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Posts Tagged ‘EV’

Many electric car companies are still trying to compensate for “glorified golf car syndrome.” It’s a kind of inferiority complex that pushes them to produce ultra-hip, spectacularly innovative, or screaming fast electric vehicles—and to brand them as revolutionary—even though it drives the cost up and out of range for most consumers. What about folks who simply want an affordable, dressed-down, highway-capable family sedan that runs on electric drive technology that’s been proven to work for 100 years?

The answer could be the Ford Focus EV due out in late 2011—the first electric car designed for the generic aisle of the dealership. Ford’s plans for the Focus EV are not aimed at buzz and sizzle. Instead, the company is focused on addressing the biggest obstacle between EVs and the mainstream: cost.

(Sure, those other companies expect to ramp up production, realize economies of scale, and eventually reduce costs down to reason. But doesn’t that seem like a roundabout way to achieve the goal?)

Technology As Cool

Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm (left) and Nancy Gioia, director of sustainable mobility technologies at Ford, check out the Ford Focus EV at the 2009 Detroit Auto Show.

The Ford Focus EV will be based on the next-generation Ford Focus, a capable if not head-turning car. By choosing an existing platform, Ford will save the expense associated with developing a unique design. Ever since the second-generation Prius, with its iconic design, became a hit, automakers have adopted the idea that a hybrid car with an innovative high-tech drivetrain needs to scream out for attention. That’s the direction that Nissan is taking with its yet-to-be-unveiled small electric car, also due out in 2012. The Chevy Volt plug-in hybrid, the new Honda Insight, and the Lexus HS250h are also original purpose-built designs.

Ford is gambling that the cool factor lies in the technology and price, not in the car’s name or the shape of the sheet metal. Pricing is not yet announced, but trimming the cost obviously will give Ford the ability to aim for affordability and profitability. (Nissan is aiming for $25,000 to $30,000 for its EV; and the Chevy Volt will cost in the range of $40,000.)

Pre-packaged Technology

The second cost-cutting measure is Ford’s use of generic pre-made electric car technology. In other words, Ford is using a system already developed by Magna International, a major global auto supply and technology firm, which has been looking for a carmaker to use its new pre-packaged electric car architecture, including motor, transmission, motor controller, lithium ion battery system and charger. Ford is the first to sign on.

Magna will also share in the engineering responsibility to integrate the electric propulsion system into the Ford Focus EV. Furthermore, Ford’s deal with Magna is non-exclusive—so the same system could be used by Ford’s competition to make an electric cars. In fact, Ford is encouraging Magna to spread the high-tech love, because Magna’s success with EV technology will increase the chances that other car companies will help defray costs. Implied in this approach is the likely slow rollout of pure electric cars, which could take a decade to grow beyond a niche.

Ford used a similar strategy with its Sync in-car entertainment system, developed in partnership with Microsoft, which can sell the technology to other automakers.

The Ford Focus EV is targeted to have a range of 100 miles between charges, courtesy of a 23 kWh battery pack. The Focus EV will not be a plug-in series hybrid, sometimes referred to as “extended-range electric vehicle,” which carries a small engine on board to recharge the batteries on the fly. Instead, you’ll need to plan your travels to get back to a plug before you use up the 100 miles worth of energy. Fully recharging could take from 6 to 12 hours, depending if you are using a 110-volt or 220-volt hookup. Ford is planning to introduce its own plug-in hybrid in 2012.

The Ford Focus EV will use a single-speed transmission. The powertrain, including the motor and gearbox, are packaged under the hood where you would expect to see a gasoline engine.

The Back Story

Ford had been chatting with Magna about electric cars for a couple of years, when in 2008 Magna presented its electric car prototype to Ford engineers and executives. “We took a look at that execution and said, ‘Hey, together we can really make this a proposition,” said Nancy Gioia, Ford’s Director of Sustainable Mobility Technologies.

Five months later, Ford announced its intention to produce the car at the 2009 Detroit Auto Show.

Early reviews of the Focus EV pre-production vehicles have been positive—with kudos for brisk acceleration, top-notch build-quality, and handling and braking much better than your average pre-production car. When Michigan’s Gov. Jennifer Granholm took a spin of the Focus EV at the Detroit Show, she was impressed. “At first, she was surprised that it wasn’t merely a concept car, but actually a road-ready demonstrator of battery electric vehicle technology,” said Gioia. “I think she was wowed by how it’s quiet, smooth and fun to drive.”

Nissan is planning to roll out thousands of electric vehicles next year and is rushing to establish a network of charging stations where owners can plug in to keep them going.

The Japanese automaker is working with Ecotality to bring 11,210 chargers and 4,700 Nissan Leaf electric cars to five states — Arizona, California, Oregon, Washington and Tennessee. Ecotality is getting a big assist from the Department of Energy, which has granted the Arizona company $99.8 million to underwrite The Electric Vehicle Project. Ecotality calls it “the largest deployment of electric vehicles and charging infrastructure in history.”

Creating that infrastructure will be a huge challenge, but Mark Perry, director of product planning for Nissan North America, tells the Tennessean the company will be ready when the first Leafs (Leaves?) roll into showrooms in December 2010.

“There is a lot of work to be done and not a lot of time to do it,” he said. No kidding.

Look for the Nissan Leaf EV late next year. Nissan and Ecotality will, according to the Tennessean, install 220-volt chargers in customers’ homes throughout the state and create public charging stations in Nashville, Chattanooga, and Knoxville and along the highways connecting those cities. That sounds like a more ambitious version of the charging corridor SolarCity and Rabobank have created between Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Why Tennessee, you ask? Because Nissan North America is based in Franklin. Nissan is investing $1 billion in a factory in Smyrna, Tennessee, that will build lithium-ion battery packs for the Leaf and — beginning in 2012 — the car itself. The Department of Energy has loaned the automaker $1.6 billion to help finance that project. The batteries and cars will be built in Japan until the factory comes on line. Nissan plans to build as many as 150,000 Leafs a year once the factory gets rolling. Tennessee is slated to get 2,190 of the 220-volt “Level 2″ chargers that will recharge a dead battery in eight hours.

Ecotality and Nissan also will install 50 “Level 3″ quick-chargers that reportedly can do the job in as little as 20 minutes, according to the Tennessean. All told, Ecotality says it will deploy 10,950 Level 2 chargers and 260 Level 3 chargers in the five states. When those come on line remains to be seen, and the project could be slowed by building regulations and other bureaucratic hurdles, warned Colin Read, the company’s VP of corporate development. “We could get permission to install a charger in a home in Phoenix in three weeks, for example, but it took six weeks in Scottsdale (Arizona),” Read told the paper. “Our biggest issue is trying to get the red tape out of the way.”

Nissan believes cities might opt to install charging stations in public parking garages and other locations, and it also is talking to WalMart about the possibility of having chargers in the retailer’s parking lots. CostCo also has expressed interest, according to the Tennessean.

 Ecotality and Nisssan have launched a website to provide information about the Leaf, with real-time maps showing where charging stations are located. The site also allows you to suggest locations for charging stations in your community. When we drove a Leaf prototype last spring, Perry told us the cost per mile is 4 cents if you figure gas is 4 bucks a gallon, electricity is 14 cents a kilowatt hour, and you drive 15,000 miles a year. Compare that to the 13 cents a mile you’ll pay in a car that gets 30 mpg. Perry said the car will cost about 90 cents to charge if you plug it in off-peak.