the vehicle and Nissan's various countries could not agree, primarily Japan and the USA offices could not agree. Japan would suggest something like "the Nissan Plug" and the USA office would point out how that name has no excitement and would be subject to ridicule. Other names ran into copyright issues in one or more countries.

Toyota's Prius marketing used a leaf

The name LEAF even had some trouble. First Nissan could not get the rights to use a leaf symbol. Check out their early marketing. They use a blue tree. Whereas both Ford and Toyota use a leaf symbol (see pictures to the right). The name LEAF is an acronym (or more likely a bacronym) of Leading, Environmentally-friendly, Affordable, Family car. The use of the name as an acronym likely cleared some final region's legal hurdle.

Gas Car Rental Partnership 
About one week before this meeting with Nissan, I was talking to another member of the Oregon EV Association about what he drives and I was surprised to hear that his only car was an EV, whereas in my household the EV was just one of three vehicles. When I asked what he does when he needed to drive farther than his EV would take him, he said he was a member of Zip Car and that there was a car that parked in a dedicated spot at his work and several cars were within EV range of his house. He could take the Zip car whenever he needed it. I found this model of EV ownership and ride sharing interesting.

I suggested that Nissan should consider a partnership with ride-share companies and car rental companies to give Nissan EV owners discounts on occasional gas car use. 

Roadside Assistance
Soon before attending this meeting with Nissan, I received an email from AAA of Oregon stating that they were adding roadside assistance for bicyclists. If you get a flat or bend a fork, you could call AAA and get repair help or a ride back home for you and your bike.

If AAA were willing to add bike assistance, what could they do for EVs? If you were to run out of battery power, could they bring a 240V generator to you and give you enough of a charge to get home or to the nearest charging station? It is unlikely that this service would be needed often, but the point of a roadside assistance program is peace of mind. Also, if this further alleviates range anxiety, it would be a good idea to work with road side assistance companies to support EV drivers.  

Under The Hood
As I have mentioned before, I show my EV a few times each year at various events. People often want to see under the hood. In a conversion EV there are usually interesting things to see, like where parts were mounted and how various wires were run. My EV, however, was factory build as electric by GM. It has a large heat-sink that covers most of the visible area under the hood. Frankly, it is boring. Yet, people are curious and so the hood is up and it leaves them underwhelmed.

I told them that early Nissan EV owners are going to be advocates for these cars. People will approach them and ask questions, and based on my experience they will want to see under the hood. So Nissan should consider adding a little more visual appeal here than they normally would.

LEDs
I have written in this blog several times about LEDs. A couple months before this meeting, I changed the tail lights in my EV to LEDs because they illuminate faster and they are brighter. If a vehicle were designed for LEDs, they could also use less power. I suggested that the Nissan EV use LEDs wherever they could.

Regen Breaking Level
Many people that are into electric cars love regenerative braking, so much so that they want to feel it kicking in as soon as they lift their foot off of the accelerator. I prefer to coast when I can. Coasting maintains momentum and if the obstruction ahead clears or the light turns green, you can keep on going rather than stopping and starting. Even if you have great regenerative breaking, coasting is better than regening and then accelerating again.

My recommendation to Nissan was that this a "religious war" that they don't want to get in to. On one hand they might want the car to feel like most cars on the road today (light regen). On the other hand, they will want to have a heavy regen option to appease the many EV enthusiasts that think that there is no such thing as too much regen.

The best option is to have this be user settable. This would allow people to set the regen to the level that they like.

Solar Panel
My final item to them was to mention that they should consider adding a solar panel, but perhaps not for the reason that you think. Yes, I am a solar advocate, but I am an engineer first. If you want a solar powered EV, currently the best way to do that is with solar panels on your house, not on a car. There simply is not enough roof space on a car to make it practical today.

So if I know the math does not support it, why did I suggest that they have an option for a solar panel? Nearly every time that I am displaying my EV at an eco-event, someone will suggest that it would be great if I could add solar panels. I used to explain the available surface area and angle and efficiency details, often during this explanation their eyes would glaze over. Now I just say "Well, I have solar on my house. It works better there since I never park my house in the shade."

Nissan could avoid a deluge of email in their inbox from well intentioned, uninformed people by adding a solar panel; even if it is just a single small panel that is only offered as an over-priced accessory. It does not need to add any range it just needs a token function such as running a cooling fan. This gesture would make them happy.

Again, this is about selling to the customer that is there, not some ideal person. And explaining to someone that they have a bad idea is generally not the best way to start a customer relationship.

Conclusions
After the meeting, as we are leaving and shaking hands with the Nissan team, saying thanks and goodbye, Mark Perry from Nissan takes me aside. He said something like, "I really liked what you had to say today and I have made some notes to take back to the engineering teams". I am sure that many of the things that define the LEAF today would be exactly the same as they are even if I had not attended this meeting. And I am sure they don't make any decisions based on input from one guy in a customer roundtable session. But once the LEAF did come out, and I saw that it had many of the things that I had suggested, it felt good. It felt like they really listened and that I helped make this generation of EVs a little better.

To this day when I see a review of the LEAF and someone says "I really like this nav system. It shows me exactly how far I can go with this circle and it shows me all the charging stations around here," I think "That was my idea. I'm glad you like it."

Comparing the LEAF to my suggestions
So how did Nissan do with the LEAF compared to what I thought an EV should be? Some of that is covered already, but I'll do a point by point breakdown in another blog post soon.
 

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C-Net Review of the LEAF

EV Infrastructure: What Kind and How Much

In the recent Chicken-and-Egg posting about EV charging infrastructure, I claimed that a vast charging infrastructure is not required for EVs to be highly useful for a large number of people. If you have a dedicated outlet where the car is parked overnight, you don't need a charging station at the bank, movie theater, or coffee shop. Having them is nice, but not a requirement.

“	Public charging stations should be used as a convenience, not as a requirement.

While I assert that they are not 'required', that does not mean that they aren't nice to have. A PEV driver is far more likely to stop at a place that allows them to plug in than at a neighboring competitor that does not have a plug. And once stopped, that driver may stay longer knowing that their batteries are getting juiced up. That could mean buying another coffee, soda, or whatever wares that the shop sells. Businesses that want to court plug-in vehicle drivers will install charging equipment.

