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Electric plug-in cars – conversions now available
Beyond ordinary hybrids, PHEV
(Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle) and pure electric vehicle conversions are
available in Australia – and some of the major manufacturers have announced
that plug-ins are on the way…
Compressed natural gas powered vehicles (NGVs, eg Honda Civic) are sold in
California (with a government rebate for the refiling unit on the home
garage wall, see
http://tinyurl.com/6rz9sm, and US Congress might legislate for 20% NGVs
in 20 years! However, at this stage NGVs are not available in Australia
despite their obvious benefits.
Szencorp’s Peter
Szental is already driving his PHEV - a plug-in Prius, and there are several
professional conversion operators in Australia (see
http://www.zeva.com.au
).
In 2008, Szencorp funded Sydney’s
Institute for Sustainable Futures at
UTS to create
Australia’s first PHEV. Ordinary hybrids derive all their electrical energy
from their petrol engines, but the PHEV can choose to run on electricity or
petrol and can be charged using electricity from a normal household
powerpoint. The project demonstrates that technologies like these are viable
and can simply plug in to our existing infrastructure. The car is
retrofitted with extra batteries so that it can store more electricity than
a conventional hybrid.
What sets the PHEV even further apart from other electric cars is that it
also has a “power out” capacity, meaning it can supply homes and offices in
high demand periods. Using electricity to drive this car costs as little as
a quarter of the price of petrol-powered motoring. Savings come from reduced
petrol and electricity costs as well as energy being fed back into
buildings.
In the case of the Prius, a 4.7 kWh Nilar NiMH pack was added to give the
vehicle an electric-mode range of more than 30 km (average daily Australian
motorist’s commute). The Nilar NiMH pack interfaces seamlessly with the
Toyota Hybrid System and the OEM battery. Fuel consumption is 2L/100km or
less in city driving (depending on conditions and driving style), according
to the team at UTS.
Charging takes between 30 min and 6 hours, and uses a standard 240V on-board
battery charger. Cost for this first Prius conversion was about A$15,000 but
it is estimated that Prius conversion might cost more like $5,000 when the
venture reaches production line scale.
Blade Electric Vehicles
(BEV) in
Castlemaine, North West of Melbourne, is selling Hyundai Getz
conversions. Prototyping started in 2005 and production in late 2007. Nine
cars have been converted with more under way. While BEV converts various
cars to electricity, the Getz has become their standard production model.
Conversion means replacing the petrol engine with a 40Kw three phase AC
motor. Power then comes from between 55 and 65 lithium ion
phosphate batteries (18 kWh) with an operating range of up to 120km. A full recharge
takes nine hours using a standard 10 Amp 240V power supply.
Nissan is looking to have plug-in electric cars in Japanese and US showrooms
by 2010, and have them globally available by 2012. Daimler and VW are
looking to launch electric models in 2010, with BMW to begin testing several
hundred of its Minis. BMW's first hybrids should arrive in late 2009.
Renault is looking to be the first manufacturer with a full-scale rollout in
Europe in 2011.
In Australia the word is that the little Mitsubishi
MiEV (top
speed around 180kph range of 200km) should be available towards the end of
2009 at around the $30,000 mark. Aluminium framed, the car uses lithium-ion
batteries. It has three motors, one driving each front wheel, the third
powering the back axle.
GM are talking about having
their Volt electric car on sale in USA in 2010 and in Australia in 2012, yet
it has yet to publicly show a working Volt or prototype. GM's latest Volt
update had engineers testing the Volt battery and powertrain in the body of
an old Chevrolet Malibu. However GM maintains it is on track to deliver.
Chief Executive Officer Rick Wagoner said as much last month.
Of course the very stylish Tesla electric sports car is already selling well
in the USA (www.teslamotors.com)
with considerable pent up demand. It accelerates 0 to 95 km/h in under 4
seconds to a top speed of some 200 km/h ,and has a range of over 320km
(combined city/highway cycle). Energy storage is by way of a
microprocessor-controlled lithium-ion battery pack that takes some 3.5 hours
to achieve full charge. Peak torque begins at 0 rpm and remains through to
13,000 rpm.
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