CHARGED Electric Vehicles Magazine - Iss 19 MAY/JUN 2015

ELECTRIC VEHICLES MAGAZINE

2016 XC90 T8

ISSUE 19 | MAY/JUNE 2015 | CHARGEDEVS.COM

The new plug-in hybrid “twin engine” seven-seat SUV enters the US market with great promise P. 54

Volvo

UQM: PIONEER TO POWER PLAYER P. 24

PROTERRA CEO ON THE ELECTRIC BUS BUSINESS P. 44

NRG EVGO RAPIDLY EXPANDS ACROSS THE US P. 72

EFACEC: FAST CHARGERS GAINING TRACTION P. 82

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THE TECH CONTENTS

20 | Canned heat

20

Dana Power Technologies Group favors aluminum for its latest line of EV cooling products

24 | Pioneer to power player UQM’s long history has prepared it for the industry’s recent growth spurt

32 | Is this thing on?

24

Displaying and interacting with EV data

current events 10 |

E-bike demonstrates the potential of sodium-ion batteries Parker powers Victory Motorcycles in 2015 Isle of Man TT

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11 | 12 |

Torqeedo offers inboard version of Deep Blue electric marine drive LG Chem to supply batteries to Great Wall Motors Motiv receives $8 million grant, opens new manufacturing facility

13 | 14 |

Sevcon secures grant to develop new generation of controllers Developer of gallium nitride semiconductors raises $20 million Superionic solid-state electrolytes point to better batteries

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15 | 16 | 17 | 19 |

DOE funds small businesses’ EV technology R&D Wrightspeed introduces Fulcrum turbine generator range-extender ORNL breakthrough could enable wider application of graphene A123 to double global production capacity within three years

THE VEHICLES CONTENTS

44 | The electric bus business

44

Proterra CEO on the economics of building big EVs

54 | Volvo

XC90 T8

The new plug-in hybrid “twin engine� seven-seat SUV enters the US market with great promise

90 | Here come the PSUVs

A generous selection of Plug-in SUVs and crossovers is in the pipeline

54

current events 36 |

Chevrolet announces 2016 Volt pricing The new Fisker launches Customer Support Program

37 |

CEC awards $9 million in grants for commercial EV manufacturing Toyota forced to build electric cars in China

38 |

Maryland allows Tesla to sell direct Cadillac CT6 PHEV has more electric range than others in its class

39 | 40 |

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Chrysler may produce all-wheel-drive plug-in minivan Zero Motorcycles scores $1 million dollar grant from CEC BMW to launch 3 Series PHEV in 2016

41 | 42 | 43 |

Smith partners with FDG to produce medium-duty electric trucks Stealthy EV startup Atieva ramps up hiring Ford opens up its EV patents, adds 200 electrification engineers California: Smaller automakers can earn ZEV credits with PHEVs

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Ola Elvestuen Member of Parliament, Norway; and Former Deputy Mayor, City of Oslo

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72 | NRG EVgo on the move

With a focus on DC fast charging, the EVgo network is rapidly expanding across the US

82 | Gaining traction at last

Efacec discusses the long road from zero to over 600 installations worldwide

82 64 |

Lodging network deploys 170 Tesla destination-charging stations Volvo XC90 T8 to come with AeroVironment’s TurboCord charger

65 |

New Zealand network installing Veefil DC fast chargers Siemens introduces VersiCharge WiFi-enabled charging station

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66 |

Over 63% of public PEV charging stations in the US are free to use New report: EV charger market to expand twelvefold by 2020

67 | 68 | 69 |

Hawaii Energy launches pilot time-of-use charging program Tesla to adapt to Chinese charging standards – as soon as they exist eMotorWerks delivers 3500 JuiceBox charging stations Dutch network Fastned offers shareholders lifetime free charging

70 |

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Nissan and BMW to build charging network in South Africa Denmark’s CLEVER charging network expands to Sweden

71 |

The New Motion pilot lets drivers choose clean electrons

Publisher’s Note A better system One of the coolest things about EVs is how well they fit into an integrated system of energy generation, distribution, storage and consumption.

Tesla’s launch of its new line of energy storage products alerted the wider world to what savvy insiders have long known: EVs and renewable energy sources have a symbiotic relationship that goes far beyond solar carport demonstrations.

As the scale of worldwide battery production continues to multiply - driven in part by the growing demand for EVs - the costs of large-scale energy storage continue to plummet. This convergence of economic and technology trends will unlock the full potential of renewables. Cheap and powerful batteries can store energy created at the most opportune times and deliver it on demand.

Tesla turned it into a suddenly trendy market, but many other major EV players have announced stationary energy storage projects in the past few years. We’ve seen recent headlines from companies including LG Chem, BYD, ABB, GM, Daimler, Nissan and others that have created storage products to address the “missing link” in renewable energy systems. Some have been experimenting with vehicle-to-grid technology to maximize the efficiency and flexibility of the EV/renewable energy combination, further empowering future generations to resist the monopoly of fossil fuels.

The energy system of the future will include renewable power, various kinds of storage, and private and public EV charging stations, all connected by a cloudbased smart grid that both utilities and consumers can remotely monitor and control. Like the internet, the new energy system will be highly distributed, making it more secure, more reliable, and more consumer-friendly than the old centralized power plant model.

The companies (and governments) that thrive in the new energy economy will be those that understand the interconnected nature of EVs and the other elements of the energy ecosystem. Some of the most successful players may not need to manufacture any hardware, or develop any new technology - rather, they’ll build new empires by devising clever ways to make all the pieces work smoothly together.

EVs are here. Try to keep up.

Christian Ruoff Publisher

IDENTIFICATION STATEMENT CHARGED Electric Vehicles Magazine (USPS PP 46) May/June 2015, Issue # 19 is published bi-monthly by Electric Vehicles Magazine LLC, 4121 52nd Ave S, Saint Petersburg, FL 33711-4735. Application to Mail at Periodicals Postage Prices is Pending at Saint Petersburg, FL and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to CHARGED Electric Vehicles Magazine, Electric Vehicles Magazine LLC at 4121 52nd Ave S, Saint Petersburg, FL 33711-4735.

ETHICS STATEMENT AND COVERAGE POLICY AS THE LEADING EV INDUSTRY PUBLICATION, CHARGED ELECTRIC VEHICLES MAGAZINE OFTEN COVERS, AND ACCEPTS CONTRIBUTIONS FROM, COMPANIES THAT ADVERTISE IN OUR MEDIA PORTFOLIO. HOWEVER, THE CONTENT WE CHOOSE TO PUBLISH PASSES ONLY TWO TESTS: (1) TO THE BEST OF OUR KNOWLEDGE THE INFORMATION IS ACCURATE, AND (2) IT MEETS THE INTERESTS OF OUR READERSHIP. WE DO NOT ACCEPT PAYMENT FOR EDITORIAL CONTENT, AND THE OPINIONS EXPRESSED BY OUR EDITORS AND WRITERS ARE IN NO WAY AFFECTED BY A COMPANY’S PAST, CURRENT, OR POTENTIAL ADVERTISEMENTS. FURTHERMORE, WE OFTEN ACCEPT ARTICLES AUTHORED BY “INDUSTRY INSIDERS,” IN WHICH CASE THE AUTHOR’S CURRENT EMPLOYMENT, OR RELATIONSHIP TO THE EV INDUSTRY, IS CLEARLY CITED. IF YOU DISAGREE WITH ANY OPINION EXPRESSED IN THE CHARGED MEDIA PORTFOLIO AND/OR WISH TO WRITE ABOUT YOUR PARTICULAR VIEW OF THE INDUSTRY, PLEASE CONTACT US AT CONTENT@CHARGEDEVS.COM. REPRINTING IN WHOLE OR PART IS FORBIDDEN EXPECT BY PERMISSION OF CHARGED ELECTRIC VEHICLES MAGAZINE.

Christian Ruoff Publisher Laurel Zimmer Associate Publisher Charles Morris Senior Editor Markkus Rovito Associate Editor Jeffrey Jenkins Technology Editor Erik Fries Contributing Editor Nick Sirotich Illustrator & Designer Tome Vrdoljak Graphic Designer Contributing Writers Michael Kent Charles Morris Markkus Rovito Christian Ruoff Joey Stetter Contributing Photographers Helena Strömberg John Gillespie Alex Nunez Darius Pinkston Karlis Dambrans hans-johnson IQRemix Cover Image Courtesy of The Volvo Group Special Thanks to Kelly Ruoff Sebastien Bourgeois For Letters to the Editor, Article Submissions, & Advertising Inquiries Contact Info@ChargedEVs.com

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GETTING TO SCALE Ola Elvestuen Member of Parliament, Norway; and Former Deputy Mayor, City of Oslo

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Electrical Energy Storage July 12-14, 2015

Peter Harrop Founder and Chairman, IDTechEx

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Image courtesy of Faradion

E-bike demonstrates the potential of sodium-ion batteries

The British firm Faradion is working on sodium-ion batteries, which show promise as a successor to Li-ion technology. In collaboration with Williams Advanced Engineering, which provided batteries for the Formula E electric race car, Faradion has built a sodium-ionpowered electric bike to prove the concept.

Sodium-ion intercalation batteries use the same process of ion insertion and removal as Li-ion batteries, and could potentially be cheaper, because the base materials required are more easily sourced. According to Faradion, sodium-ion batteries could offer savings of around 30 percent in terms of cost per kWh, along with significant safety advantages and the ability to be transported in a totally discharged state. The lifetime of the cells should be comparable to that of Li-ion solutions.

However (of course) there are challenges. Sodium ions are much larger than lithium ions, so shuttling them in and out of a host material is more difficult.

Large structural changes occur during Na+ insertion and de-insertion, so capacity and cycling stability are poor.

The e-bike’s battery pack has a design energy of 418 Wh, of which 250 Wh are used. It consists of four modules, built by Williams and controlled by a Williamsdesigned battery management system. Each module contains 12 cells. The specific energy of Faradion’s sodium-ion cells is over 140 Wh/kg.

10

Parker Hannifin sponsored Victory Motorcycles in the 2015 Isle of Man TT Zero Challenge on June 10. Victory Racing’s prototype electric race bikes use Parker’s Global Vehicle Motor (GVM) electric motors.

“In order to improve [Victory’s] chances of winning, we needed to focus on delivering the power density to be capable of producing up to 175 hp out of this compact, 8-inch-diameterby-5-inch-long motor, while providing the efficiency to have the motor help the battery last the entire 37.73 miles of the race,” said Parker Business Development Manager Jay Schultz. “It is very challenging because, this is the longest electric motorcycle race in the world.

Your battery pack has to last through very high average speeds, approaching 120 mph. Plus, near the end of the race, they have to go up and over a mountain to reach the finish line.”

Parker has been supplying its GVM motors for competition electric motorcycles since 2012, and lessons learned on the track have inspired Parker engineers to examine many facets of motor design, including the cooling system, the magnets and the peak torque.

Images courtesy of Parker

Parker powers Victory Motorcycles in 2015 Isle of Man TT Zero Challenge

THE TECH

Image courtesy of Torqeedo

Torqeedo offers inboard version of Deep Blue electric marine drive Marine motor maker Torqeedo has introduced a shaftdrive version of its 40- and 80-horsepower Deep Blue motor.

The Deep Blue inboard electric drive was designed for marine use from the ground up. Its lithium-ion batteries are made in the US by Johnson Controls, and come with a nine-year, 80% capacity warranty. Maximum speed is 18 mph and range is over 100 miles at slow speed, according to the company.

Torqeedo is working with several North American OEMs to integrate Deep Blue inboard into their product lines.

“Deep Blue inboard on recreational vessels is a lot of fun, but it also offers a compelling option to the dieseldominated market of tour boats, water taxis, workboats

and larger sailboats,” said Torqeedo VP Chris Carroll.

“The 1,400 rpm version takes advantage of the high torque available to propel heavy loads efficiently. This ends up saving our commercial customers thousands of dollars in fuel and maintenance costs over time.”

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CURRENTevents

“With the latest deal, LG Chem has secured the largest clientele among global battery-makers in the Chinese market,” said battery business chief Kwon Young-Soo. “We will be able to bolster our number-one position from 2016 when the electric car market gets on track for growth.”

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Image courtesy of Great Wall Motors

Korean battery-maker LG Chem has made a deal with China’s Great Wall Motors to supply lithium-ion batteries for the carmaker’s upcoming plug-in hybrid SUVs, which are scheduled to go into production in 2017.

LG Chem has extended its cooperation with Chinese carmakers in recent years, and with the Great Wall deal, the company says that combined unit orders in China now total over 200,000.

