The state of Washington is one of five states selected to participate in a 36 month study, funded by $100 million grant from the Department of Energy under the Economic Recovery Program. The state hopes to use some of the funds to eventually begin construction of an “electric car corridor” which could run from Eugene Oregon to Vancouver British Columbia.
The initial phase of the program will put approximately 1,000 electric vehicles (EV's) darting about Washington’s Puget Sound area within a year.
Washington is one of only five states with metro markets that were selected to participate in this study. The first corridor to be developed will run between Phoenix Arizona and Tucson, approximately 100 miles. Other corridors that could be developed will run between San Diego and Los Angeles, California, and Nashville, Knoxville and Chattanooga in Tennessee.
The vehicles that will be used will be 5,000 Nissan zero-emission electric vehicles, which Nissan calls LEAF. More than 2,000 charging stations will be installed, mostly in homes, but also in public and commercial areas.
The LEAF will make its first public display debut at the Tokyo car show which will begin Wednesday, this week for the press, and will be open to the public beginning next Saturday. While other auto makers will also be displaying their versions of electric cars, Nissan is billing the LEAF as the world’s first affordable, zero-emission car.
This is the largest deployment of EV's and charging stations ever, to date. A project of this scope has not been attempted before. I’m sure the same was said when the first gas powered cars were introduced back in Henry Ford’s era.
It is estimated that between 1 to 1.5 million LEAF EV's could be on the road within 5 years. Other estimates are that up to one third of all vehicles in the Pacific Northwest could be plug in EV's by 2030.
Nissan’s LEAF was chosen because it is further along than most competitor’s cars and will be in full production by 2011. In factl, it will be released for sale in Japan by the end of 2010.
Nearly every major car manufacturer around the world plans or has an EV in production already, either powered entirely by batteries or coupled with a small gasoline powered engine. Only Nissan has so far managed to produce an EV that can be priced in a more affordable $20,000 - $25,000 range. Most other manufacturers are still wrestling with keeping costs under $50,000.
The success of the electric vehicles will depend on how accessible and easy these cars will be to recharge the batteries. Other potential obstacles are the heat generated by the lithium batteries, and whether or not this is an issue that will prove to be problematic for long range driving.
What we have here is another “which came first the chicken or the egg?” The technology exists to build these vehicles, but until the infrastructure exists to keep them going when people are away from home (and home charging stations), they will not be the number one choice for consumers.
Colin Reed, a spokesman for the Electric Vehicles Project calls the problem “range anxiety.” “It’s akin to how empty a gas tank you’re willing to drive on before filling up.”
One study in Japan found that when the charge in a battery powered EV dropped to 50%, half the owners stopped driving because they feared not finding a place to re-charge before the batteries died. There need to be charging stations placed closely enough together so drivers will feel comfortable getting into their cars when their charges drop as low as 15% to 20%.
The current Nissan LEAF will be able to drive approximately 100 miles on a charge. This is a five-passenger hatchback that uses a lithium-ion battery and can reach speeds up to 90 miles per hour.
The initial roll out of the cars will be available on a lease-to-own basis through the project and will include a free home charger. The cars will cost about the same as a Toyota Prius. Owners of the cars do have to provide detailed information on how the cars are being used, to participate in the study.
It is planned to have charging stations at places like coffee shops, post offices, grocery stores and work places, in addition to the home chargers. A regular charge could take four to eight hours, but a “rapid charge” is available, and could take as little as ten to fifteen minutes.
Reed says it is hoped that large retailers might provide charging free to attract customers. A slow charge can be done as inexpensively as 50 cents to $1.50. Of course, a rapid charge would be more expensive.
There are still more decisions to be made before charging stations are built or attached to existing structures. No decisions have yet been made on whether charging stations will be privately or publicly owned (perhaps by utility companies).
When battery technology is evolved enough to permit traveling longer distances, the project managers are seriously discussing an “electric corridor” along I-5 running from Eugene to Seattle, a distance of almost 300 miles straight up I-5.
For now they project will be concentrated in metro areas, with eventual plans to connect the metro areas when technology permits.
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Resources:
Washington State project could charge up electric corridors
Japanese car makers out to electrify Tokyo car show
Written by Shelby Bateson
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