Electric Cars

By: Vahid Akhavan

What are they?

• Electric Vehicle

• Hybrid Gas/Electric Vehicle

• Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle

New Technology?

• 1834, First EV by Thomas Davenport

• 1874, First Rechargeable EV

• 1894, Morris and Salom’s Electrobat

• 1898-1902, Electric cars held the land speed record 2

• 1900, 38% of 4200 automobiles sold in US were EVs (22% ICV, and 40% Steam)

• 1911, Kettering Invented the starter

New Life

• 1976, EV Research, Development and Demonstration Act

• 1990, GE Introduces the Impact

• 2001, Mass Production of Reva (65 km/h, 80 km, $5000 MSRP)

• 2003, Tzero Introduced

0-60mph in 3.6 seconds

280-300 miles, $220k3

Batteries• Pb-Acid battery: Cheap, Mature Technology

– (1860), Vcell = 2 V, Esp = 35 Wh/kg, Psp = 200 W/kg• Nickel based: Proven Technology, Good Performance

– (1920), Ni-Cd, Vcell = 1.2 V, Esp = 56 Wh/kg, Psp = 225 W/kg– (1930), Ni-Zn, Vcell = 1.6 V, Esp = 60 Wh/kg, Psp = 300 W/kg– (1992), Ni-MH, Vcell = 1.2 V, Esp = 65 Wh/kg, Psp = 200 W/kg

• Metal/Air: Inexhaustible Positive Electrode– Zn/Air, Vcell = 1.2 V, Esp = 180 Wh/kg, Psp = 95 W/kg– Al/Air, Vcell = 1.4 V, Esp = 250 Wh/kg, Psp = 7 W/kg

• Sodium-ß: High Top, Great Preformance– Na/S, Vcell = 2 V, Esp = 100 Wh/kg, Psp = 200 W/kg– Na/NiCl2, Vcell = 2.5 V, Esp = 86 Wh/kg, Psp = 150 W/kg

• Lithium Based: Easily Recharged, Light, Expensive– Li-Polymer, Vcell = 3 V, Esp = 155 Wh/kg, Psp = 315 W/kg– (1991), Li-Ion, Vcell = 4 V, Esp = 120 Wh/kg, Psp = 260 W/kg

Environmental Cure?

• High Pollution Electric Power Generation

• Battery Recycle

• Not Popular– Reliability– Size of Battery

Costs

• Battery costs $120-1200/kWh

• Limiting the size of the battery

• Leads to two ideas– Gas/Hybrid Electric

Vehicles (Prius 1.3kWh)– Plug-in Hybrid Electric

Vehicles (≈ 9kWh)

Hybrid Setup

Current Hybrid Plug-in hybrid

Compact Sedan: Saturn (base cost: $14,000)

Miles per gallon improvement: 21% 56%

Carbon dioxide (greenhouse gas) reduction: 21% 40%

Nitric oxide (smog contributor) reduction: 10% 32%

Cost gap over non-hybrid is at least: $2,500 $4,500

Percentage cost increase over non-hybrid is at least 18% 32%

Mid-Size SUV: Explorer (base cost: $31,000)

Miles per gallon improvement: 31% 60%

Carbon dioxide (greenhouse gas) reduction: 31% 46%

Nitric oxide (smog contributor) reduction: 19% 37%

Cost gap over non-hybrid is at least: $4,000 $6,400

Percentage cost increase over non-hybrid is at least 13% 21%

4

Government Involvement

• 1976, EV Research, Development and Demonstration Act

• 1990, California Air Resources Board Zero Emission Vehicles (ZEV)– 2% of all vehicles ZEV by 1998– 10% ZEV by 2003

• HEV Federal Tax Deduction• Participation by City Governments

– 50 City Plan >> Plug-in Austin

Plug-in Austin

• Non-peak Battery Generation Schedule

• Government Purchases of PHEV

• Petition Automakers for

Commercially Available PHEVs

• $6/gal to be Economical

References Cited

1. United States Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. www.fueleconomy.gov

2. “Electric Cars in the Victorian Age” http://home.netcom.com/~jskipper/victoria/200001/electricar.html

3. Lienert, Dan. “The World’s Fastest Electric Car”. Forbes. Oct, 2003 http://www.forbes.com/lifestyle/collecting/2003/10/21/cx_dl_1021vow.html

4. “All About conventional and plug-in Hybrids” CalCars’ Vehicles. http://www.calcars.org/vehicles.html

5. Plug-in Austin. http://www.pluginaustin.com

6. “Hybrid Vehicle Registrations”. FreedomCAR & Vehicle Technologies Program. http://www.eere.energy.gov/vehiclesandfuels/facts/2004/fcvt_fotw322.shtml

7. Chan, C.C. Chau, K.T. “Modern Electric Vehicle Technology”. Oxford Science Publications. 2001