LG Chem plans to ramp up Chinese production with a new plant in Nanjing that’s due for completion this year, and is expected to have an annual production capacity of 100,000 units.

Image courtesy of LG Chem

LG Chem to supply batteries to Great Wall Motors

Motiv Power Systems scored an additional $8.1 million grant from the California Energy Commission (CEC) to continue commercializing its electric powertrains, bringing the total amount of the company’s CEC funding to $12.3 million. The company has also opened a new manufacturing facility in Hayward, California, which will employ 20 workers and have an annual production capacity of 480 powertrains.

Motiv’s powertrain is currently powering school buses for Kings Canyon Unified School District, shuttle buses for Google, and garbage trucks for the city of Chicago.

These zero-emission trucks and buses have demonstrated a reduction in operating costs of up to 87 percent compared to diesel vehicles, according to Motiv.

The latest grant includes $2.4 million for the manufacturing facility, $2.7 million to fund production of a Class C electric school bus, and $3 million to fund production of electric refuse and loader trucks.

“Our success is in large part due to the CEC’s continuing support of cutting-edge research, and investments that help develop zero-emission vehicles,” said Motiv CEO Jim Castelaz. “Our new manufacturing facility will enable us to meet the rising demand for zero-emission vehicles from fleets seeking cost-effective and environmentally friendly transportation solutions.” The Motiv All-Electric Powertrain Upfit Package is currently available for three truck and bus chassis: the Ford F59, the Ford E450, and theCrane Carrier cab-over Class 8 chassis. The Upfit Package includes all components needed to convert the chassis to all-electric drive: batteries, motor, onboard charger, and power for hydraulics, heating and AC.

Image courtesy of Motiv Power Systems

Motiv Power Systems receives $8 million grant, opens new manufacturing facility

THE TECH

Sevcon secures grant to develop new generation of controllers

Sevcon, a global manufacturer of controls for electric and hybrid vehicles, has received a £400,000 grant from a UK government fund, which it will use to develop the next generation of its Gen4 controller.

The new low-voltage controller will provide additional functionality and improved performance in a smaller package than its predecessor.

“The product will offer unparalleled ease of use, allied with the ability to customize the functionality and operation to allow users with small product volumes to have access to advanced off-the-shelf electrification solutions,” said Global Product Manager Stephen Chilton.

“Electrification aims to reduce emissions from internal combustion engines through such applications as the

replacement of traditional hydraulic and belt-driven systems with electric motors, and some customers are predicting a 35 percent reduction in emissions.”

“This award comes at a time of rapid growth for the business, and will help us cement our position as a world leader in the motor control market,” said Sevcon President and CEO Matt Boyle. The company is currently recruiting for 13 open positions, and expects to add an additional 7 as it builds momentum.

Sevcon launched its Gen4 controller in 2010, and has since shipped more than 111,000 units. The Gen4 is used in Renault’s Twizy EV, and several high-performance electric motorcycles.

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Superionic solid-state electrolytes point to more powerful and safer batteries

GaN Systems Inc., a developer of gallium nitride power switching semiconductors, has closed a $20-million Series C financing round. The company will use the new money to ramp up sales and marketing efforts and to continue expanding its manufacturing line.

GaN Systems says its Island Technology results in devices that are smaller and more efficient than traditional silicon designs. Its power electronics transistors can be used for a wide range of applications, including solar inverters, electric motors and other EV components.

“By dramatically increasing power electronics efficiency while reducing resource consumption and environmental impacts, GaN Systems’ innovative Island Technology is emerging as the leading solution for the power semiconductor industry, which now faces a major shakeup,” said Andrée-Lise Méthot, Managing Partner at Cycle Capital.

“With a long history of cleantech venture capital investing in China, we are pleased to add GaN Systems to our portfolio of energy efficiency companies. China represents one of the largest and fastest growing markets for power electronics globally,” added Michael Li, Managing Partner at Tsing Capital.

Solid-state electrolytes are the talk of the town these days. California-based PATHION has been working to commercialize solid electrolytes since its founding in 2012, building on its exclusive license from Los Alamos National Laboratories for a promising material called Lithium-Rich Anti-Perovskite (LiRAP).

At the recent Materials Research Conference, PATHION presented two new superionic solid-state electrolytes built upon LiRAP. The LiRAP electrolytes conduct lithium ions well at high voltage and high current, which could enable more powerful and safer batteries.

Unlike liquid electrolytes, solid-state materials exhibit low expansion, no outgassing, and no dendrite growth between anode and cathode. These three phenomena are typically the culprits in the explosions and fires that can occur with liquid-based lithium-ion batteries.

“Our researchers have presented new derivatives of our LiRAP solid-state electrolyte that not only deliver safe, non-flammable batteries, but also provide a path to more than 1,000 Wh/kg of energy density,” said PATHION CEO Mike Liddle.

PATHION’s first presentation described LiRAP in a solid-state lithium-sulfur electrolyte, combined with a sulfur cathode. This arrangement delivers a significant improvement in charge efficiency and longer cycle life.

Such a lithium-sulfur battery could achieve specific energy levels up to 800 Wh/kg, compared to about 250 Wh/kg for today’s best lithium-ion cells. The new lithium-sulfur-based material can operate as either a battery or a supercapacitor.

The second presentation described sodium-ion battery cells using PATHION’S LiGlass solid electrolyte.

LiGlass exhibits ultrafast ionic conductivities from room temperature up to 200° C, and could enable specific energy exceeding 1,000 Wh/kg.

Image courtesy of GaN Systems Inc

Developer of gallium nitride power switching semiconductors raises $20 million

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THE TECH DOE funds small businesses’ EV technology R&D The DOE has selected 162 projects to receive $26.6 million in the 2015 Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR/STTR) awards. About 16 of these are vehicle-related, encompassing such technologies as batteries, power electronics and hydrogen fuel cells.

Under the SBIR and STTR programs, federal agencies with large R&D budgets set aside a small fraction of their funding for small businesses. Companies that win awards keep the rights to any technology developed, and are encouraged to commercialize it. Phase I explores the feasibility of concepts, with awards up to $225,000.

Phase I award winners can later compete for Phase II funding of up to $1,500,000.

Some of the companies that won Phase I funding: • US Hybrid Corporation, for fuel cell-battery electric hybrid bucket trucks

• American Lithium Energy Corporation, for a solidstate lithium battery with a ceramic electrolyte and lithium metal anode • Ballast Energy, for a high-loading lithium-ion electrode architecture for EV batteries • Bettergy, for a lithium-sulfur EV battery • GeneSiC Semiconductor, for a SiC Schottky diode for automotive traction inverters • HICO Tech, for “hybrid” batteries designed to bridge the gap between supercapacitors and lithium-ion batteries • Novarials Corporation, for a high-performance battery separator • SilLion, for an ionic liquid-enabled Li-ion battery • Tiax, for a battery for start-stop applications • United Silicon Carbide, for Silicon Carbide Schottky diodes for EV power electronics

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Wrightspeed, the startup led by Tesla co-founder Ian Wright, has identified a promising target for electrification - it retrofits plug-in powertrains to urban service trucks, the most inefficient and polluting of commercial vehicles. Customers include FedEx, which recently ordered an additional 25 of the company’s powertrains.

Now Wrightspeed has unveiled the Fulcrum, a new turbine generator for use in its Route family of electric powertrains. The 80 kW Fulcrum is a radial inflow, axial turbine that features intercooling and recuperation. At 250 lb (113 kg), the Fulcrum is approximately 1/10th the weight of its piston generator counterparts, and is designed to have a 10,000-hour lifetime.

Earlier Route powertrains used a 65 kW Capstone microturbine, which weighs 300 lb (136 kg), for a powerto-weight ratio of 478 W/kg. The Fulcrum microturbine offers a power-to-weight ratio of 750 W/kg.

According to Wright, the Fulcrum turbine generator is so clean that it meets emissions standards with no need for a catalytic converter. Noise is high-frequency, and is much lower than that of a jet engine. Vibration is non-existent. Spinning at 100,000 rpm, the turbine must be very precisely balanced, or it would fly apart.

While turbines have seen great success in aviation, their use in on-road vehicles has been limited by the fact that they are only efficient at full power. A range-extended EV architecture allows the turbine to operate at its most efficient point to charge the battery pack, which in turn powers the electric motors.

“The automotive industry is in the midst of a fundamental disruption, with electric vehicles merely symbolizing the beginning of the movement,” said Ian Wright.

“The Fulcrum, together with our range-extended EV architecture, is perfectly suited for achieving maximum efficiency in extremely high-power stop-and-go appli-

16

Images courtesy of Wrightspeed

Wrightspeed introduces Fulcrum turbine generator range-extender

cations, such as garbage trucks. For many of the same reasons that aviation changed from piston engines to turbines decades ago, we believe turbines will begin to replace piston engines in range-extended electric vehicle applications.”

“One of the things that enables the story is that the batteries have become extremely reliable and long-life, even when at high power,” said Wright. “We use the smallest pack we can. In general, we save fuel in three separate ways: first is with a grid charge; second is regenerative braking - we run very high-power regen, much, much higher than anyone, and we pretty much avoid the use of friction brakes; and third is running the engine at the sweet spot.”

THE TECH ORNL breakthrough could enable wider application of graphene composites Graphene, a two-dimensional hexagonal lattice of carbon atoms, has great potential in a number of EVrelated applications, including anodes, lithium-sulfur batteries and ultracapacitors. With current technology, however, it’s impractical to use on a large scale, and researchers have been limited to using small flakes of the material.

Now a team of researchers at the DOE’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) have fabricated polymer composites containing 2-inch square sheets of graphene, using chemical vapor deposition. The resulting composite structures have the potential to outperform current materials in both mechanical properties and electrical conductivity.

The team’s findings, reported in the journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, could enable large-scale fabrication of graphene composites. “Before our work,

superb mechanical properties of graphene were shown at a micro scale,” said ORNL team leader Ivan Vlassiouk. “We have extended this to a larger scale, which considerably extends the potential applications and market for graphene.”

Most approaches for polymer nanocomposition construction use tiny flakes of graphene that are difficult to disperse in the polymer. Using larger sheets of graphene enabled Vlassiouk’s team to eliminate the flake dispersion and agglomeration problems, allowing the material to better conduct electricity with less actual graphene in the polymer.

“We were able to use chemical vapor deposition to make a nanocomposite laminate that is electrically conductive with graphene loading that is 50 times less compared to current state-of-the-art samples,” said Vlassiouk.

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THE TECH

Since battery-maker A123 was acquired by China’s Wanxiang Group, it has shifted its focus to concentrate on starter batteries, and has big plans to produce batteries for microhybrids, aka start-stop systems. The company recently announced a plan to double global manufacturing capacity to 1.5 GWh within the next three years.

A123 operates manufacturing hubs in the state of Michigan, as well as in the Chinese cities of Hangzhou and Changzhou. The company says all three are now operating at capacity due to considerable growth in demand. In the midst of a $100-million capital expansion across its manufacturing network, A123 recognized that the existing investment plan must be substantially expanded to satisfy stronger market demand than originally expected. The company currently forecasts growth of more than 50% this year.

The new investment of more than $200 million will

be made in phases over the next three years, with additional investments anticipated as target markets develop further. The added capacity is planned to support a variety of applications and new customer programs, including low-voltage hybrids, plug-in passenger vehicles, and several commercial vehicle programs. A123’s expanding product portfolio offers multiple lithiumion chemistries and cell designs optimized for different applications. “The strength of A123 has never been greater and we are honored to be expanding our existing customer relationships and establishing new ones at the same time,” said CEO Jason Forcier.

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CANNED HEAT The Dana Power Technologies Group kicks copper to the curb in favor of aluminum for its latest line of electric and hybrid vehicle cooling products.

n 1982, the US Mint made the practical decision to change the composition of the penny coin from 95% copper/5% zinc - an alloy you know as brass - to 97.5% zinc with copper plating. Inflation had pushed the price of copper in a penny above one cent, and zinc was significantly less expensive and noticeably lighter. More than 30 years later, it cost the US Mint about 1.7 cents to produce each penny in 2014, and because the government has shown reluctance to discontinue the penny, perhaps it should move on to an even less expensive and much lighter metal: aluminum.

While zinc weighs about 20% less than copper (445 lb/ ft3 compared to 560 lb/ft3), elemental aluminum weighs only 169 lb/ft3 - about 70% less than copper. It may make little sense for your pocket change to be that light, but in hybrid and electric vehicle engine and battery cooling systems, such a major weight reduction can literally go a long way in extending the vehicleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s range. Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s also a

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By Markkus Rovito

significant price differential for aluminum. Metal prices constantly shift, but as of May, aluminum was trading at less than a third the price of copper: $0.78/lb, compared to $2.81/lb.