Level 2 Public Charging Station in Portland

In addition to these businesses, some local governments will be installing charging stations too. What criteria will be used to determine where these charging stations will be installed and what type will they be? In many cases, that will be up to local policy-makers. Do they have the right information to make these decisions? 

Just as journalists have incorrectly claimed there was a chicken-and-egg problem, some policy-makers are setting out to solve this problem with millions of dollars being spent on public charging infrastructure. My last posting accused journalists of having little more than a few test drives as the sum total of their EV driving experience. For these policy-makers, their EV experience is likely less. In fact, it may consist only of reading articles by these under-informed journalists. Pike Research reported that more than 5 million charge points (nearly $6.5 billion in revenue) will be installed worldwide by 2015. ECOtality said it would install more than 1,100 Blink charging stations in the Portland, Salem, Eugene, and Corvallis areas, making Oregon a major hub in the company's $230 million plan. The US Federal government plans to install more than 15,000 charging stations across six states over the next three years. I hope this money is spent in the right way.


Consider this: A policy-maker with no EV experience receives some of the above grant money and wants EVs to succeed in his/her region. They are tasked with making an "EV success plan". They don't know where to start or what the challenges will be, so they begin to research and read press articles. The vast majority of articles state that EVs cannot be successful without a charging infrastructure. A-ha! Now they have a problem they can solve. They read on and are told that level 1 charging is too slow. After some research they determine that DC fast chargers are too expensive to be densely deployed. So they make a plan to blanket the region with level 2 charging stations and EVs will take over.

Now the plan framework is complete, it still needs details. Unfortunately, this is the wrong plan. A plan that consists only of blanketing a region with public charging stations, misses many important issues. EVs have had a couple false starts already (1910s, 1990s). Poor planning and bad policies could kill them a 3rd time. It is important that local governments are focused on the right things.

What are the right policies? Cars spend most of their time parked at home. This is where they are most likely to be recharged. So this is where the emphasis should be for charging infrastructure deployment. During this period of infrastructure growth, for every EV that is sold in a region, there should be about 1.2 charging stations installed. That would be one charging station installed where the car will be parked overnight and the other fraction to support a shared public charging station. For example, if 500 PEVs are sold in a region, then there would be 500 home charging stations and 100 public charging stations installed in that area.

“	A regional EV success plan is more than blanketing a region with charging stations.

Charging stations are just part of the picture. Here are the things that I think policy-makers should be considering.

1. New home codes to support EVs: 



SAE J1772 Connector - Supports Level 1 and Level 2

• Require pre-wiring for charging stations. A two car garage should be wired to support two charging stations. Home electrical service panel, a.k.a. circuit breaker boxes, should have pre-dedicated circuits for charging stations.
• Sufficient Home Amperage. That same two car garage should be able to support the load of two EVs charging (while the AC, dryer, and water heater are running, while the plasma screen TV, game consoles and computers are on and a hair dryer is running). Modern homes demand a lot from our energy grid.  
2. Apartments and Condos: 
• Accommodations for high-density living areas must be made too. Require charging facilities in all new apartment building and condo complex parking areas. Charging facilities where cars are parked overnight is what is important. EVs cannot only be for people that own homes.
• Create incentives for retrofitting existing apartments. These should be done in such a way that encourages pay-as-you go business models for charging. An apartment dweller is not going to pay $500 or more to have a charging station installed. They may, however, pay $40 extra per month for a dedicated parking spot that has a charging station. 
3. Hotels/Inns
• Add charging stations where guests' rental cars are parked. This would allow EVs to be rented for local driving during vacations and business travel. Again this could be a premium upgrade parking space, or part of a partnership with the car rental company.
4. Usage Incentives 
• Put policies in place to make your region EV friendly, such as:
• HOV access
• Dedicated parking city spots
• Don't add "EV taxes": Some politicians are concerned that EVs don't buy gasoline; therefore owners do not pay fuel taxes which are used for road maintenance or upgrades. This concern is overblown. Any alternative road tax can be delayed until EVs are a meaningful number (say 5%) of vehicles on the road. Until then they can be taxed at the same rate as bicyclists and pedestrians that use the road, zero %.  
5. Broader Network of Cheaper Plugs
   

   “	Level 1 charging is the best solution for many cases.

   When considering public charging locations, it would generally be more effective to have a lot of level 1 (standard outlets), than to have a few level 2 stations, or a single DC fast charge station. I think level 1 charging is being dismissed, when it could be the best solution that we have. If you are installing a charging station in a long term parking area for example, that car is likely to be there for several days. It will be full when it is picked up, regardless of the charging level. This is one clear example, but there are several other use cases where level 1 would be preferred.  There are several advantages to having standard (level 1) outlets: 
1. For the cost of a level 2 charging station, you can have far more level 1 outlets. If a location has only a few stations, then it is more likely that they would be occupied. Rather, if you have a parking lot that has 8 outlets on every lamp post, PEV drivers will easily be able to find a spot to plug in. 
2. No monitoring needed. If there are only a few level 2 stations, then a potential user might want to be able to check the status of the stations online to see if they are operational and available. This means that the stations have to be managed. This further adds to the cost discrepancy between level 1 and level 2. Rather if there are as many outlets as there are parking spaces, availability is not a concern.  
3. Lower energy cost. Level 1 plugs dispense energy at about one quarter of the rate of a level 2 station. If a business is installing a station only as a customer convenience, then there is no need to attempt to fill the vehicle up all the way during a short stop.
4. Lower grid load. Since public charging stations are more likely to be used during the day than home (over night) charging stations, making them level 1 reduces peak-time grid load.
5. Any electrician can install or repair them. Level 1 parts are simply the outdoor plugs that homes already have, they are cheap and available at your local home store if repair or replacements are needed. 
6. They can be used for purposes other than EVs. Since level 1 is a standard outlet, these plugs can be useful for other things such as engine block heaters, holiday lights, and dead starter battery charging. Near outdoor seating areas they could be used for customers' computers... 

Outdoor Level 1 Charging Outlets on Bike Lock Posts

For EV infrastructure the initial focus for charging stations should be to get them to locations where cars will be parked overnight. The stations that I have seen installed so far in my local region have been in curbside parking and daytime use lots. These are not locations where cars are left overnight. These are nice for public visibility and ribbon cutting ceremonies, but they are not the locations needed for most effective utilization.

