Comparing the Energy Efficiency of a Gas Powered Vehicle to an EV

The goal of transportation is get something from Point A to Point B as efficiently as possible.  If you take your car as an example, all you really want it to do is get you from your home to work...comfortably.  If you had a choice, you probably wouldn't choose to waste money heating the engine up to 220F degrees or to keep the engine quiet while it silences the millions of explosions your car makes.  You also probably would pass on the hundreds of pounds of cooling equipment to keep the engine from overheating either..that's all waste when your goal is just to move something.
 
I thought it would be interesting to find a report comparing the difference between the efficiency of a vehicle powered by an Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) and an Electric Motor...but I couldn't find one.

I've known from DOEs site that ICE engines only get about 15% of the power down to the wheels...while EV's convert about 75% of the battery's energy to the wheels.  This is a HUGE difference, but I was wanting to see a breakdown of how they got this number.

Then I found the above graphic on DOEs site under the Energy Requirements menu.  This breaks things down nicely, but there's no comparison to EVs...so I made a SWAG at from other data I could find and filled in the table below. 

	Internal Combustion Engine Losses	Electric Drive Losses	Notes
Energy In	100%	100%	Fuel or Electricity
Engine Losses (friction, heat, charge)	-62.4%	-15%	10% for motor and 5% for power management.
Standby/Idle	-17.2%	0%	Electric Motors use nothing at 0mph
Accessories (A/C, Heater, etc.)	-2.2%	-3%	I assumed higher because of cabin heat is more expensive in an Electric Vehicle
Driveline Losses	-5.6%	-2%	Most EVs that I know of have no transmission which makes driveline losses much less
Aerodynamic/ Tire/Weight Losses	-5.8%	-5.8%	Kept it same because of battery weight offset, but EVs should be lighter in future.
Total Available Energy for Acceleration	6.8%	74.2%	HUGE difference in Efficiency!

So there you are, an unvalidated breakdown of how EVs are much more efficient than ICE vehicles...it's really all about wasted heat.  Once the new EVs hit the street later this year, maybe someone will actually compare two similar cars (like a Nissan Versa and a Nissan Leaf) and we can see how close these guesses are to reality.

Given the fact that petroleum is only going to become more scarce in the future, it's only sensible to use this resource more efficiently as time goes on...and using it in ICE powered vehicles is a waste compared to EVs!

Get Ready Central Florida! Orlando is officially an early adopter of EVs

It's official, the Central Florida area (Orlando) will be an Early Adopter of EVs!

On February 2nd, we had a double header event which was officiated by the Mayor of Orange County, Richard Crotty, the Mayor of Orlando, Buddy Dyer, Nissan's Tracy Woodard, OUC's Byron Knibbs, and Progress Energy's Rob Caldwell.  Here's what was announced...

• Orlando becomes a Partner City for RMI's Project Get Ready.  We join 6 other cities that have been working with the Rocky Mountain Institute to get ready for electric vehicles. You can think of RMI's Project Get Ready as a recipe for how to rollout EV infrastructure in a given metro area.  This recipe was created by RMI by talking to Govs, Vendors, Utilities, and Auto Manufactures and learning from past mistakes of prior EV launches in the 90s.  This relationship also gets us access to all of this experience when we want too.  Here's the website for "Get Ready Central Florida".
• Orlando becomes one of the Early Adopter cities for the Nissan Leaf.  We join just 20 other cities that will be selling the Nissan Leaf this year.  Together with the Project Get Ready initiative, we'll be working with Nissan to prepare Central Florida for the Leaf.  You can read the details of this relationship below in the press release below.

The ceremony was at the Jefferson Street Parking Garage in Downtown Orlando...and although it's not the swankest place to have a ceremony, it worked out good because it was raining that day and no one had to get out in the weather to attend.  The other reason to have it there was that the test cars are not street legal.

Centerstage was the "pretty" Nissan Leaf...the one that looks close to the final production version.  There's only 2 of these on Earth now.  The Leaf is very smart looking both inside and out and has a good amount of room inside.  The instrument cluster is clean, easy to see, and "space age" - it reminds me of the bridge on Star Trek, The Next Generation.  As a Carrot to get you to drive efficiently, you'll get little Tree icons when you drive sanely...and you'll hear a sawmill if you drive aggressively...just kidding about the sawmill.

After the ceremony, we were offered to drive the Leaf's ugly brother...the "mule".   This version of the car is a Nissan Versa with the powertrain and battery which is close to the final production version.  For my quick lap around the garage, the car accelerated great and I didn't notice any weirdness in the transition between regenerative and real breaking.  The powertrain was very responsive and "snappy"...I'm looking forward to the real deal.

A couple of tidbits that I picked up from the Leaf's handlers are...

• Nissan will NOT be offering to lease the batteries if you buy the car...and Mitsubishi announced the same a few days ago.  I think this is a good move as you can lease the whole car anyway...which is what I would do if I were worried about battery life.
• For the longest battery life, you should let the batteries deplete until a 30% State Of Charge and then charge them up to 80% SOC.  You can program the car to only charge it up to 80% if you want...and this upper limit is preset when you use the Level 3 Fast Charger to manage the intense heat that is created during fast charging.  Now we just need some time on the batteries to know HOW much longer the life will be if you follow different charge patterns.  I'm thinking most people will just charge it 100% and charge it again when they get home no matter what the SOC.