Those are two significant reasons why one of the largest independent suppliers to global light, commercial and industrial vehicle manufacturers, Maumee, Ohioâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Dana Holding, is also one of the first to design and now manufacture completely aluminum cooling solutions for hybrid and electric vehicles.

THE TECH

Image courtesy of Dana Power Technologies Group

Dana's aluminum battery cooling chiller

Aluminum heating up Dana’s origins stretch all the way back to 1904, and today it employs more than 23,000 people in dozens of locations in 25 countries. It has more than 3,000 OEM and aftermarket customers for its axles, driveshafts, transmissions, fuel cell components, sealing and thermal management products.

The company’s new aluminum cooling system is a continuation of its established Long line of thermal products, which have traditionally employed copper in

the past. The new aluminum array of compact products can address the demanding space requirements of PHEVs and EVs, and includes a battery cooling chiller, integral battery cooling plate, electronic cooling plate, stator cooler, engine control unit cooler and sub-cooled loop radiator. Dana leverages its existing Long process technology for the new aluminum products, and offers custom-tailored parts to meet each customer’s specifications.

There’s been a special emphasis on the aluminum

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copper weighs about

elemental aluminum weighs about

pounds per cubic foot

pounds per cubic foot

560 169

integrated cooling plates, which begin production this Flux-free year at Dana’s manufacturing facility in Cambridge, Because of the higher standards its customers expect, Ontario. These plates remove trapped heat and miniDana is introducing innovations into its aluminum coolmize the temperature of insulated gate bipolar transising components. It has a proprietary trick up its sleeve: a tor (IGBT) switch junctions. They also take advantage flux-free aluminum brazing process. Whereas some other of Dana’s proprietary fluxless brazing process, which heat exchanger manufacturers use a flux brazing process, produces minimal coolant contamination for mainwhich leaves a residue on the aluminum’s surface, Dana’s taining low conductivity in the power electronics coolfluxless continuous process efficiently delivers precision ing circuit. parts without residue or contaminants.

IGBT power modules mount on top of the cooling “For any type of a high-voltage system, whether it’s an plates, and then liquid flows through them. “Power electric, hybrid or fuel cell vehicle,” Kalman said, “you electronics engineers are looking for extremely flat want to reduce the ions and contaminants in the cooling mounting surfaces on the coolers, to ensure maximum fluid stream to minimize any potential stray voltage or contact with the mechanically mounted IGBT dies,” any potential conductivity there.” said Nick Kalman, Technical Business Development In a flux brazed system, it may be necessary to use polManager for Dana’s Power Technologies Group. “That ishing filters to scrub out any ions that may be streaming way you minimize thermal resistance and enable a through contaminated coolant, in order to avoid problems high rate of heat transfer between the actual electronic from sending potentially conductive coolant through device and the heat exchanger.” power electronics. The cleaner brazed parts Kalman is in his 21st year with Dana and require no secondary cleaning operations, works out of the company’s research and and reduce the chance of contaminated cooldevelopment location in Oakville, near ants, “so there’s a lot less to worry about for Toronto and just about an hour’s drive our OEM coolant system packager customfrom Dana’s aluminum cooling plate facers,” Kalman said. “They don’t have to worry tory. Dana started developing products about all the ions and flux residues in the for hybrid and electric vehicles about heat exchangers.”

15 years ago, and Kalman said that the Dana's increasing peak power loads due to higher aluminum IGBT recharging rates and regenerative braking Ironing out aluminum cooling plate are driving today’s thermal management There’s a good reason that copper was the designs. gold standard for heat transfer metals for “It’s not just the discharge of the battery so long. It’s still superior to aluminum during demanding operating conditions,” for pure heat exchange. While aluminum he said. “Now you’ve got a serious thermal provides a cost-effective, lightweight and demand for the batteries and the power highly recyclable solution, Dana cannot electronics to withstand the very high resimply use the same copper designs of the charging rates - whether it’s regen braking past, replace the metal with aluminum and or a stationary charge.” expect the same results.

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Images courtesy of Dana Power Technologies Group

Now you’ve got a serious thermal demand for the batteries and the power electronics to withstand the very high recharging rates

THE TECH

Taking out resistive layers lets you dissipate the heat into the heat exchanger a lot faster.

Part of making aluminum cooling plates comparable to copper requires the aluminum to be especially flat, because of the close contact required of the IGBT device. Dana’s aluminum cooling plates provide the foundation for the IGBT stack. Starting with the thermal interface material (TIM), layers of solder, ceramics, and direct-bonded copper (DBC) attach the die to the aluminum cooling plate.

“Keeping our surface really flat enables you to reduce the amount of TIM in there, and optimize your heat transfer rate,” Kalman said. “With aluminum, you need that thermal resistance to be as low as possible, so the flatness is really critical. On top of that, with aluminum, you’re dealing with a material that’s a bit less conductive, so all those little stack-ups and fit-ups are very important.”

Dana has a couple of ways to ensure its aluminum cooling plates’ flatness, depending on the specific requirements of the custom-made pieces. Its process produces flat parts without the need for post operations, and it has an end-of-line check using a coordinatemeasuring machine to make sure it hits the flatness target.

“Again, Dana’s continuous fluxless brazing process delivers very flat and clean surfaces,” said Kalman.

An even cooler future As peak power demands for hybrid and electric vehicles increase, Dana’s thermal product customers would like

to know that their products will last the lifetime of the vehicle without being subject to failure. So to prepare for the increasing loads, Dana is already working on some improvements for its next generation Long aluminum cooling system.

For one thing, the company is working on reducing the number of layers in the IGBT stack. “We want to take out the thermal interface material and replace that by direct-bonding your IGBT devices directly onto your heat exchangers,” Kalman said. “If you can eliminate the TIM, which is the majority of thermal resistance, now you’re talking about much higher performance.”

The next generation of Dana cooling plates will have a higher level of integration with the IGBT die. “Taking out resistive layers lets you dissipate the heat into the heat exchanger a lot faster,” Kalman said. “That enables the power electronics engineers to build higherperforming and smaller IGBT chips that will still be thermally controlled and avoid the types of failures you’ve seen in the past.”

Those smaller IGBT chips may also need to be reconfigured to be able to be cooled on both sides, because Dana is gearing up for what it calls dual-sided cooling, in which the IGBT die would be sandwiched between two heat exchangers on either side. “There’s so much heat flux inside these junctions that they need solutions that can mount on both surfaces of the IGBT,” Kalman said.

It will take some engineering trickery to have two fluid connections between the cooling plates and the IGBTs, and yet still handle the thermal expansions and contractions from the heat over the lifetime of the vehicle. Successful implementation will pay off in higher peak power capability and longer life.

“It enables [customers] to package compact highpower chips they prefer, by cooling them on both sides,” Kalman said. “In terms of a direct-bonded or integrated solution, where you can eliminate the thermal interface material, we’re aiming for performance measures that will be at least 30% or more.”

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From

Pioneer POWER to

PLAYER UQM Technologies has worked steadily at vehicle electrification for decades.

Originally established over 40 years ago, the company is uniquely prepared for the industryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s current growth spurt.

By Joey Stetter

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THE TECH

ith its integrated electric propulsion systems spreading across the globe in all conceivable vehicle types, UQM Technologies could be called the biggest little company in the EV industry. Over the past few years, the company seems to have entered its prime, as in one of those TV commercials where a deep, authoritative voice tell us “life begins at 40,” and a sturdy middle-aged man with salt-and-pepper hair stacks lumber into the back of a pickup truck.

Launched as Unique Mobility Inc. in 1967, today UQM develops and manufactures propulsion systems for hybrid, plug-in hybrid, fully electric and fuel cell vehicles. The company has been around the block, seen a lot and done a lot, yet over the last five years, its simultaneous expansion into different product lines, new territories and new markets suggests a renewed vigor.

Image courtesy of UQM

W

A diverse history UQM has been involved in countless EV development projects - consumer, commercial and military vehicles - that go as far back as the ElecTrek electric car in 1979.

“Back at the beginning, UQM was an innovative company doing leading-edge engineering and R&D EV projects that allowed us to develop our deep understanding of motors and controllers, and that inspiration continues to this day,” said CEO Eric Ridenour. “We then moved to doing projects for some big players: BMW, Caterpillar, the Department of Energy, the Department of Defense, Ecostar, General Motors and John Deere. Our strategy then shifted to volume production, building a new production facility and headquarters, installing UQM's PowerPhase significant capacity and meeting all of the HD 250 requirements necessary to be a Tier One supplier. Even with our move into volume production, we always stay true to our spirit of innovation.”

The 1980s and 90s brought many firsts for UQM, as it worked on the BMW E1 fleet of electric vehicles for California, the first electric camera truck used in the Olympics, and prototype hybrid HMMVs for the military.

In 1998 UQM worked with Lee Iacocca and his EV Global Motors. It built the powertrain for the GM Precept Hybrid that was shown at the 2000 North American Auto Show. In 2008, a UQM motor propelled

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UQMâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 130,000-square-foot Colorado manufacturing plant has capacity for high-volume production and the ability to incrementally scale up.

THE TECH

Images courtesy of UQM

the first manned flight of a fuel cell-powered plane made

by Boeing. Audi showed off the A1 e-tron concept car in 2010, featuring a UQM motor. The following year, Rolls-Royce debuted the 102EX Electric Phantom, with a UQM PowerPhase propulsion system.

UQM officially launched production of the PowerPhase Pro in 2011 for an automotive customer, setting the baseline for what UQM is now best known for: developing and manufacturing compact, high efficiency motor and controller systems. The company told us that its long and diverse history has led to customer-focused products, with features like user-selectable torque and speed, and a motor, controller and software combination that’s optimized to work together in the most power-dense and efficient way for any given application.

In the last few years, the company’s large-application propulsion systems have found their way into yachts; speedboats; military applications like robotic vehicles, Humvees and armored vehicles; sports cars; trains; and fleet vehicles like shuttles, buses and trucks from companies such as EVI, Proterra, Hino and others. Earlier this year, UQM supplied the electric motor and controller used in the Acciona electric rally car, the first zero-emission electric car to compete in the Dakar Rally, considered by many to be the most rigorous race on the planet.

This latest addition to the UQM power sports resume adds to the previous feats of EV pioneer and famous risk-taker Chip Yates, who used UQM products in his record-setting electric motorcycles and electric-powered airplanes. When asked about UQM, Chip Yates didn’t hesitate. “UQM has helped me achieve 18 world records and do things people never thought were possible. For that I’m eternally grateful.”

Proudly certified As the EV market ramped up over the last few years, UQM kept pace by seeking out ISO/TS 16949 certification and achieving it in March 2014. That certification is considered to be the highest automotive quality standard, and it lent a world-class cachet to UQM’s 130,000-square-foot Colorado manufacturing plant, which has a capacity for high-volume production.

UQM’s choice to pursue full TS certification was prompted by a development project with a major OEM. UQM then doubled down, completing the remaining OEM Tier One requirement of ISO 14001 environmental certification, which was announced in February 2015.

Careful controls UQM’s software engineering team, under VP of Technology Josh Ley, has worked on all types of EVs during his tenure at UQM. Ley told Charged that the company has a huge advantage wrapping that experience into continuous improvements to their systems’ software.

“All of our experience is embedded in our products.”

UQM’s control software gives its users three modes of control.

“Torque control - that’s basically how your internal combustion engine would drive,” Ley said. “You’re opening up the throttle, which gives more gas, which supplies the torque. We provide that control and driving experience through our torque control calibration.

Another mode is speed control. On your vehicle, you’ve got cruise control, so at some point you’ll want to set a constant speed. The third is voltage control. Some customers use our system connected to an internal combustion engine to supply the electricity, so they can charge their battery by using voltage control.”

Even though UQM products end up in such a wide variety of vehicles, Ley and his team have been able to generalize the software for most customers. In UQM’s many products, which have a wide range of power and torque, the core motor control engine is the same, but there is the option of doing additional calibration to tailor it to a specific application. “We’ve been able to tune each system so it’ll work for most customers right out of the box,” Ley said, “but we can certainly do special software for customers.”

This certifies that UQM upholds the highest environmental quality standards, and that it has a system in place for continuous improvement of its environmental impact.

The company then set out to bring its OEM-level quality and production capacity to important emerging EV markets. The Asian truck and bus market has shown particular promise. From the one-ton truck market in Korea to heavy-duty vehicles and buses in China, these eastern opportunities have provided a springboard for UQM to dive into the deep waters of Asian vehicle electrification.

Asian expansion UQM issued a flurry of announcements early this year concerning its new dealings in Asia.