Indoor Level 1 and NEMA 14-50 (level 2) Charging Station

Here is an idea for an EV charging station company: team up with apartment complexes and install Visa swipe pay-as-you go charging stations. If the charging station company pays for the station and the installation, the apartment complex can pay for the electricity. The charging station company gets the revenue until the charging station is paid for, then they enter into a revenue sharing agreement.


For full disclosure, I must mention that I was selected to receive a free level 2 charging station in my garage. This was from ECOtality and funded by a U.S. Department of Energy grant of $99.8 million. While I am making the case that level 1 is usually sufficient, I am not going to say 'no' to a free level 2 charging station. In return for the free station, data from my vehicle such as distances driven and charging habits will be collected for a national labs study. 

Level 3 DC Fast Charge Station

The U.S. Department of Transportation gave Oregon a $2 million TIGER II grant for Level 3 stations. The funds will provide up to two dozen DC fast charge stations in northwest Oregon. That is $83,000 per station. Two million dollars could install a lot of level 1 outlets rather than just 24 fast charging stations.

The obvious counter point here is that there are areas where fast charging can be very useful. A drive from Portland to Hood River is 70 miles. So a round trip is beyond the capability of a 100 mile range EV. However, if Hood River had a DC fast charge station installed, then you could drive there and back on a day trip to wind surf in one of the world's best places to catch the wind.

However, if you plan on driving an EV from Portland to Hood River, I would argue that you are attempting to force a square peg into a round hole. Trips like this are not what 100 mile range EVs are designed to do. Don't let that stop you though. If you are the adventurous type it might work out fine. However, be prepared to stay a few hours if the fast charge station is not available.

Level 3 DC Fast Charge Connector

I don't expect this one lone voice to be well heard against the mass of press. The message here is also not a simple one. If I had just said 'yes we need charging stations', I could find support. If I had said 'these are a waste of money', that message too could find a receptive (although different) audience. However, this message is neither of these extremes. Instead, it is about the efficient use of the planning resources and funds that we have available for infrastructure deployment.

Revenge of the Electric Car

I drive an EV today, in part because of the 2006 documentary, Who Killed the Electric Car? I saw the movie in late 2006 and then purchased my first EV in Feb 2007. Later that same year I put solar panels on my house to power that EV. That year changed the way I see the world. I have been an EV and solar advocate ever since. Now I have blogs, twitter feeds, and facebook pages dedicated to solar power and EVs.

So when Chris Paine, the director of Who Killed the Electric Car?, recently wrote a Huffington Post article asking the EV blogosphere to start spreading the word about his new movie, I jumped at the chance. The new movie is called Revenge of the Electric Car and it is scheduled for release in the Spring of 2011.

If you want to see a trailer for the movie, it is going to be premiered on the movie's facebook page when the page reaches 10,000 fans. As I write this, they currently have over 6000 fans. They have added over 1000 fans in the last week and they are growing fast.

You Don't Know EVs

Mass market electric vehicles (EVs) are coming soon to a dealership near you*. The Nissan LEAF and Chevy Volt are both scheduled to begin delivery in early 2011. These vehicles are very different from the gasoline powered cars that most of us are used to driving. EVs are new to the mass market and people are asking questions. These questions, however, often come from their gasoline driving experience. For example, when I am showing my EV to the public the typical questions are:

• How far can it go on a charge?
• How long does it take to recharge from empty?
• How fast is it? (top speed & 0-60MPH)

These seem like important things to know about a car, and they are; however, most people are asking them without really understanding the question. I'll explain. If you are willing to take a step back, and look at personal transportation from a fresh perspective, EVs are a whole new opportunity.

"How far can it go on a charge?"
When people ask this, what they often really want to know is, "Will this go far enough for my needs?". Most people don't know how far they drive on a typical day. The numbers that most people know are: one, how many miles they get on a tank in their current vehicle and, two, how far it is for that long annual trip they take. Neither of these numbers apply to a commuter EV, yet the EV range value will be compared to them. When they hear that an EV can travel 100 miles or 120 miles, this is compared to the 300 plus miles that they get per tank or the 580 miles to grandma's they drive every other year. This makes the 100 mile EV range sound far too small and EVs are dismissed as unusable or "not yet ready". They don't realize that 80% of people drive less than 40 miles per day.

Less than 40 miles per day for most people means that a 100 mile range is more than 2.5 times the distance that most people need on most days. And unlike a gas car, EVs can be conveniently charged overnight in your own garage and start out each day fully topped up.

Viewed another way, how often are you filling up that gas tank? If a tank carries you 350 miles, and you are filling it up once per week, that is an average of 50 miles per day; well within the capabilities of modern EVs.

If you want to quickly map your driving, try the Nissan 100 mile drive test. Plug in your own locations for a busy day. Try home to work, to the gym, errands, dinner, and back home. Or try home, school, shopping, pick up kids, soccer, dance, then back home. Can you do these with miles to spare? For most people the answer is 'Yes'. This means an EV can fit most people's lifestyle well. If your answer was 'No', read on, option #5 below might work for you.

What to do about that annual long trip? There are several options.

1. Keep a gas 2nd car around. Use your EV whenever you can and the gas car when the EV won't work. See Hybrid Driving without a hybrid car. If you drive the gasser less than 5k miles per year, you may be able to put it on recreational insurance rates.
   
2. Borrow a gasser. Swap cars with a friend for a week. They get to try out an EV and you can take your trip.
   
3. Rent a car. The annual savings you get from not buying gas will allow you to rent a nice vehicle for an extended period of time and still come out ahead.
4. Ride Share. Programs such as Zip Car have been expanding. If there is one in your area, this can complement EV ownership well. Just log-on, find a car parked near you, reserve it with a click and it is yours when you need it.
5. Buy a PHEV: Rather than buying a pure EV, buy a plug-in hybrid like the Chevy Volt, the 2012 Prius PHEV, or the Fisker Karma. You don't get all the benefits of a pure EV, but you can utilize a gas station when needed.

The new perspective on range is how far per day, not how far between fill ups. On to the next question.

How long does it take to recharge from empty?
No one wants to be stuck for hours waiting for their car to charge before they can go someplace. Vehicles represent our freedom. When you drive an EV, you can be less restricted, not more.