I've been on the Steering Committee with "Get Ready Central Florida" since October 09 and I'm really excited about the future of EVs in Orlando.  We've got the commitment from several key stakeholder groups (Gov't, Utilities, & Car Companies) and the group works well together.  We're gearing up now to fill out our working groups with stakeholders in the community and we're planning some new events with other automakers...this will be fun!

As a Floridian, I've always been jealous of the progressive EV initiatives on the West Coast.  However, after today, I don't have to be so jealous anymore.

If you would like a presentation made to your group on the topic of EV infrastructure, just shoot me an email via my About page.



See the Nissan-Orlando press release below...

AeroVironment gearing up for Nissan Leaf charger installs via certified electrician program

AeroVironment recently partnered with Nissan to supply and install home chargers for customers that purchase the Leaf.  To install these things on a nationwide basis, AeroVironment plans to partner, train, and certify with electrical contractors so they know how to properly install and maintain them.  From looking at their careers page, they are preparing for this program now.  Electrical contracting companies wanting to enter the EV charge market should probably contact them soon to see about entering this program.

AeroVironment recently posted an impressive video on their website which walks you through a customer experience on getting a charger installed.  It's worth a watch...

AeroVironment GoEV Website

Image and Video Source: AeroVironment

A Quick Look at Fast Charging for Electric Vehicles

The smartest and cheapest way to charge your electric vehicle is at night and "slowly" (>4 hours), but when you need to travel cross country, you NEED to charge up FAST (<15 min).

Fast charging is also known as Level 3 charging, and the NEC defines it as 480V AC Input at 400 Amps...or 192KW.  Since most U.S. Homes only have a 200 Amp service to power the whole home, you won't be finding these in average homes.

In the near future (2011), you'll start to find Level 3 chargers in three primary places...

1. On or near Interstates, Turnpikes, and other major roads
2. In the service depots for organizations that have fleets of Electric Vehicles
   
3. On the backs of trailers that will come to your car in case you "ran dry"...or to charge the cars of evacuees as they flee a city in case of emergency (hurricanes!)

So why wouldn't you want to charge at Level 3 all the time?  Two reasons...

• Heat: The act of charging or discharging a battery creates heat.  The faster you charge/discharge, the faster you create heat.  Typically, the higher the temperature in the battery, the faster the battery will "wear out" or become damaged.  That said, it's better to charge slower to get the greatest life out of your battery.
• Energy Cost: Over the next decade, we will see more use of "Time of Use" (TOU) rates from our utility companies.  TOU ratings adjust the price of electricity during the day...which can vary from 8 cents/hour at night to 30 cents/hour during the day if you're in some parts of California.  TOU rates will incent us from charging during the day when electricity is most expensive and in the highest demand.

Unlike Level 1 or 2 charging, Level 3 chargers will use Direct Current (DC) to charge the batteries...which store electricity as DC anyway.  Why?  Given the high currents that the Level 3 chargers operate at (400 amps), the inverter (the device that converts AC to DC) must be large and heavy...and you don't want excess weight in your car.  

So, who makes Level 3 Chargers?

• AeroVironment has been making fast chargers for electric vehicles and fork lifts for years...along with HUGE chargers for the military...like this 800V 999A fast charger: http://gas2.org/2009/08/04/aerovironment-unveils-800kw-ev-charger/
• eTec also has a long history of making chargers for EVs and industry.  As part of their DOE Grant financed partnership with Nissan, they will be installing 260 Level 3 chargers in 5 states starting 2010.
• Aker Wade recently announced a partnership with Coulomb to build Level 3 chargers for them.  This allows Level 3 charging to be packaged up for sale on Coulomb's subscription based network of chargers.

The big challenges for Level 3 chargers are...

• No Charging Standard: The closest thing out there being adopted by several automakers is the JARI Level 3 DC Connector that is being used in the TEPCO Level 3 Charging Spec.
• Unknown effect on Battery Life: Batteries used in the new cars haven't had enough miles on them to know how charging will affect battery life...and long battery life is critical to the success of EVs.
• Cost: Level 3 chargers...and especially the electrical service to power them, will not be cheap.  The estimated prices I've seen range from $30K-160K.  These costs will be passed on to you...just like you've been paying at petrol gas station pumps.
• Grid Impacts: The second you hit the GO button on a Level 3 charger, a massive amount of power moves from the grid to your battery very quickly...thereby creating a short term peak in demand for 15-30 min and then it turns off.  The impact to the utility is that they have to manage these peaks when potentially several Level 3 chargers are working in a cluster.  Stakeholders and utilities are starting to discuss how to manage this demand (and risk to local grid reliability) by considering regulation.
  

Finally, the long waited "filler hose" for Electric Vehicles has been approved by SAE

The "filler hose" thingy (see picture at right) that will be on the end of most charging stations was finally approved by the Society of Automobile Engineers (SAE)!  This device will make it simple and especially safer for you to charge your new electric vehicle.

This is a very important step the evolution of Electric Vehicles as this will be the standard connector that new vehicles will use.  Today, each manufacturer uses the plug system that they think is best, but that is not best for us (the user).  Just think if you had to search for a gas station that supported your car!

The J1772 standard was developed by the SAE Hybrid J1772 Task Force in cooperation with major automotive OEMs and suppliers, charging equipment manufacturers, national labs, utility companies, universities and standards organizations from North America, Europe and Asia, so it's been vetted by stakeholders worldwide.

Now, if we could get the makers of cell phones, laptops, and other gadgets to decide on a standard for all of their products...

See the press release after the break...