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THE TECH

Additional growth areas - energy management, fuel cells and marine markets UQM’s business expansion doesn’t end with reaching new territories. The company recently signed a longterm supply agreement to provide electric power systems for industrial and commercial applications to an energy management company that does not yet wish to be publicly identified. UQM’s electric motors and controllers will be incorporated with this company’s proprietary technology to create new energy management solutions

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Explosion proof in the pudding Josh Ley gave Charged a technical breakdown of the explosion-proof propulsion systems. He explained that the company started with its standard PowerPhase HD heavy-duty motor and motor drive controller systems, normally made for commercial trucks and busses, and adapted them to work for the Chinese coal-mining industry and meet Chinese Mining Association standards.

“The explosion-proof requirement ensures the safety of components used in mines where there are risks due to coal dust that can be ignited,” Ley said.

“It requires that if there are any sparks or flammable gasses ignited within the enclosure, then the enclosure cannot allow the ignition to propagate outside the vehicle enclosure. In other words, it has to contain the explosion completely within the enclosure, so we need to ensure that both the motor and controller designs are strong enough to meet these demanding criteria.

Basically, it’s a high-pressure containment environment.”

The new UQM/Keshi Group mining vehicles will begin to replace diesel-powered vehicles that create health and safety hazards from the diesel emissions deep inside the mine shafts.

to address the needs of a wide range of global customers.

“We see this announcement as a significant milestone for UQM,” said Ridenour. “The addition of a new highvolume segment with different market drivers and end customers expands our targeted addressable market beyond vehicles. The proven high efficiency, high power output and robust design of our systems makes them ideally suited to energy management solutions such as this.”

In February, UQM acquired the fuel cell compressor module business of Roush Performance Products. Previously, UQM had supplied components for this compressor. Beginning in May, UQM took over manufacturing the full line of fuel cell compressors. Ridenour explained

Images courtesy of UQM

In February, the company’s PowerPhase HD 250 received Chinese General Specifications certification from the China Automotive Technology & Research Center in Tianjin. Ridenour said that this addition to UQM’s certification collection “was essential to doing business in China, and the achievement helps us move closer to volume system sales in that key market.”

Just two days after its Chinese certification, UQM announced a 10-year production and supply agreement with Changzhou’s Keshi Group, a major manufacturer in the Chinese mining industry. Under the agreement, UQM will supply core parts for an explosion-proof propulsion system, while Keshi will source additional components and handle the final assembly. Ridenour said the two companies worked together for almost a year designing the explosion-proof propulsion system.

Production will begin this year and then ramp up over several years.

The company also entered into a business relationship with the South Korean EV manufacturer Power Plaza to provide its PowerPhase Pro 100 system for converting one-ton diesel trucks to electric. Each PowerPhase Pro 100, which has 300 Nm of peak torque and 100 kW of peak power, is made up of a liquid-cooled permanent magnet motor and a liquid-cooled inverter with a digital signal processor chip. Power Plaza is one member of a consortium of companies that’s working directly with the city government of Seoul to use clean energy vehicles in their various municipal fleets.

The PowerPhase Pro 100 is the light-duty end of UQM’s product line. The PowerPhase HD 250 occupies the heavy-duty side, with 900 Nm of peak torque, 250 kW of peak power, and up to 95% efficiency.

Keshi vehicles featuring UQM's explosion proof motor technology

Proterra's electric bus featuring UQM's PowerPhase HD 220

Zenith Motor's vans powered by UQM's PowerPhase Pro 135

UQMâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s propulsion systems have found their way into yachts; speedboats; military applications like robotic vehicles, Humvees and armored vehicles; sports cars; race cars; trains; and fleet vehicles like shuttles, busses and trucks from companies such as EVI, Proterra, Hino and others.

THE TECH

that UQM’s new fuel cell compressors would increase the company’s gross profits and provide opportunities to expand the business further. That prediction quickly played out when the company took its first fuel cell compressor purchase order in early March from Ballard Power Systems, a manufacturer of proton-exchange membrane fuel cell technology. UQM expects to continue a strong relationship with Ballard and build on the momentum of this first sale. Ballard’s COO, Paul Cass, said he expected to work with UQM “on a variety of fuel cell products.”

The company is on the kind of roll in a high-growth industry that attracts attention it never sought. In the last few years, UQM has moved into so many niche markets that it’s hard to summarize them all. For example, UQM is growing in the marine space. At the Miami Interna-

Images courtesy of UQM

In the last few years, UQM has moved into so many niche markets that it’s hard to summarize them all.

tional Boat Show in February, UQM’s marine integrator was advertising a payback period of 18 months for diesel replacement in fleets of ferries and patrol boats, and less than 12 months for gas engine replacement in commercial operation. According to UQM customer Pierre Caouette, a specialist in the marine electric propulsion industry, “The automotive-certified line of products manufactured by UQM is far above the competition in terms of volume, weight and efficiency, thus making them ideal for the difficult marine environment. It is great to have the UQM system and to be able to show that we have what it takes to efficiently electrify the marine world.”

The next steps Consumer EVs from the high-profile automakers tend to get all the press, but the growth potential for electrified systems spreads to every corner of transportation. Beyond the operational cost savings, government policies around the world are getting more aggressive with fuel economy standards and emissions reductions, and every type of vehicle builder on the planet is looking towards electrification for compliance.

For UQM’s diversified application approach, the result is a mountain of new opportunity.

UQM has positioned itself as a technology leader, with the capability to produce high-quality products in volume. Ultimately, the company knows its growth will be fueled by continuing to grow with its current customers, winning significant volume contracts, and providing new products that not only meet, but exceed customer expectations. “We continue an aggressive business development process and look for unique markets and new applications. We’re fielding projects and inquiries all the time,” said Adrian Schaffer, VP of Sales and Business Development. “We think that with the discussions underway in China, the new markets we have entered will fuel our revenue growth in the coming years to allow us to reach our goal of profitability and carry us strongly into the next wave of the electrification movement.”

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IS THIS THING ON? EV HMI experts on the nuances of displaying and interacting with vehicle data

By Michael Kent

ew have been working on human-machine interface (HMI) design for EV drivetrains as long as Brian Gallagher and Kevin Coelho.

In 2007, Gallagher joined the startup Aptera Motors as employee number three. Shortly after, Coelho joined him as the seventh addition to the California company, which was building ultra-efficient threewheeled electric vehicles. Five years later, in 2012, after peaking at over 100 employees, Aptera closed its doors.

That’s when Gallagher formed Andromeda Interfaces.

The company provides instrumentation hardware and interface integration design to the growing market of specialty EV OEMs. “The growth of consumer EVs has been phenomenal,” Gallagher told Charged. “But there are also many niche OEMs that are adopting the technology in parallel.” The spread of lithium battery technology across specialty vehicle segments has created a great opportunity for suppliers like Andromeda to share their expertise. Emerging segments include applications like materials handling, delivery, transit, mining, construction, off-road utility, e-motorcycles, and small vehicles like golf carts and NEVs.

F

Trees, leaves and butterflies There are some important display parameters that obviously don’t change when switching from gas to electric - the vehicle’s speed for example. However, EVs present new challenges that aren’t so obvious to a specialty OEM designing an electrified vehicle for the first time. In fleet applications, minimizing the learning curve is critical to safe and efficient operation.

The silent operation of an EV when first powered up, for instance, can take some getting used to. If a new driver of a delivery or transit vehicle is confused about the

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mode of operation, bad things could happen. Andromeda urges its fleet customers, particularly those with high operator turnover, to design EV driver interfaces with prominent symbols and sounds that indicate when a vehicle is first turned on and/or yet to be turned off.

Efficient operation is also far more important in EVs than in traditional vehicles. For the foreseeable future, the technology bottleneck for EVs will continue to be the cost and limited energy storage capacity of lithium-ion batteries, so it’s important to get the maximum range for the available energy. However, Andromeda explains that the design process for an intuitive interface that encourages efficient and safe driving habits is very complex due to all the variables that need to be considered.

“We spent a lot of time and effort at Aptera learning how to measure our efficiency accurately and then provide those metrics to the driver,” said Gallagher. “But in the end, it seemed like nobody ever cared about the data on instantaneous efficiency during driving. It didn’t provide any value to the driver at all. In fact, some found it to be a bit of a distraction.”

The Andromeda team explains that, while engineers love to “geek out” on data, only a small fraction of drivers respond to it. They found that both instantaneous efficiency and average efficiency over time is not that valuable to drivers in terms of altering behavior. Many consumer hybrids and EVs have attempted to bridge this data-to-driver gap with creative graphical interfaces that change with your driving efficiency - trees that sprout leaves is one commonly used theme. But Andromeda believes the problem is that drivers lack the ability or know-how to change behavior.

“The data becomes relevant and effective only if the operator has the ability to change something,” said Gal-

Image courtesy of Andromeda Interfaces

THE TECH

The data becomes relevant and effective only if the operator has the ability to change something.

Auxiliary load (electricity consumption): • Confusion: What is an auxiliary load? Which are the major contributors to energy loss?

• Solutions: It’s important to be precise when reporting the particular auxiliary load that is consuming energy.

This can be done using common symbols for each load: a chair for heated seats, a music note for the stereo, a snowflake for HVAC, etc. Combining symbols, text descriptions and exact values for consumption will help to fully convey the losses that are due to each load.

Image courtesy of Helena Strömberg

lagher. “For the most part, we believed that efficiency data should be processed internally to try to come up with ways to improve it. Then, whenever possible, the system should provide suggestions back to the driver or operator. As an engineer designing the system, we’re very conscious of efficiency and trying to optimize it. But when you get behind the wheel, that tends to go out the window when you realize how fun EVs can be to drive.”

Andromeda urges designers to focus on finding effective ways to communicate suggested changes in behavior, and how the choices could translate into usable driving range and fuel consumption. The goal is take full advantage of EV technology by providing the right information to drivers, to encourage behaviors like dialing down the HVAC systems or switching to “eco” driving modes to reduce energy consumption.

“In the end, the data doesn’t mean anything if you don’t adapt,” said Gallagher.

Design considerations Andromeda walked us through some of the most common EV HMI design considerations and what they recommend to their specialty OEM customers.

Distance to empty (DTE): • Confusion: If users do not understand how DTE is dynamic due to driving methods in an EV, they will often be confused by a rapidly shifting parameter.

• Solutions: DTE can be represented in a simple dial gauge with the miles-to-zero range. It can also be shown dynamically with a shrinking or expanding circle on a map representing the current available range. It’s most commonly displayed as a horizontal meter combined with text - e.g. “50 miles to empty.” In any case, DTE calculations that change quickly with regard to driving patterns should be avoided.

Tell-tales and warnings: • Confusion: In addition to minimal noise at start-up, the possible problems with an EV drivetrain will differ from those of conventional vehicles. Developing new tell-tales, indicators or signals is necessary to convey what maintenance may be needed.

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• Solutions: A recognizable tell-tale needs to be clearly visible when the vehicle is powered on, in order to deliver the important “power on” message. Other maintenance or fault warnings need to leverage symbols that are meaningful to the average person. Combine symbols with text descriptions whenever possible.

State of health (SOH): • Confusion: The SOH, or reduced storage capacity, of the battery pack is not easily understood because many people don’t realize that batteries degrade over time.

• Solutions: Consider showing the SOH as the vehicle gets older and indicate how this could potentially impact the EV’s performance over time.

Regenerative braking: • Confusion: The concept of regenerative braking can be difficult to understand, and encouraging proper use is critical to increasing range and significantly improving the life of the friction braking system.

• Solutions: The regenerative braking force can be harsh or gentle depending upon the amount of motoring current allowed. Consider offering a rotary dial in the cabin to easily adjust regenerative braking. Drivers often need to experience this force first-hand, so give them the opportunity to dynamically adjust to a high default setting that maximizes the benefits of the system.

Image courtesy of Andromeda Interfaces

THE TECH

Depending upon the specific target market, how that info is displayed to the driver is unique, which is why we designed it to be configurable.

EVIC To help engineers at the specialty OEMs cope with the new streams of data, Andromeda developed a customizable software and hardware display solution for EV systems that it calls Electric Vehicle Interface Controller, or EVIC. “It’s designed to collect and interpret the data coming from all key components that make up the electric drivetrain - the motor, controller, battery management system, charger, etc,” explained Gallagher.

“Depending upon the specific target market, how that info is displayed to the driver is unique, which is why we designed it to be configurable.”

We know how to combine the data from many different devices.

Image courtesy of Mazda

The company’s unique proposition is that its system will interface and gather data from all of the most popular electric drive systems on the market. “That’s our best selling point to customers - we know how to combine the data from many different devices,” said Gallagher.