Going to the gas station is inconvenient, so we tend to put it off until it cannot be avoided. Therefore a gas car is usually being filled up from empty. Don't assume the same with an EV, in fact, the opposite is usually true. For an EV, the charging station is right there, in your garage, the one that you are already driving to when you go home. It is not a side trip that you have to make to fill up. This means that you can plug in each day, even if you only drove a few miles.

Until you stop going to gas stations, you may not realize what an inconvenience they really are. Compare this to your cell phone. You plug in your phone overnight and it is fully charged, ready for all your needs the next day. That is convenient. By contrast, what if you were not allowed to plug in your phone? Instead, you had to take it to a "phone station" each week for a "fill up". This would be intolerable, yet it is OK for our cars because most people don't know of any other way.

Continuing with the cell phone analogy, do you know how long it takes your cell phone to charge up? Probably not, it depends on how much you have used it that day, and most likely you don't really care because an overnight charge is more than enough. The only time you pay attention is the few seconds it takes to drop the phone into the cradle and then to grab it the next morning.

It is the same with an EV, your attended time is just the few seconds to plug it in each evening and unplug it each morning. The charge duration is completed while you sleep. Most days the battery pack is more than half full at the end of the day, so charging to full has a head start. Public charging infrastructure is nice to have, but it is not required for EVs to be usable.

The new perspective for charge time is not how long does it take, but how much of my time does it take. EVs take far less of your time.

What if I am stranded with a drained battery, how long will that take?
Modern EVs such as the LEAF will show you on the nav system how far you can go. If your destination is not within the circle, you cannot get there without stopping to charge. When you do stop to charge, no one said that you must charge up all the way. If you are plugged into a standard 120V outlet this will give you about 7 miles of addition range per hour. A Level 2 outlet that you'll find at EV charging stations will give about 16 miles of additional range each hour you are plugged in. So a stop for lunch or dinner can give you the extra miles you need to get home or your stop for the night.

Tom Saxton is a Seattle area Tesla Roadster owner. He has blogged about driving his roadster down Highway 101. He stayed at the coast, charged overnight, drove into Portland to meet up with NEDRA, raced his Roadster, charged between races, and then headed back home. He was able to make the entire trip without ever waiting for the car to charge. Charging was always something that he could do in the background while he was sleeping or waiting for his next turn on the line. Granted the Roadster is out of most people's price range, but you can do the same thing in a LEAF on a smaller scale.

The new perspective on charge time is the charging rate in miles per hour, not hours till full.

How fast is it? (top speed & 0-60MPH)
I think most people that ask this question are wondering "Is this a golf cart or a real car?". There have been many low speed EVs and glorified golf carts that have been pitched as the solution to transportation. Skepticism here is well deserved. Low speed EVs have niches that they can serve very well such as retirement communities or commutes that can be done exclusively on residential roadways. However, when they are sold outside of these niches they fail to meet the needs and give all EVs a bad name.

Perhaps in part because of the "golf cart" experience, many people assume there are things that an electric motor is just not suited to do. In fact, other than burn gas directly, electric motors can do everything and more that internal combustion engines are used for today. Such as, the little white car shown in the picture to the right. It is an electric car that can run the quarter mile in 10.4 seconds. That is supercar territory. And it was done as a DIY project with a Datsun and two forklift motors.

What about big loads? Surely electric motors cannot handle hauling. Think again. Diesel-electric trains have moved big loads for years. The diesel is only used to generate electricity. It is the electric motors that do all the work of moving the load. The same is true for many types of giant hauler trucks like the one shown to the right. Large mining machines, NASA's huge Crawler-Transporters, some submarines and ships also use electric motors.

Assuming all electric motors are weak based on riding in a golf cart is like seeing a moped and assuming that a Dodge Viper is not possible.

Performance, hauling, & range are all possible if you are willing to pay for them. In the '90s, Ford and Chevy both made electric trucks. Ford, NaviStar and others have new generations of EV trucks planned.

The new perspective: EVs can be whatever we design them to be.


Conclusions
To truly understand if an EV would work for you, it should be compared to your needs, rather than to the gasoline car that you drive today. This means that you have to understand your current driving habits. How far do you drive in a day? Try resetting your trip meter each morning this week to see. How many hours does your car sit parked each day? If an EV was plugged in for just those hours, would it get enough range for your current driving needs?

EVs are a new tool for your transportation needs. They do not work in all cases, but they can work for many people and coupled with a 2nd car or a range extender, a large percentage of your driving can move off of gasoline.

May 2010 PV & EV Report

Tesla Roadster Test Drive in Portland May 2010

The Seattle sales office of Tesla took a little road-trip down to Portland and I was lucky enough to get to drive a Roadster. The picture above is of my friend Jim as he pulled out on the start of his test drive. See that big smile? That is known as the EV-grin. Driving an electric vehicle is a blast, driving a sports car is a blast, putting the two together and you are sure to smile.

Excluding the Tesla drive, I logged 446 miles of EV driving this month, using an estimated 320kWh. During the same time our PV system had its best month this year and produced 475kWh of energy. Driving on sunshine is an easy thing to do.

March 2010 EV and PV Report

Spring is here and the solar panels are starting to produce the juice. In March, our little PV system generated 294 kWh. That is enough to run a CFL for nearly 200,000 hours. Since its late 2007 installation, our system has generated a total of 8.1 megawatt-hours. We passed the 8MWh milestone on March 21st, the 2nd day of Spring here in the northern hemisphere.

For my EV driving, I logged 472 miles in the Chevy S10 EV, using an estimated 300kWh. This is nearly equivalent to what the panels produced. This means that, as it continues to get sunnier and the days get longer throughout the summer, we'll be generating more power than the EV driving uses.

The big new in electric vehicle for March is that Nissan announced the price of the LEAF. It is $32,780. However, there is a $7500 federal tax credit bringing the price to 25,280. And additional state incentives are offered in California, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, & Utah. In my state of Oregon the incentive is $1500, bringing the price to $23,780. In California, the state incentive is $5000 making this 100 mile range EV only $20,280. That is cheaper than a Prius and far cheaper to "fill up".

Electric Vehicle Class at Portland State

Portland State University, in Portland Oregon, is now offering a course on electric vehicle engineering.