As the world continues to transition vehicles of all shapes and sizes to battery power, Andromeda recognizes the importance of creating a nimble solution that can fit into many different niches.

“The goal is to be the global leader for EV instrumentation. There are many segments of the market, and we’re dabbling in all of them.”

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CURRENTevents

The new Fisker launches Customer Support Program

The 2016 Chevrolet Volt is on its way. MSRP for the base LT model will be $33,995 including delivery - $1,175 lower than the 2015 Volt, and close to the $33,560 average price of a new vehicle, as estimated by KBB. There’s also a snazzier trim level that has a host of high-tech features - navigation, Forward Collision Alert, Lane Keep Assist, Front Automatic Braking, rear seat heating, and more, starting at $38,345.

Chevy’s rebooted EREV features upgrades throughout the drivetrain: a new two-motor drive unit that’s 12% more efficient and 100 lbs lighter; a 1.5-liter gas engine and an 18.4 kWh battery pack with 192 LG Chem cells that’s 20 lbs lighter than the last one.

Acceleration has been accelerated by 7% and electric range has been increased to 50 miles. Fuel efficiency is now 41 mpg, or 102 MPGe. The battery is covered by an 8-year/100,000-mile warranty (10 years/150,000 miles in ARB states).

The first deliveries are expected to happen in California in late September or early October, expanding to the rest of the country by December.

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Image courtesy of Fisker

Image courtesy of GM

Chevrolet announces 2016 Volt pricing

Fisker’s new owner, Chinese parts giant Wanxiang, hopes to bring the American automaker back from the dead. It made a promising start on its resurrection plan in May as it launched a Customer Support Program for existing Karma owners.

A letter to current owners reiterated that the company plans to “re-launch the Karma and introduce future models,” and promises to “engage in an active relationship with Fisker Karma owners.”

A new website shows a network of 15 CSP service centers where warranty repairs will be available. Fisker will provide up to $2,000 in parts and labor for covered repairs free to all owners, and an additional $2,000 in parts and $1,000 in labor to original owners.

The fact that Fisker confidently states that parts are available indicates that Wanxiang must have rebuilt relationships with former suppliers, some of which say they went unpaid when the company went wheels-up.

As rumor has it, the company is to be renamed Elux and will relaunch the Karma by mid-2016.

THE VEHICLES

Image courtesy of EDI

CEC awards $9 million in grants for commercial EV manufacturing

The California Energy Commission has awarded nearly $9 million in grants to three companies to encourage the manufacturing of heavy-duty EVs and components in the state.

Proterra received a $3 million grant to develop a manufacturing line for battery-electric transit buses in the City of Industry in the San Gabriel Valley. The location is in the heart of the Los Angeles region, the largest bus market in the US. Existing Proterra customer Foothill Transit recently placed an order for an additional 13 electric buses.

TransPower won a grant of just under 3 million bucks to manufacture electric powertrain components for Class 8 trucks, including an inverter-charger unit, battery management system, automated manual transmission, and power control and accessory subsystem.

Last December, TransPower showcased a Class 8 battery-electric truck that gets 60-120 miles of drive time under normal operating conditions, with a hauling capacity of up to 80,000 lb.

Efficient Drivetrains, Inc. (EDI) scored almost 3 mil to update a manufacturing facility in Milpitas, California, where it will produce powertrain components for hybrid and battery-electric vehicles, as well as conversions.

In March, EDI introduced a Class 3 utility truck based on its PHEV drivetrain that it says reduces emissions and fuel use by up to 80%.

Toyota forced to build electric cars in China Toyota has made no secret of its dislike of battery-electric vehicles and its preference for fuel cells, but like other high-volume OEMs, it was compelled to produce an EV by the California authorities - the RAV4 EV, which the company did not market, and discontinued as soon as possible. Now it seems that the world’s largest automaker will have to play the same game in the world’s largest auto market.

As Bloomberg recently reported, the Chinese government is keen to encourage local EV production, and foreign manufacturers are finding that they must have at least one battery-electric model in their lineups if they hope to win government approval to build factories.

Around 40 new EV models are expected to go on sale in China this year.

Toyota will introduce the Leahead and Ranz allelectric brands this year, in joint ventures with Chinese partners Guangzhou Automobile Group and FAW Group. Industry observers seem to agree that it’s strictly a symbolic effort.

“It is the cost of entry of being here,” said James Chao, Managing Director of IHS Automotive in Shanghai. “A lot of it is kind of for show, and they just want to please the government.”

“They’ll do some token launches and token sales, but I’m not expecting any waves,” said Ashvin Chotai, Managing Director of Intelligence Automotive Asia. “This is just a distraction, an unwanted headache.”

Volkswagen, Hyundai and BMW also plan to launch EVs in the China market, but will have a tough time competing against better-known local brands such as BYD and BAIC, according to Hong Kong-based Bloomberg analyst Steve Man. He predicts that these models are also destined to be compliance cars, sold in small numbers to local governments and utility companies.

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CURRENTevents

Image: John Gillespie (CC-BY-SA-2.0)

Maryland allows Tesla to sell direct

One more state turned Tesla-colored in May, as Maryland governor Larry Hogan signed a bill that will allow Tesla to expand its direct sales model to the Ocean State.

Unlike dealer groups in other battleground states, the Maryland Automobile Dealers Association actually supported the bill, probably because automakers covered by the new law are limited to only four dealerships, and are required to sell only EVs. General Motors, on the other hand, lobbied against the bill, arguing that all automakers should operate under the same rules.

“These laws not only guarantee that people have optimum choice on which vehicles to buy, but also how they buy them,” Tesla VP Diarmuid O’Connell told AutoblogGreen. “These laws will additionally allow companies like Tesla to introduce new automotive technology to more people and educate consumers about the benefits of electric cars. We hope this momentum combined with encouragement from independent entities, such as the Federal Trade Commission, will lead to direct sales in other states such as Connecticut, Michigan, Texas and Arizona.”

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Image courtesy of GM

Cadillac CT6 PHEV has more electric range than others in its class

The plug-in hybrid version of Cadillac’s CT6 large luxury sedan, which made its debut in April at the Shanghai Motor Show, will use a version of GM’s second-generation Voltec hybrid system.

The 18.4 kWh battery pack is the same size as the one in the 2016 Chevrolet Volt, which should give the new Caddy an electric range of at least 30 miles. It is not identical, however: whereas the Volt uses a T-shaped pack fitted into the central tunnel, the CT6’s pack sits “between the rear seat and the trunk,” according to GM. The corded Cadillac has a turbocharged 2.0-liter fourcylinder gas engine and two electric motors, giving it total power of 335 hp (250 kW) and torque of 432 lb-ft.

The new Cadillac has a much larger battery pack, and thus more electric range, than competing PHEVs from Mercedes, BMW and Volvo. In fact, it should deliver more electric miles than any other PHEV except the Volt.

“The CT6 Plug-In Hybrid system is designed to provide all-electric driving for most daily commutes,” Cadillac said, “while maximizing fuel efficiency by providing blended power from the engine and battery at higher speeds and higher loads, even when energy is stored in the battery.”

The plug-in CT6 is expected to show up at dealerships late in the first half of 2016.

THE VEHICLES

Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne is often depicted in the EV press as an anti-electric curmudgeon - he has stated that the company loses $10,000 on every unit of the Fiat 500e, and politely asked consumers not to buy.

However, it may be that Marchionne isn’t opposed to electrification per se, but just waiting for an application that makes economic sense for the company. And it may be that the minivan segment, which Chrysler dominates, presents a perfect opportunity to finally get charged.

Marchionne discussed electrification plans in January, saying that a “massive” program to develop a plug-in hybrid minivan was underway. Chrysler is expected to offer a plug-in hybrid powertrain for the new Town & Country minivan, which is likely to debut at the 2016 Detroit Auto Show in January.

In May, Marchionne told Automotive News that an electric motor might be the best way to add all-wheeldrive capability to the next-generation Town & Country.

Adding a conventional AWD system wouldn’t leave room for the vehicle’s popular Stow n’ Go folding seats, but a compact electric motor could let off-road soccer moms have the best of both worlds.

“You have two choices: you either trade the Stow ‘n Go or you go with electric motors in the back. It’s not that complicated. We’re exploring both,” Marchionne said.

“I think electrification is coming - whether you like it or not - in some fashion,” Marchionne said, adding that the company continues to explore hybrid options for other models, including the Jeep Grand Cherokee. “We will continue to optimize our involvement in electrification by going through with the one that gives you the biggest bang for the buck.”

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Chrysler may produce all-wheel-drive plug-in minivan

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Zero Motorcycles scores $1 million dollar grant from CEC

Zero Motorcycles has been awarded a grant of $1,009,220 from the California Energy Commission (CEC). Zero will match these funds, providing over two million bucks to be invested in expanding production capacity through improvements in the manufacturing line, production efficiency and engineering processes.

All Zero models are designed and built in California.

“We thrive at the intersection of transportation, technology and energy efficiency,” said CEO Richard Walker.

“This generous grant, combined with the confidence of our investors, accelerates our global growth, expands Zero’s local workforce and manufacturing capacity, and will fuel continued innovation across all of our products.”

“It’s exciting to see Zero Motorcycles grow from a pilot production line we funded to an expanded manufacturing line through this latest grant,” said the CEC’s Janea A. Scott. “Transitioning from older, higherpolluting vehicles to zero emission vehicles - ones with no tailpipe pollution - helps the state meet its clean air, climate, and petroleum reduction goals.”

“We believe CEC funding is ideally suited for this kind of project as we leverage 21st century California clean-tech manufacturing,” said Kai Hypko, VP of Operations at Zero.

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Images courtesy BMW Group

Images courtesy Zero Motorcycles

BMW to launch 3 Series PHEV in 2016

BMW is surely the most charged of the European automakers. Its i3 city car is a native EV that’s earned much admiration for its many innovations. Meanwhile, wellbucked aficionados are buying the i8 super-PHEV as quickly as it rolls off the lines, and the X5 plug-in SUV just made its debut appearance in Shanghai.

BMW has said it plans to introduce a plug-in model in every one of its product segments, so it’s high time for the company to electrify its best-selling line, the 3 Series. In May, BMW announced plans to launch the BMW 330e PHEV in 2016, and released about a paragraph’s worth of tantalizing specs.

The 330e will be powered by a plug-in hybrid drive system with a combined output of around 250 hp (186 kW) and 310 lb-ft (420 N·m) of torque. Preliminary specs indicate 0-60 acceleration of 6.1 seconds, a top speed of 140 mph, and 22 miles of electric range.

THE VEHICLES

Smith Electric Vehicles, a builder of medium-duty commercial EVs, plans to form a joint venture with strategic partner and investor FDG Electric Vehicles, an EV and battery manufacturer listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

The new JV will offer a combined portfolio of EVs and fleet electrification solutions in several segments, including the Smith Newton commercial truck, as well as both Smith and FDG powertrain components.

The JV will contract exclusively with Smith for product development services, vehicle manufacturing, service and support, and with FDG for the supply of lithium-ion batteries and SKD kits.

Smith and FDG have collaborated to develop a commercial native EV platform in the 12,000-16,500 GVW range. The vehicle will be offered in multiple configurations, including cab/chassis, step-through van, and tran-

sit. It will complement the existing Newton platform, which is currently offered in the 14,000-26,000 GVW range.

“We are seeing all of the indications that the market that we helped establish has now turned the corner from the R&D phase to the commercial phase,” said Smith CEO Bryan Hansel. “The new company leverages FDG’s ground-up commercial all-electric vehicle designs and its electric vehicle manufacturing facility, which can produce up to 100,000 vehicles per annum, as well as Smith’s 12 million miles of commercial vehicle experience to offer a complete fleet electrification solution.”

Image © Alex Nunez

Smith partners with FDG to produce medium-duty electric trucks

The New Book By Charles Morris

Tesla Motors

How Elon Musk and Company Made Electric Cars Cool, and Sparked the Next Tech Revolution

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Tesla Motors has redefined the automobile, sparking a new wave of innovation and unleashing forces that will transform not just the auto industry, but every aspect of society. Charged Senior Editor and popular EV blogger Charles Morris takes you through the Tesla story from the beginning, as told by the Silicon Valley entrepreneurs who made it happen.

www.teslamotorsbook.com

Available at all major online retail sites

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In April, at the SAE World Congress in Detroit, Charged came across a very interesting booth in the career development section. Atieva, a company we’ve heard little about, is hiring a lot of engineers for a new EV project.

“Atieva is designing and creating a breakthrough electric car in the heart of Silicon Valley,” says the company’s promo material. “We’re redefining what a car can be, by building an iconic new vehicle from the ground up.”

OK, you’ve got our attention. More details, please!

Atieva was founded in 2007 by Bernard Tse - a Tesla VP and board member from 2003 to 2007 - and Sam Weng, a former Oracle executive. Unlike other automotive companies that start with vehicle design prototypes, the co-founders started Atieva to focus on advancing core EV technology. According to Google Patent Search, Atieva now holds over 100 patents for battery, motor and control system technologies.

Representatives remain tight-lipped about the details, but at some point Atieva decided to shift focus and design a consumer EV from scratch. For the past 7 months, the company has been hiring engineers to build its design team from about 100 to 300 key personnel.

It recently moved to a larger facility in Menlo Park, California and is actively looking for more real estate to develop vehicles.

Atieva’s website says the engineers who join the team will “work with some of the best, most accomplished minds in the industry,” and that’s no exaggeration. In addition to Tse, the company’s team currently includes many top ex-Tesla engineers who were critical to the initial design of the Model S. Combing through Atieva’s staff on LinkedIn, we found 12 employees who used to work for Tesla, or about 10% of its current design team.

One reason we’ve heard so little about Atieva is that it doesn’t seem to need any cash at the moment. Press releases, prototypes and demonstrations are tools that many startups use to build a buzz and lure investors. But

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Image courtesy of Atieva

Stealthy EV startup Atieva ramps up hiring, including many top ex-Tesla engineers

thanks in part to Tesla’s sky-high valuation and the very experienced team Atieva has already assembled, it has had no problem raising capital to enter the EV market.

Atieva representatives told Charged that the company secured a nine-figure sum in private equity funding last year, bringing its total to “significantly more” than the $131 million currently listed on CrunchBase.

Even with money in the bank, the company needs to come out of stealth mode to attract the best talent.

That’s why Charged found Atieva in Detroit at one of its first public events. “The fact that we’re here is a pretty big deal, because we’ve been underground for so long,” Atieva’s Roger Evans told us. Evans is one of those former Tesla employees (a noise, vibration, and harshness engineer) now at Atieva. If you want to join him and get in on the ground floor of what could be the next Teslastyle automotive startup, head over to Atieva’s site to apply. The company lists 30 to 50 engineering positions, as well as openings for more recruiters to help it ramp up quicker.

Atieva tells us we’ll hear more details about its plan to “challenge the idea of what a car can be” in a couple of months.

THE VEHICLES

Image courtesy of Ford Motor Company

Ford opens up its EV patents, puts 200 more engineers to work on electrification

Tesla isn’t the only company that can play the patentopening game. Ford has announced that it will make its portfolio of over 650 electrification-related patents available to competing automakers.

Unlike Tesla, which has implied that it will allow others to use technology “in good faith” free of charge (and Toyota, which plans to make some 5,680 patents on fuel cell technologies available royalty-free), Ford seems to be interested in collecting licensing fees, which will be arranged through the company’s licensing office.

“By sharing our research with other companies, we will accelerate the growth of electrified vehicle technology and deliver even better products to customers,” said Kevin Layden, Ford’s Director of Electrification Programs. “As an industry, we need to collaborate while we continue to challenge each other.”

Meanwhile, Ford said it plans to hire 200 additional engineers to work on electrified vehicles at a new facility. As John Voelcker of Green Car Reports pointed out, Ford is one of the least transparent of automakers when it comes to its electrification plans, so it’s difficult to say what the company is up to.

However, with GM and Nissan expected to launch 200-mile EVs in a couple of years, and Tesla’s Model 3 plodding through the pipeline, it would be strange if Ford weren’t working on its own next generation of plug-ins.

California: Smaller automakers can earn ZEV credits with PHEVs For several years now, the California Air Resources Board’s ZEV mandate has required the largest automakers to produce a certain number of zero-emission vehicles for sale in the state. Beginning in 2018, smaller OEMs will be subject to the rules, too.

Unsurprisingly, these companies would rather skip it, and at a May hearing, Jaguar Land Rover, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Subaru and Volvo politely asked to be exempted from the mandate. They argued, with some logic, that their smaller R&D budgets would put them at a disadvantage vis a vis giants such as Ford, GM and Nissan when it comes to developing electrified vehicles.

CARB offered a compromise: automakers with less than $40 billion in annual global revenue must comply with the mandate, but will have the option to sell PHEVs to earn credits toward compliance, and will not be required to develop all-electric or fuel cell cars.

The ruling appears to be good news for Mitsubishi and Volvo.

Mitsubishi’s Outlander Plug-In Hybrid has been selling well in Europe and Japan. It’s expected to launch in the US in the second quarter of 2016, and seems likely to sell much better than the company’s tiny iMiEV has done.

Likewise, the Swedes have had great success in Europe with their plug-in diesel wagon. The more US-friendly Volvo XC90 T8 Twin Engine Plug-In Hybrid will go on sale this summer.

Jaguar Land Rover VP Clinton Blair said he was pleased with the changes, which would let his company “meet the regulations with cars, not credits.” Autocar reported in March that Jaguar is doing “extensive” R&D on electric and hybrid drivetrains, with a view to introducing electric versions of the XE saloon and F-Pace crossover.

For Mazda and Subaru, the picture is less clear. The two companies currently offer one hybrid model apiece, but no plug-ins. However, both Japanese automakers have strong ties to Toyota, leading some industry observers to believe they will license its plug-in hybrid technology to meet the ZEV mandate.

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PROTERRA CEO

RYAN POPPLE ON THE ECONOMICS OF THE ELECTRIC BUS BUSINESS

By Christian Ruoff

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The Tesla of Transit: With an EV designed from the ground up, top Silicon Valley VC investors expect explosive growth in the market.

Images courtesy of Proterra

Photo courtesy of Darius Pinkston (CC BY 2.0)

THE VEHICLES

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enture capitalists assume a large amount of risk when they invest in early-stage companies. They do so because of the potential for huge returns. To ensure that a portfolio of investments delivers the greatest return with the least risk, VCs spend a considerable amount of time evaluating companies, looking for the key ingredients of success.

In 2010, when Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB) - one of Silicon Valley’s top VC firms - decided to invest in Proterra, it did so after exhaustive research into the market for electrified heavy-duty vehicles.

At the time, Ryan Popple was part of KPCB’s Green Growth team. Popple and fellow VC Michael Linse looked at “everything under the sun” before deciding that Proterra was in the best position to benefit from the coming wave of disruption as EV technology washes over the heavy-vehicle markets.

If anyone is qualified to evaluate early-stage EV compa-

V

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It was a natural technology for me to explore at Kleiner Perkins, since I’d come off of three years of early and mid-stage growth at Tesla. nies, it’s Popple. At KPCB, Ryan led nine transportation investments and served on ChargePoint’s board. And prior to KPCB, he was an early employee of Tesla Motors, where he served as Senior Director of Finance. At Tesla his role was to focus on strategic planning, technology cost reduction and corporate finance. During his tenure, the company scaled from pre-revenues to over $100 mil-

THE VEHICLES

Images courtesy of Proterra

The numbers: Proterra’s 40 ft transit bus

1.7 kWh per mile

22 MPGe

lion in vehicle revenue, reached profitability and achieved an IPO filing. Coincidentally, that skillset is just what Proterra needed for its next stage of growth, and last year he signed on to lead the company as CEO. Charged recently caught up with Popple to get his take on the economics of the electric bus market.

Q Charged: What led to you to originally invest in Pro-

terra in 2012?

A Ryan Popple: It was a natural technology for me to

explore at Kleiner Perkins, since I’d come off of three years of early and mid-stage growth at Tesla. I knew the electric vehicle powertrain stuff pretty well.

It’s a pretty straightforward thesis, that an electric

drivetrain is a really great fit for urban transit. That’s anywhere you’re moving a lot of human beings in a stopstart, high-utilization urban environment - municipal, delivery, commercial, theme parks, universities, private transit fleets, etc. We looked at a lot of different truck and delivery companies, basically all the companies that were thinking about doing electrification. In the end, we were very interested in Proterra for a number of reasons that were largely related to its core product strategy in addition to other aspects of the company.

Proterra is not the only company that thinks EVs make a lot of sense in urban transit, but it is the only company that did a purpose-built EV. On the surface our vehicles could seem similar to some other attempts at heavy-duty EVs, but if you dig into the company’s approach, it is very different. From the composite body to all of the components, our EV buses are designed and built from the ground up. We’re focused on building high-performance EV mass transit buses, so we don’t do conversions, and don’t have any unnecessary or legacy parts from a combustion vehicle. We have the largest engineering team focused on EV product development in the North American transit bus market, and as a result have designed an EV drivetrain with the best efficiency ever for a 40-foot transit bus, 1.7 kWh per mile, which is equivalent to 22 MPGe. We also design our own battery packs using modules from multiple lithium-ion suppliers worldwide, and are benefiting from the high-level of competition, driving costs down. Ultimately, everything has been optimized to be an EV.

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Q Charged: Companies that VCs invest in are typically

expected to have explosive growth potential. Could you give us an idea of where you are on that curve, and your estimation of the size of the market?

A RP: Proterra started out as a classic technology

startup. Dale Hill founded the company in 2004 after working on a hybrid electric technology for transit. He had the idea that the company could build a battery-dominant vehicle, instead of a hybrid, so the company spent several years in engineering and R&D before it won its first commercial orders in 2010. Since then we’ve booked 110 firm orders, including 320 options that customers can exercise if they choose to. In total, we’re currently contracted for over 400 vehicle orders, we’re in over a dozen cities and have logged over one million miles of regular service.

Whether you’re buying an electric or a diesel bus, these infrastructure-grade vehicles are a 10-12 year investment.

It only takes about 10 to 20 cities to commit its fleet for a company like Proterra to be over $100 million of annual revenue and profitable. Once we’re in that ballpark, we’ll start looking at becoming a public company. Currently, we’re producing vehicles at a good clip, and every time we ship a bus, we get paid for a pretty high-price piece of technology. We were cash-flow positive in Q4 2014, and cash-flow positive this April, simply because we delivered a decent-size order for Nashville, Tennessee. I think we need to double one more time in terms of our top-line

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110 320

firm vehicle orders since 2010

options that customers can exercise

It only takes about 10 to 20 cities to commit its fleet for a company like Proterra to be over $100 million of annual revenue and profitable. revenue, and we will be profitable.

We’ve seen our pipeline - or actionable opportunities that we’re going after - grow about five to seven times in the last year alone, so we’re seeing demand swiftly increase, and we’re only focused on the North American market right now. Twelve to fifteen months ago, if you added up the value of the opportunities that we were talking to customers about, it would probably be somewhere around $100 million - that’s the value if we had booked

Images courtesy of Proterra

The numbers: Commercial orders

THE VEHICLES

What’s promising is that we’re in contention for roughly 20% of the potential transit vehicle orders in the US over the next couple years.

Today we’re closing in on $1 billion of total pipeline opportunities. every possible order that we were discussing with potential customers. It was a good start, but today we’re closing in on $1 billion of total pipeline opportunities. Of course, we won’t book orders anywhere near that, because there is a large range of probability when it comes to converting discussions into sales. For example, if it’s an initial conversation and we’re still educating someone about batteries, electric motors and inverters, you put that conversation way down in the single-digit percentage for the likelihood of closing the sale. If it’s a conversation about a follow-on order from an existing customer, that’s a pretty high value. What’s promising is that we’re in contention for roughly 20% of the potential transit vehicle orders in the US over the next couple years. Again, we won’t win all of that business, but if you talk to transit managers right now, there’s a decent percentage that think EVs are the long-term future of the market.

The internal conversations we’re having now are about planning capacity appropriately. As a hardware company,

it’s important to scale production to be able to credibly address potential orders and growth, and that’s what we’ve done with our second production facility in California. This additional facility will be ready to meet the customer demand we’re experiencing on the West Coast, and our Greenville facility will support orders east of the Mississippi. Balancing investment with customer orders is fundamental to avoid underutilizing capital. Once we passed a one-year backlog in orders, we knew that we needed to increase capacity; otherwise we would start seeing demand destruction. For example, a transit agency recently visited us and wanted to know if they placed an order today, when would the vehicles be delivered? Right now the first open build slots that we have for the Greenville facility are in the second quarter of 2016. Overall, we like having about a year of backlog in the system, because it makes it much easier in terms of supply chain management and inventory planning. But we don’t want more than that.