Power electronics and electric motor technologies have had decreasing emphasis in Electrical Engineering curricula over the last thirty years. In large part, this is due to the growth in semiconductors, digital technologies, signal processing, and wireless communication. Power electronics and electric motors have employed fewer engineers than their digital counterparts and had less glamorous, less exciting reputations.

However, with the growing focus on green and sustainable technologies, these older techs are making a comeback. In many cases, exciting new combinations of modern controls and old technologies are creating solutions that were previously not possible.

Portland State University is now offering a class that brings these technologies together. It is from PSU's School of Engineering & Computer Science. It is a senior elective (410) or graduate level (510) class, so there is an expectation that you have an understanding of electrical engineering. It is not a walk-in introductory 101 class.

Part 1 of the class is scheduled for this Spring semester with Part 2 planned for the Fall semester. The class will be limited to only 20 students.

Over the two classes, students will learn about electric propulsion and drive control systems, with emphasis on brushless DC and induction machines. Other topics include switch mode power electronics, battery technologies, battery management, vehicle weight and driving performance (range, acceleration...). The extensive laboratory work for the class will use Matlab and Simulink and include experiments with the Power-pole board and the Arduino microcontroller.

You can see the course details and syllabus here.

via PSU and the OEVA

Hybrid Driving

My primary vehicle is a battery electric truck. It is a Chevy S10 EV, made by GM as an electric vehicle in 1998. With the 12 year old NiMH batteries, the range is only about 45 miles (down from the original 80 miles when new). With this range, it is great for my commute and errands, but it cannot meet all my driving needs.

My second vehicle is a Honda Passport. It has 4WD, seats 5 and can pull my camper. But at only 18 MPG, it is a gas hog. My rule of thumb is to take the S10 whenever possible and then the Passport when the S10 will not suffice. For example, when we had snow this January or when the entire family is going out for a weekend day hike. The Passport is also my "range extender" when the S10 EV cannot bridge the distance.

In this way, rather than driving a hybrid vehicle, my driving habits are a mix or hybrid.

This year I am tracking both my gas power miles and my electrically fueled miles. In each of the monthly reports, I'll be reporting this data, with an average miles per gallon consumed that I hope exceeds the average Prius.

February 2010 EV & PV Report

Each month, I have been reporting how much solar energy our solar photovoltaic system has made and how much energy I have used driving my electric vehicle.

In late January, our inverted died. It is still under warranty, but because it had paint on it from when our house was painted, we were not able to cross-ship a replacement. Rather, the painted inverter had to be shipped to the manufacturer, repaired and then shipped back. Technically, the paint voided the warranty but the manufacturer was still willing to honor the warranty as long as we were willing to keep the painted case. That is good customer service.

The repairs were not quick and a shipping mix-up delayed the return even longer. Our inverter was not back in operation until Feb 26th. That is 38 days that we were offline, so there is very little PV energy generation to report. But I am glad this happened in February instead of the more productive June-August months.

As for EV driving, I logged 345 miles in the Chevy S10 EV, using an estimated 242 kWhs.

January 2010 EV and PV Report

January's big news is that our inverter has died. This is the second one that had gone belly up since we had our system installed in November 2007. When I called the installer, they asked what brand and model it was and they were surprised to hear that it was an SMA since they don't often have to replace the SMA inverters.

To complicate things, they were not able to fix it here onsite and they were not able cross-ship a replacement. We had our home painted last year and part of the inverter was accidentally painted. This means that our painted inverter must be shipped to SMA, be repaired, and then shipped back to us. The inverter died on the 19th and was taken away on the 25th and it is still not back.

With this month's limited up time, the system only generated 35kWh. This is significantly less than Jan 2009's 123kWh. When the inverter is returned, perhaps I'll try to remove the paint so we can cross-ship it, if this ever happens again. I am glad that it has a 5 year warranty and I hope this is the last problem that we have.

As for electric vehicle (EV) driving, I logged 326 miles using an estimated 228kWh. With the cold weather and the 11 year old batteries, they started to "complain" (battery life light) near the end of my 20 mile commute even though I had more than 50% charge left. So during the coldest week, I drove the Honda rather than the Chevy S10 Electric. This also gave me 4WD which I needed on one of the snowy days.

Next month I'll report the reinstall of our inverter.

Alt-fuel Workshop

On January 28, 2010, the Columbia-Willamette Clean Cities Coalition (CWCCC) will host a workshop on alternative-fuel vehicles. Doug Fine, NPR contributor and author of "Farewell, My Subaru", has ended his addiction to oil and will speak at the workshop. The event also includes local, regional and national Electric Vehicle updates, incentive information, manufacturer reports and local awards. You also get free admission to the Portland Auto Show and lunch. This is a great opportunity to see what is happening in the alternative vehicles world and mingle with public and private sector individuals who are working on advancing alternative-fuel choices.

Tickets are $20 with a $5 discount for CWCCC members. Visit www.cwcleancities.org for more information or call 503-580-3806.

Doug Fine has been featured by Jay Leno, CNN and others as he talks about how a "regular guy" can make sustainable choices. He is passionately sustainable, yet refuses to give up sub-woofers, Net-Flix and ice cream. After traveling the world as a freelance journalist and writing for the Washington Post, Salon, U.S. News and World Report, Sierra, Wired, Outside, National Public Radio, and other venues from little-visited jungle war zones, he recognized that he lived on "an actual planet" with finite resources. He became compelled to change his lifestyle; he now lives on a remote New Mexico farm with chickens and goats, drives a huge pickup that is fueled by vegetable oil, and his wireless is solar powered.

The CWCCC workshop should be a good balance of levity and current events and should be useful for both the general public and business people. Seating is limited to 150 and tickets are going fast.

2009 PV & EV Report

2009 Solar Power and Electric Driving in Review

2010 is here. 2009 is now in the books. Each month we look at how our photovoltaic (PV) system performed and how much the electric vehicle (EV) used. Let's review 2009.

We have a small PV system on our home in Oregon. My primary commuter vehicle is an electric Chevy S10 truck. On an annual basis, the PV system makes more energy than the EV uses. Which means, I drive for free, cost free, & pollution free.

In 2009, the PV system generated 3799 kWh. Of these, 917 were fed back into the grid and 'banked' for our use later. 2009 set one record for our system. June 28th generated 25.54 kWh, this eked past the previous record of 25.52 held by June 15th 2008.