The California site will most likely go into production in the first quarter of 2016. That facility’s initial capacity will be about 50 buses per year, with enough headroom to scale production to about 200. We’ve already started taking orders against that capacity and are expecting the new facility to fill up pretty quickly. The first order that we’ve publicly announced is for Foothill Transit, which has placed its largest order to date with us for our new extended-range vehicle, the Catalyst XR. The additional 13 Proterra buses will bring Foothill Transit’s all-electric fleet to nearly 10 percent of the agency’s total.

Q Charged: That kind of growth implies that you offer

an attractive financial model to your customers. How do the costs compare to hybrid, diesel and CNG buses?

A RP: In fact, most of our conversations are about the

economics of going electric. We had a customer recently

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Images courtesy of Proterra

from a medium-size city in the southeastern US. You would not expect that this city would be an early adopter of green tech, and it highlights that for most cities it’s about the total cost of ownership (TCO), managing pricing risk of fuel and reducing maintenance costs.

Every case is different, but if you took the average transit agency in the US and deployed a Proterra vehicle against a diesel vehicle, you would see a TCO for a Proterra vehicle of about $1 million for a lifetime of operation, versus about $1.4 million for a diesel bus. That includes the upfront acquisition cost, midlife maintenance, and the fuel (electricity or diesel) it will consume.

In terms of upfront costs, a diesel bus is somewhere in the ballpark of $400,000 to $450,000. A CNG bus is around $500,000 to $600,000, depending on configuration. And diesel-battery hybrids are somewhere from $650,000 all the way up to $730,000.

Our prices depend on the battery configuration. You can buy the vehicle and lease the batteries for somewhere in the neighborhood of $550,000. If you want to buy the batteries and own them outright, and you want the maximum battery configuration, you’re looking at something around $800,000. Most of the options that we’ve been pricing this year, and getting a lot of traction with, are in the $700,000 range. That compares very nicely against hybrids, and a hybrid only gets 5 MPG, versus 20 to 25 MPGe for our EVs. I think that maintenance piece is what’s going to take EVs from being an exciting early adopter category to the dominant technology in transit. I say that because the biggest headache everyone has is keeping their vehicles running. I visit transit agencies that have job shops in their maintenance bays that are doing nothing but trans-

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Most of the options that we’ve been pricing this year, and getting a lot of traction with, are in the $700,000 range. mission and engine rebuilds for traditional buses.

We often talk to our customers about going from analog to digital. Diesel and natural gas buses are inherently complex - a lot of skilled labor goes into to keeping them on the road. Our vehicles are clean, quiet and simple.

There are far less moving parts in any EV versus an ICE. So, we’re already pricing very close on a first-cost basis to diesel-hybrid. From a bill of material perspective, I think we’re already cheaper, because hybrids basically have a battery-electric drivetrain and a heavy diesel drivetrain. That’s an easy technology for us to go after. Then, CNG powertrains are the next most expensive. And the big advantage we have over CNG is that the infrastructure is a nightmare. They are million-dollar fueling stations, and CNG has the tendency to react very poorly with fire or sparks. So it’s easy to see that electricity is a much more reasonable and cheaper approach if you haven’t already deployed CNG. And the last one, and the cheapest one, on a first-cost basis, is the plain old dirty diesel bus.

I would say the biggest competition we have is the wait-and-see or do-nothing attitude. We are in a dozen cities now. We’ll be in 18 in six to nine months, and two dozen by the end of next year. But there are 500 US cities that we’re targeting. That’s just US public transit, before

THE VEHICLES The numbers: Fossil fueled the average diesel bus consumes

the average CNG bus consumes

gallons per year

gallons per year

10,000 12,000 the global markets, school buses, etc. We’re thrilled to announce some of our newer larger orders, but the reason we’re in this business is that there are 70,000 diesel buses in the US, and they are some of the most polluting vehicles in the most emissions-sensitive urban areas.

The average diesel bus consumes 10,000 gallons, and CNG is around 12,000 gallons a year, with a host of emissions. These vehicles also stay in service for 10-12 years, so we’re focused on speaking with transit managers before they sign a purchase order for 100 diesel buses.

Q Charged: Are most of your sales paid for by special

initiative funding or are they out of the standard operating budget for a city or transit authority?

A RP: Definitely early on grant

funding was important, but we’ve been able to reduce technology costs by $500,000, and now it’s possible to not rely on any sort of special funding at all. A big focus of Proterra over the past two years has been to move out of special grant-funded programs and into normal procurement, but it’s still a mix. Some of our customers have seen grant funding from the Federal Transit Administration and state or city programs, and other customers have started relying completely on what we would consider normal operating budgets or local funding.

We’re also moving into the commercial transit sector and have received a lot of interest from universities, theme parks, airports, Fortune

We believe the transit vehicle market will be the first transportation market to eliminate petroleum, because of the environmental and economic benefits.

500 fleets, etc. It’s a compelling business case for private sector owners.

Q Charged: What sort of regular maintenance is

expected on the electric drivetrain over a vehicle’s life?

A RP: We tell our customers to assume that at midlife,

or some point within 12 years, we’re going to need to do some work on the battery pack to bring it back up above 80% of the original capacity. The good news is that our oldest vehicles have been in Southern California since 2010 and we’re seeing a lighter degradation curve than we

especially when it comes to batteries. And there are a lot of ways we refurbish the capacity more efficiently than just providing brand-new packs. We perform a rebalance at the module level, and don’t actually go into the cells within the modules.

Q Charged: How many design iterations have Proter-

ra’s buses gone through?

Images courtesy of Proterra

A RP: From a platform architecture level, I’d say we’re

forecasted for the customer. So it’s possible that in some cases we won’t need to touch the batteries at all. However, we make a commitment to our customers to maintain 80% capacity and, worst-case scenario, if we needed to give them a new battery pack at year six, we’ve actually planned for that in our cost structure. The nice thing is that battery costs are coming down every year and the reserve that we set aside for this exceeds the need. Also, a lot of our customers are very conservative with the amount of energy storage they put in their vehicles. That means the depth-of-discharge is lower and they can get all the way to year 12 with over 80% capacity.

We use the most durable Li-ion chemistry you can get your hands on, in the form of lithium titanate oxide (LTO). We also use higher energy density chemistry for the long-range vehicle configurations. There is no chemistry that can cycle as many times as LTO. It can cycle 20-40,000 times before you hit 80% of the original capacity. But even with the very robust cells from Toshiba, we are very conservative, because in the early adopter market you don’t want to over-promise and under-deliver,

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on generation two. In a lot of ways, our generation-one fleet reminds me of the Tesla Roadster in that the purpose was to get into market and burn as little capital as possible. The idea was to get something into our customers’ hands so they could teach us everything we didn’t know about serving the market with a new technology.

But then you get to a point, just like Tesla got to with the Roadster, where you need to make a discontinuous change in the platform and go deeper with the engineering.

The biggest thing you’ll notice is that we went from a 60-passenger 35-foot vehicle to a 77-passenger 40-foot vehicle, while dropping over 1,500 pounds of weight.

We learned a lot about the structural engineering of a composite vehicle. The energy density of the battery packs also went up quite a bit, so we’re putting a lot more energy into a much smaller package.

So, our second-generation bus platform started as an independent engineering project over two years ago, taking in early adopter feedback. We’ve invested roughly 40-50 million dollars of internal and external R&D on the program, and we’ve made a series of changes throughout.

In the end, the new Catalyst platform is focused on the ability to scale the technology into large fleets, and we’ve been able to significantly drop the costs of the buses.

Q Charged: What kind of variation in charging

options do you offer customers?

A RP: We see two charging models that make a lot of

sense, and we’ve developed technology, or partnered with other companies like Eaton, to be able to deliver it.

Currently, all of our customers at some point in their operation have at least one fast charger. The method of fast charging that we recommend is overhead fast charging. In this case, the vehicle drives into the bus stop or the bus yard and enters the hot spot of the charging zone. Then our software takes over and slows the vehicle down. Drivers can steer left or right, but they can’t drive

THE VEHICLES

Photo courtesy of Darius Pinkston (CC BY 2.0)

Proterra bus using an overhead charger in Louisville, Kentucky

We like overhead charging because we’re dealing with pretty high power levels. through a charging stop too quickly, and they also can’t drive away while it’s actively charging. We like overhead charging because we’re dealing with pretty high power levels - some customers charge as high as 500 kW - and that would require very heavy-duty cables to plug in, and possibly cause interference with loading or unloading the vehicle. In some cases customers put overhead fast chargers along the bus routes, and in other cases they’re at the transit centers.

Almost all of our customers also use conventional plugin overnight chargers. So, the two models that we think are going to dominate are plug-in overnight charging and then the occasional overhead fast charging to double, or triple, the effective range of the vehicle.

We’ve done some pilots and studied things like wireless

Image courtesy of Proterra

charging, but the challenge we see is that as the batteries are improving, the need for en route charging keeps getting smaller. So it ends up being cheaper to just put a little bit of extra range on the vehicle. The other complexity is that we’ve yet to see truly repeatable, high-efficiency transfers for wireless. In our market, when you’re using this much power, you really care about every percentage point of transfer efficiency.

Q Charged: What’s the future for EV mass transit?

A RP: Right now, there is a quiet EV revolution occur-

ring across North American transit agencies, and we believe that the transit vehicle market will be the first transportation market to eliminate petroleum.

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By Markkus Rovito

WONDER TWIN ENGINES, ACTIVATE

The 2016 Volvo XC90 T8 Twin Engine PHEV has all-wheel drive and enough room for your spouse and quintuplets, yet still runs clean. But will it have the power to rejuvenate the Swedish automotive presence in America?

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Images courtesy of The Volvo Group

THE VEHICLES

MAY/JUN 2015

55

T

hese days, when most Americans think of Swedish engineering, they probably remember a frustrating experience with an Allen wrench and one too few pieces of particle board. But we didn’t always buy our Swedish creations under the same roof as our Swedish meatballs. Any American old enough to drink remembers a friend whose parents drove an oddly shaped but somewhat prestigious Saab or Volvo, made by one of two Swedish automakers that were both noted for their emphasis on safety measures.

Much has changed since then. Saab Automotive has taken its place at the table in Valhalla, and while Volvo still earns safety points for its trusted vehicles, the company has been in a state of flux for the last five years, nursing plans for a monumental global turnaround.

Ford purchased Volvo Cars in 1999 as part of its Premier Automotive Group expansion, but when the bottom fell out of the US economy in 2008, Ford siphoned Volvo’s juice off to China’s Zhejiang Geely Holdings in 2010 for $1.8 billion. Since then, Volvo’s US presence has fallen off.

Its 2014 US sales of 56,366 represented an 8% drop from 2013, and while US auto sales in general have been on the uptick, Volvo’s American numbers finally flattened out in April 2015, at the same time that they were ramping up in Europe and in China, Volvo’s biggest market. In May. Lex Kerssemakers, CEO of Volvo Cars North America, told Forbes that until just recently, when the US dollar strengthened, Volvo was losing money on US sales, due to the currency differential with the Euro.

However, Volvo and Geely have not just been sitting back on their respective continents, content to concede the North American territory to their peers. They have

56

been working in the background for the past five years on the biggest rollout of new Volvos ever - 14 new nameplates over the next four or five years, according to Kerssemakers. It’s all part of a five-year, $11-billion investment in Volvo’s product line and factories in China and elsewhere, including the good ol’ US of A. Americans love a good comeback story. And a comeback story that provides American jobs: even better. In late May, Volvo Cars formally signed on to build a full manufacturing facility - its first in the US - in South Carolina’s greater Charleston area. Construction will begin this fall on a $500 million plant with an annual capacity of 100,000 cars, the first of which should hit the streets in late 2018. Kerssemakers noted that the factory would show the company’s commitment to the US, and make it a truly global company, complementing its two plants in China and two in Europe. It will also give Volvo better export opportunities to the Western Hemisphere, and soften the blow of currency fluctuations.

We don’t know yet what vehicle will christen the new South Carolina factory, but we do know that it will utilize Volvo’s new modular Scalable Product Architecture (SPA)

Volvo is prepared to launch

14 5

new nameplates over the next

Images courtesy of The Volvo Group

years

In late May, Volvo Cars formally signed on to build a $500 million manufacturing facility - it’s first in the US in South Carolina’s greater Charleston area. platform that Volvo has been developing since the Geely acquisition. Similar to Volkswagen’s Modular Transverse Matrix (MQB) platform, which Charged covered in our December 2014 issue, the SPA modular chassis system ensures that each Volvo model could be made with various drivetrains, whether gas, diesel, plug-in hybrid, etc. It will allow Volvo to iterate its models more quickly, and allow the same production lines to produce everything from the S60 sedan on up.