As for driving, in 2009 I logged 4909 miles in the EV. This used an estimated 3400 kWh.

So the PV system generated ~400 more kWh than the EV used. And the bulk of the energy were made during the summer and so helped to alleviate the stress caused when the air conditioners were on high. Whereas the EV was charged overnight when the grid was not stressed and the winds were blowing through the Columbia gorge, turning the many turbines there.

Here is looking forward to a great 2010. Solar lease programs are now available in many states, so you can get a PV system of your own for little or no start-up cost. And 2010 could be the year that affordable, mass market EVs hit the showroom. So you too can drive on free fuel.

Plug-in Hybrid Types Compared

One year from today, you should be able to walk on to the lot and buy a Chevy Volt or a Nissan Leaf or one of many other cars that have a plug. There is a lot of confusion about the new world of plug-in cars.

In this Green Car Reports article, the author attempts to clear things up by saying that the Chevy Volt is not a hybrid. He is wrong; it is a hybrid, just not the same type that have been in the market. In the comments, he is corrected and admits that he was trying to simplify things by avoiding "technically accurate esoteric" terms that "the general car-buying public" would not understand.

If you are reading this, I am going to assume you are smart and can handle technically accurate and esoteric.

First, there are a lot of different ways to propel a vehicle including flywheels, fuel cells, compressed air and many many more. This discussion will only focus on internal combustion and battery electric (and the combinations thereof) because these are the car types that are planned to be on the mass market in 2011.

When examining vehicles, we'll look at two things:

• The Fuel(s): the external energy inputs to the vehicle.
• The Drivetrain: the engine and/or motors that propel the vehicle.

Fuel(s)		Drivetrain(s)		Name or Example
	Gas		Gas	good ol' internal combustion (ICE)
	Gas	Electric	Gas	HEV - Toyota Prius	Hybrids
Electric	Gas	Electric	Gas	Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle* (PHEV)
Electric	Gas	Electric		EREV - Chevy Volt
Electric		Electric		Battery Electric Vehicle - Nissan Leaf

Line 1 ICE - Gas fuel powers the drivetrain: this is simply the internal combustion vehicle that dominates our roadways today. No explanation needed.

Line 2 HEV - Fuel = Gas, Drivetrain = Both: This is the Hybrid Gas-Electric Vehicle. The "gas" portion of that description is usually just assumed, leaving it label HEV. These came to the US with the Honda Insight and the Toyota Prius in 2000. At the time this writing, HEVs are still less than 3% of new vehicle sales, but you surely have seen one by now. These vehicles are parallel-series hybrids meaning that the power from the gasoline engine can be directed to either drive the wheels or to run the generator to charge the batteries. Even though this vehicle has batteries, the initial source of all of the energy comes from the gasoline put in the tank. Electricity is generated from regenerative braking and running the engine as a generator.

The two above are mass produced cars that are on the road today. The rest of the list is rare and generally less understood.

Line 3 PHEV: this is the plug-in version of the HEV. To make a point the complete name would be plug-in parallel-series gas-electric hybrid vehicle (PPSGEHV). You are not likely to see that lengthy description used anywhere else, so just stick to PHEV. The simplest way to explain a PHEV is start with an HEV and add more battery capacity and a charger to charger them.

Line 4 EREV: is the Plug-in series hybrid. It is also where the Chevy Volt sits. GM has branded this category the Extended Range Electric vehicle (EREV) and their internal technology as "Voltec". Chrysler refers to this category as Range Extended Electric Vehicle (REEV). This category has only an electric drivetrain. All propulsion is provided by an electric motor. The batteries provide power for an initial range and then a gasoline (or diesel or ethanol) generator provides the electricity for operation. The generator runs at an optimal speed that is independent of the vehicle's demands. Any surplus energy that the generator creates is sent to the batteries.

Although the generator does provide energy to the batteries, it does not charge them up completely. Doing so would use gasoline and reduce the MPG of the vehicle. That defeats the purpose. So, if the batteries become replenished due to the generator and regenerative breaking to a threshold above "customer empty", then operation returns back to battery powered mode. The generator and fuel act as a safety net range extender, not as a complete battery charging system.

These transitions of the generator turning off and on will not be readily noticeable to drivers or passengers. If you have driven an HEV like the Toyota Prius, then you know the engine turns on and off often based on driving speed. The transitions of the EREV generator will be related to the battery charge level, rather than the vehicle speed.

Line 5 BEV: This last line is the battery electric vehicle (BEV). These vehicles are not a hybrid. They are fueled by electricity and propelled by an electric motor. This category includes Tesla's Roadster and Model S and the Nissan Leaf. The vehicles have a fixed range and must be plugged in when the batteries are depleted.

Categories

The vehicles can be categorized in many ways:

Internal Combustion: ICE

Hybrids: HEV, PHEV, & EREV

Plug-in: PHEV, EREV & BEV

Plug-in Vehicles: The last 3 rows include "electric" as a fuel type. Put simply, these are cars with plugs. This is a useful categorization for discussing the electrification of personal transportation. Depending on the design of the PHEV or EREV, they can use electricity for just the few miles, up to most of a days driving. And BEVs are completely propelled by electricity. What all the Plug-in vehicles have in common is that they use grid electricity to displace liquid fuels.

The Plug-in Vehicle category includes Plug-in hybrids such as the BYD F6DM and Hymotion modified Priuses. And it includes EREVs like the Chevy Volt and the (now cancelled) Chrysler ENVI line.

There you have it. If the vehicle uses more than one fuel type OR has more than one propulsion engine type, it is a hybrid. That is a simple definition; the complexity is in all the ways that these can be combined.

November PV and EV Report

November went out with a solar whimper as the final day of the month was foggy and generated a mere 1.2 kWh. Our panels generated 119 kWh for the month. This bested November 2008's result of 101 kWh.

I logged 465 miles in the electric vehicle, using an estimated 325 kWh.

This brings 2009's total energy generated to 3.7 MWh and EV energy used to 3.0 MWh.

Toyota iQ EV

Toyota debuted an electric iQ concept car at the North American International Auto Show in January. Concepts can be interesting technology, but unless the car is planned for production, it is not worth talking about outside of the auto-industry, IMHO.

The iQ electric has just made the transition from concept to planned production vehicle. Now we're talkin'.

There is little information released yet, but the production EV is expected to be launched in 2010 with styling unique from the gas version of the car that is currently in Japan and the UK.

The car is a 2-door, 3 seater was designed by Toyota in collaboration with Aston Martin. The electric version will be powered by lithium ion batteries made by Panasonic. It will be propelled by four in-wheel motors. This provides more room in the car than its small size would suggest.

The car is expected to travel up to 150km (93 miles) on a full charge. Toyota estimates that recharging should take about eight hours, but the exact time will depend on a number of variables.

Below is a quick video of the gas version of the car.

Ironically, only days after making this announcement Toyota executives dismissed the coming electric cars from Nissan and GM. Toyota's statement included the comments:

• The time is not here for electric cars
• Batteries aren't ready
• Electric cars are going to be expensive, with low margins
• Car company profits are down, now is not the best time to burn money on unproven technologies
• The mass market is not ready for an electric car
• Hydrogen! Toyota is developing a better alternative car technology

Those are interesting statements for a company that just announced an EV. Toyota has an enviable position in the hybrid market. One they have a vested interest in protecting. Talking down about upcoming technologies that could knock Toyota's Prius from its king of the green hill is just smart business.

However, the iQ EV is Toyota's hedge. It allows Toyota to develop expertise in EVs. If the market accepts EVs and Nissan Leaf, Mitsubishi iMEV and/or the Volt begin to encroach on Toyota's market, then they can quickly respond with the iQ and possibly a plug-in Prius.

Unless driven by the competition, Toyota seems happy to shift innovation into low gear, milk the HEV, and bash the innovations of other companies. I find this ironic since the shoe was on the other foot when Toyota brought the Prius to the US.

The Business of Plugging In

The Business of Plugging In, A Plug-In Electric Vehicle Conference is being held October 19-21, 2009 at the MotorCity Hotel and Conference Center in Detroit, Michigan.

Plug-in vehicles are emerging as an economically and socially promising alternative to current vehicle powertrain technology. Much still needs to be accomplished to bring these vehicles to the mass market. This conference is designed to foster a dialog among many different stakeholders to explore viable solutions.

The conference looks at the plug-in vehicle industry from a business perspective with the focus on policy, practice, consumers, and suppliers including the utility companies and infrastructure development.

The first day of the conference will focus on “The Electrification of the Vehicle: Supporting a National Strategy.” On Tuesday the focus shifts to “When We Build It, Will They Come?" There are also several plenary and breakout sessions focusing on the supplier, utility and battery manufacturing.

http://www.pev2009.com

What is the Volt's MPG?

In August '09 GM launched the "230" marketing campaign. They claimed that the Chevy Volt will get 230 MPG. Soon after GM launched the campaign, the EPA said that it could not support these claims, and Nissan pointed out that using the same calculation scheme the all-electric LEAF would rate at 367 MPG.

Plug-in hybrid cars are scheduled to be on the market in 2011. They promise to have significantly better gas mileage than traditional hybrids. These will be partially 'fueled' from the electrical grid with the balance of propulsion coming from gasoline (or ethanol). If a car uses electricity and gasoline, how do you rate its MPG when not all of the Ms are using Gs? How can an all-electric car even have an MPG?

PHEV, EREV, REEV; what are they?

The above questions are further complicated by the fact that PHEVs come in two different types. There are parallel-series plug-in hybrids such as the plug-in Prius and BYD cars and there are series plug-in hybrids such as the Chevy Volt or the Chrysler Envi line. Plug-in series hybrids are referred to as extended range electric vehicles (EREV) by GM and range extended electric vehicles (REEV) by Chrysler.

A series plug-in is propelled exclusively by an electric motor. The electricity comes from batteries for an initial range and then after the batteries are exhausted, the electricity comes from an on-board generator.

• AER-All Electric Range
• CSM-Charge Sustaining Mode (i.e. the flex fuel generator provides most of the electricity required to propel the car.)

For a parallel plug-in, it is not as clear when the gasoline engine will run. It will run when the batteries are low just like a series plug-in but it can also run when the vehicle is at high speed, during acceleration, or when climbing hills.

Given that multiple fuels will be used, how can you measure fuel efficiency? Some methods include: energy equivalence, pollution, and cost. Since the focus is currently on the MPG ratings, we'll use energy equivalence.

disclaimer

For the rest of this article, let's examine the 2011 Chevy Volt as presented in the sticker above from gm-volt.com. It is unofficial but matches all the data that is known at this point. I must point out, that despite the big 230 MPG marketing campaign, real answers about the Volt's performance are still being held close to the vest, so many of the assumptions below may turn out to be incorrect. I'll leave comments below if/when I am made aware of any discrepancies.

assumptions

The first thing to note is that GM claims a 40 mile electric range for the Volt. However, to ensure the battery life they are only going to use ~10kWh of the 16kWh pack for the electric mode. This means that you can only get the promised 40 miles in city driving (or congested freeway driving). Aerodynamic drag and rolling resistance reduce the efficiency at higher speeds. For this exercise we'll assume that all 40 miles can be traversed with just 10kWh using the better city performance values. Note that if your first 40 miles of daily driving includes some high-speed driving, you might not get the full 40 miles before the generator kicks in.

Since we are already dealing with the complexity of two fuels, let's assume a 50/50 split of city and highway driving for the charge sustaining portion of the drive. Averaging the 50 city and 45 highway yields 47.5 miles per gallon after the battery is depleted. Given that the car changes operating modes at the 40 mile mark, we'll need to examine different distances. I'll use 25, 50, 100, & 200 miles assuming each starts out fully charged.

While these single trip numbers are helpful illustrations, a month of driving with commuting and an occasional longer trip is more interesting. For this example month, Mon-Friday driving will be 30 miles (all-electric). On most weekends, we'll use 25 miles per day unless we go for a longer drive to the beach or the mountains. For these long weekend journeys, we'll use 200 miles round trip and assume that you can charge at your destination.

Example Month:

23 weekday commutes = 690 miles electric

6 short weekend trip = 150 miles electric

1 long trip weekend = 200 miles = 80 miles electric + 120 miles gas

Example Total = 1040 miles = 920 miles electric + 120 miles gasoline

Miles	Electricity (kWh)	Gasoline Used (gallons)
25	6.25	zero
50	10	0.2
100	10	1.3
200	10	3.3
1040*	230	2.5

* one example month

energy equivalence

This method of comparison converts all fuel sources, be it watts-hours or gasoline, to an energy unit such as Joules. One gallon of gasoline is 132 mega-Joules. A kilowatt-hour of electricity is 3.6 mega-Joules. With this you can convert the battery energy and gasoline used on a given drive to get a Joules per mile rating. Most people don't have an intuitive feel for Joules per mile, so this would generally be converted back into MPG and noted as MPGe, regardless of the energy source or how silly that result sounds. While this does give you an interesting efficiency number, it hides the sources of the energy. It is an over simplification that often adds confusion especially when the 'e' is missing. The energy source is an important factor in both the cost and pollution of those miles. And in cases where majority (or all) of the 'fuel' is electricity, stating a MPG rating is just not right, as Nissan illustrated when they stated the all-electric LEAF would rate at 367 MPG.

These are not exchangeable items; it is like reporting how many miles per banana it gets. But MPG is a unit that the public is used to hearing and anything over 100 MPG is attention getting. That is impossible for the marketing types to resist. Don't be fooled by this, demand to know the consumption numbers in both modes and do your own math for your driving patterns.

Here is our table of examples expanded to add energy consumption:

Miles	Electricity (kWh)	Gasoline (gallons)	Total Joules (MJ)	Miles per Megajoule	MPGe **
25	6.25	zero	23	1.1	147
50	10	0.2	62	0.8	106
100	10	1.3	208	0.5	64
200	10	3.3	472	0.4	56
1040	230	2.5	1158	0.9	119

** use MPGe with caution, and please don't drop the 'e'

You can see in the table above that there is no MPG equivalent that is close to the 230MPG that GM is reporting for the Chevy Volt, not even the all electric 25 mile trip. While I could not find the exact calculations that GM used, I think I found the cause of the discrepancy. The DoE formula includes a multiplier, called the Gasoline-Equivalent Energy Content of Electricity Factor (Eg), to compensate for upstream efficiencies in the fuel source. Currently, the government is promoting the idea of getting off of foreign oil (sounds good to me), so this compensation factor is very favorable for electrically powered transportation (you can read the full EPA explanation here).

The value being used for Eg is 2.42 in 2000 and it might be higher in the 2008 version of this specification currently in use. This means that the electrically powered mileage is getting extra credit at a significant rate.

Applying this factor and you can see in the table below that the 230 MPG number that GM is reporting is achievable for a trip just around 50 miles.

Miles	GM MPG
25	355
50	226
100	100
200	72
1040	267

This is much closer to what the 230 campaign is claiming (as incorrect as that might be). And you can see how the Nissan Leaf scored over 360 MPGe. My understanding is that the EPA test track is a 10 mile loop with various speed, acceleration, stop & start zones. For a plug-in car like the Volt, they will drive it until the batteries are depleted and then do one more lap around the track with the generator running. This corroborates that the 50 mile calculation is the one closest to the magic 230.

The 106 MPGe for the 50 mile trip in the second table or the one month of driving example at 119 MPGe would still be a very impressive number to launch a marketing campaign around and it would not have the backlash that quickly branded the 230 MPG campaign as unrealistic hype. You can see the reception that Conan O'Brien gave it on The Tonight Show in the video below.

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you know that I support plug-in vehicles. And I have discussed the importance of "well-to-wheel" consideration. Well-to-wheel is looking at the full life-cycle of the fuel that you use. However, hiding this in a single MPG number is not the right thing to do. This is really more of a pollution value than a vehicle fuel efficiency value. Presenting it simply as MPG, sets up unrealistic expectations. I like the idea of a pollution indication per mile, especially if were applied to all vehicles. On a regular gas powered car with a 32 MPG rating, when you look at all the energy used to process, refine, and move the fuel, you might see that it has a pollution rating of 120 pounds of CO2 per 100 miles. Whereas a grid powered 110 MPGe PHEV might have only 15 pounds of CO2. That would stop the "long tailpipe" argument quickly. And as crude moves from easy to extract light sweet crude to the to deeper and heavier forms, the gasoline numbers will get worse, whereas as the electricity grid will improve as new wind turbines, geothermal and solar thermal plants come online.

The consumer could decide how important each the fuel economy value and pollution factor value is to them and shop according to their own values. They might decide that only one of the numbers matters and simply ignore the other or they may try to find a balance.

Despite the fact that GM has greatly oversimplified things and shown the best possible MPG that they could (without using all electric), they just might be able to get away with this. Looking at the example month, there is 1040 miles of driving, using just 2.5 gallons of gas. If one were to ignore all the watt-hours used, 1000 miles on 2.5 gallons is 400 miles per gallon of gasoline used. Miles per gallon of "gasoline used" is not the same as MPG, but if this is the number that people are seeing, they may just feel like they are getting more that the 230MPG promised. And if your concern is the reduction of oil use (and not vehicle efficiency), this is a valid number to consider.

conclusions

With plug-in cars, the game has changed. People are used to a single MPG number and change can be difficult for some. The marketing departments are going to want to fly these great MPG(e) numbers on a high flagpole, even if they don't apply to the real world because people will ask and they are great numbers. GM and other companies making plug-in vehicles should strive for integrity and rise above the temptation to hustle these as facts.

Consumers are going to have to consider more than just a single MPG number. There is a learning curve. Auto companies can help by creating tools such as a webpage where prospective buyers could input their driving patterns and information such as can they plug-in at work, etc. Then this webpage could generate a custom report with cost, consumption, pollution and other relevant information. Hymotion has a web tool to do just this for people that are considering a PHEV conversion. I hope GM creates one for the Volt too.

Now you are more aware and can be an informed skeptic when confronted with only an MPG number for a plug-in vehicle. Decide for yourself what aspects are important and do the math.

Links:

So Much For That; EPA Will Not Back Up GM's 230 MPG Claim

230 MPG? Stop the Madness! How the EPA Should Rate

Auto X Prize Throws Water on GM's 230 MPG Claim

Ignore the 230 MPG Claims by GMGreen Car Congress

Volt Specs

Argonne Study

Boston.com