SPA’d On Volvo already has an early hit on its hands with the first

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57

58

Images courtesy of The Volvo Group

THE VEHICLES

XC90 T8

59 87.5

MPGe (preliminary estimate)

cubic feet of cargo capacity

vehicle of the SPA era: the all-new, all-wheel-drive XC90 seven-seat luxury SUV. The 2016 XC90 is the first refresh of the model since 2002, and as Dr. Peter Mertens, Senior VP of Volvo R&D, recently told Car and Driver, about 90% of the new XC90’s components, and those of other upcoming SPA models, are new and unique. As Volvo began the first deliveries of the XC90 T6 (ICE version) in May, the company already had almost 30,000 pre-orders to fulfill from around the world.

It remains to be seen how big of a success the XC90 will be stateside. But a moderate dip in gas prices combined with a moderately growing economy has revived American sales of SUVs and luxury and near-premium vehicles just in time for the XC90’s late-spring US debut. It will be even more interesting to see if those factors can combine with the slowly but steadily increasing interest in PHEVs to make a hit out of Volvo’s first-of-its-kind seven-seater plug-in SUV, the XC90 T8 Twin Engine. The XC90 T8 is set to debut in America this fall at a substantial premium over the XC90 T6.

Each version comes in three design styles. The baselevel XC90 T8 Momentum will go for $69,095 - $19,200 more than the T6 version (before the $4,600 federal tax credit), and the highest-end XC90 T8 Inscription will sell for $72,595, or $17,100 over the T6 Inscription. That’s a lot of extra cash, but the XC90 T8 drivers will enjoy an estimated fuel economy of 59 MPGe, compared to the 25 MPG highway of the T6. And unlike some other PHEV models, the XC90 T8 offers exactly the same cargo capacity - 85.7 cubic feet - as its ICE counterpart. That’s due to the design of the new SPA system.

As the first SPA vehicle, the XC90 applies Volvo’s new paradigm of installing an inline 2.0-liter 4-cylinder engine that’s both supercharged and turbocharged up front, with the ability to boost it with additional machinery in the rear: forced induction, diesel, or in the case of the XC90 T8, an electric motor.

In an interview with Charged, Michael Fleiss, Volvo’s Global Vice President of Powertrains, said, “In the past we have had V8 engines, 6-cylinder engines, etc, and our research shows that 80-90% of the time, our customers use the engines in the lower rev area, the not-so-high output. So instead we took the V8 engine, more or less cut it in half, left a 4-cylinder engine in front, and took the values as a unit cost of the other half, and installed an electric system. By doing that, we have better drivability and performance than a V8, and a more environmentally friendly propulsion system.”

The XC90 T8 Twin Engine PHEV has the main 4-cylin-

MAY/JUN 2015

59

THE VEHICLES

der Drive-E engine in front, as well as two electric motors.

The 318 hp engine pairs with an eight-speed automatic gearbox. Between the engine and the gearbox, there’s a crank-integrated starter generator (CISG), a 34 kW motor that’s critical for going from pure electric mode to hybrid operation. The CISG also works to recharge the batteries during regenerative braking, and can supply the engine with additional torque when needed. Finally, a 60 kW/82 hp electric motor sits on the rear axle to propel the rear wheels. Having power sources on each axle makes allwheel drive (AWD) more efficient.

The combined 400 hp/472 lb-ft torque XC90 T8 adds up to the most powerful SUV around, and yet it operates at 49 g CO2/km on the New European Driving Cycle (NEDC), compared to the EU’s NEDC target of 95 g CO2/ km (Note: According to the International Council on Clean Transportation, the gap between official NEDC results and real-world figures is about 38%, and the NEDC will be replaced with a new procedure in 2017).

Battery strategy Besides the 4-cylinder Drive-E engine scheme, there’s another aspect to Volvo’s SPA system that factors heavily into Volvo’s electrification strategy. “The SPA platform was designed specifically for electrification,” Jim Nichols, Volvo North America’s Technology and Product Communications Manager, told Charged. “All of our vehicles moving forward are going to be based on that platform, so there will be plug-in hybrid variants of every vehicle Volvo sells.”

That means that for the XC90 T8, battery placement wasn’t treated as an afterthought. Volvo’s only previous PHEV, the V60, used a legacy platform from the Ford regime, and the battery pack was placed in the trunk area.

In the XC90 T8, “we have a 9.3 kWh battery in the tunnel area where you normally find the prop shaft,” Fleiss said.

“We have eliminated the prop shaft, and in that space we have an enclosed battery.” That placement of the 96-cell battery has helped Volvo preserve the T8’s cargo capacity, and also helps it achieve its PHEV-leading seven-seat capacity.

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By contrast, two more luxury plug-in SUVs are due out this fall - the 2016 BMW X5 xDrive40e and the 2016 Mercedes-Benz GLE 550e. Both of those models are fiveseaters with rear cargo hold capacity compromised by battery packs. Their prices weren’t available at press time - it will be intriguing to see if they can undercut Volvo on price, and how those three competitors fare in the market.

Safety first There was another motivation behind the battery placement under the SPA system. “As you know, Volvo stands for safety,” Fleiss said. “We have to place the battery where it is most safe for the customer.”

Nichols expanded on that, saying that with the batteries placed in the tunnel area, rather than in the rear cargo hold, it gives the vehicle a lower center of gravity and “from a safety standpoint it’s a big improvement.”

Of course, Volvo goes a lot further than that to promote the safety of the all-new XC90. All versions of the SUV will include two world-first safety features: Safe Positioning and Cross-Traffic Alert. If the XC90 detects that it is about to run off the road, Safe Positioning kicks in. This securely tightens the seatbelts to brace the passengers against the seats, which are equipped with shock-absorbing material beneath their outer layers that can protect a passenger’s spine in the event of a vertical impact, such as running off into a ditch.

The Cross-Traffic Alert feature employs automatic

Images courtesy of The Volvo Group

There will be plug-in hybrid variants of every vehicle Volvo sells.

400 total combined horsepower

9.3

Volvo XC-90 T8 Twin Engine

kWh battery pack

A crankshaft driven Integrated Starter Generator between the gas engine and the 8-speed atuomatic gearbox

The battery pack is located in the center of the vehicle

Power

400 hp

Torque

472 lb-ft

Acceleration

0-60 mph in 5.7 seconds

Drivetrain

SPA Drive-E engine, CISG and rear electric motor

Electric Range

17 miles (EPA estimate)

Efficiency

59 MPGe (estimated from European testing)

Battery

9.3 kWh

Charging Times (depending on amperage of circuit)

Level 1: 6-12 hours. Level 2: 2.5-6 hours

Cargo Capacity

85.7 cubic feet

Mobile App

Volvo On Call can start car remotely, lock/unlock doors, operate climate control and get roadside assistance

Starting Prices (including $995 delivery fee)

T8 Momentum: $69,095. T8 R-Design: $70,995. T8 Inscription: $72,595

Standard features

Five driving modes, 9-inch Sensus touchscreen display with voice control, panoramic sunroof, collision avoidance, curb detection, lane departure warning, Roll Stability Control, Whiplash Protection System

Options

12.3 inch touchscreen display, LED headlights, 360o Surround View, Park Assist Pilot, adaptive cruise control, Bowers & Wilkins sound system, R-Design model exterior and interior styling, Inscription model exterior and interior styling.

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Images courtesy of The Volvo Group

braking before the driver has a chance to turn into oncoming traffic. This can help prevent frequent accidents like when a driver is turning left with an obstructed view.

It also goes a step beyond the previous City Safety feature to detect rapidly moving objects that may not be right in front of the car.

Speaking of complex algorithms, Park Assist Pilot and 360˚ Surround View help out in tough parking situations through high technology. When parallel parking, Park Assist Pilot uses 12 ultrasonic sensors around the car to alert the driver when a parking spot that is large enough is available. Four concealed fish-eye cameras on each side of the vehicle provide helpful front, rear or side views projected on the center dash display, which come in handy for executing very tight turns, reversing and parking.

Driving modes Perhaps the most complex new engineering for the XC90 T8 has to do with the balancing of the load and shifts of power between the Drive-E engine and the two electric motors. “A very interesting technical question is how you interact with all these machines in the car, and make sure the customer is not feeling any different no matter if it is the combustion engine or the electric machine driving,” said Fleiss. “There should be no shocks and no different feelings for the customer. We have solved that, but that was where a lot of engineering thought and engineering manpower went in.”

All those calculations resulted in not only the five user-selectable driving modes, but also the near-real-time adjustments that the system makes on the fly. “There’s a complete torque-based software,” Fleiss said. “As the driver

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We say in the XC90 T8 you get several cars in one. demands the torque via the pedal, the electronic computing unit (ECU) decides which unit is the best to deliver the torque. It could be the combustion engine, the CISG, or the engine on the rear axle. This obviously happens in milliseconds, and needs to be controlled so there’s no rock and no vibration.”

Of the five driver modes, the default is Hybrid, which alternates drawing power from the gas engine and the rear electric motor. In Pure electric mode, the rear-axle electric motor powers the car alone, up to a speed of “roughly 80 mph,” according to Fleiss, until the battery depletes and the gas engine kicks on automatically.

Power mode relies on the combustion engine, and supplements it with the superior response and instant torque of the electric motor to equate to V8 engine performance. AWD mode is available at any time for a driver to choose all-wheel-drive when they want it and to save energy when they don’t. Finally, Save mode conserves the battery, either locking it at a fully charged level or using the engine to charge it to a certain level for later use. That can be helpful if you’re going to be doing city driving later, and you want to save the battery for driving Pure electric in the city, where it is more efficient in stop-and-go traffic.

“We say in the XC90 T8, you get several cars in one,” Fleiss said.

THE VEHICLES Hybridization will come out next year in PHEV versions on the SPA As Nichols mentioned, the SPA system allows Volvo to platform. Playing up Volvo’s revamped luxury angle, the issue PHEV versions of all its models relatively painsleek sophisticated S90 and V90 will replace the S80 and lessly, and the company intends to do just that in the near V70 respectively. future. However, while Volvo experimented with the C30 “It’s very easy for us,” Fleiss said. “It’s the same platform Drive Electric BEV small-volume car in 2010-2013, don’t - we just adopt this technology into these new cars, and count on it returning to the full-electric space in the near soon you will see them on the market.” term.

“That was more or less sold in Sweden, where you could say it was a test,” Fleiss said. “It was not really available for all customers, but it was a good opportunity for us to understand how these systems work, and what the Electrification Evolution customers’ needs are. Actually, the plug-in hybrid strategy came out of that, because we believe in pure electric cars, but it will take a Hybrid while until they are really good for our customer base. The customer Start / Stop still wants a big range, and we feel Electric that the plug-in hybrid is the best compromise currently to solve our customers’ driving needs.”

For Volvo’s PHEV electrification, the XC90 T8 is leading the charge, so to speak. However, it’s not quite alone, and will have more company before long. Volvo recently released the S60L (longwheelbase version) SPA-based PHEV in China, and it’s indicative of how the company will choose which of its PHEVs land in which markets going forward.

“The S60L plug-in hybrid at the moment will not be available in the US,” said Nichols, “and those decisions will come down as the cars are being released. Market deThe automotive industry is changing fast.

With an engineering team dedicated to mand is really the biggest driver, advanced technologies and our close Only a few years ago, nearly every car and a lot of other variables that go working relationships with manufacturers, used the same battery type and common into the more humdrum business Midtronics is committed to anticipating starting and charging systems. decisions.” and developing solutions to match That's all changing. the complexity of these new battery and The company’s next such deciThe market is rapidly accelerating from electrical systems. sions will be made soon - Fleiss only a few hybrid vehicles to broad Our superior technologies and advanced revealed to us that the new flagelectrification in several forms. From platforms enable Midtronics to offer ship S90 sedan and V90 wagon start-stop systems to full electric vehicles, ■ ■ ■

the number of battery types and systems continue to evolve.

products that match the needs and scale of transportation service markets worldwide.

www.midtronics.com

@Midtronics

CURRENT

v

Volvo XC90 T8 to come with AeroVironment’s TurboCord charger

Image: Karlis Dambrans (CC BY 2.0)

Image courtesy of AeroVironment

Lodging network teams with Tesla to deploy 170 destination-charging stations

Tesla is on a mission to make electric road trips as convenient as possible. Complementing the worldwide network of 2,349 (and counting) Superchargers is the Destination Charging program, which partners with hotels and other travel destinations to deploy Level 2 chargers for overnight charging.

The latest to join the program is Select Registry, an independent association of high-end B&Bs, inns and hotels throughout North America. Select Registry has announced that over 170 Tesla High Power Wall Connectors will be installed at member properties - 63 are already in service.

“Offering electric vehicle charging is yet another high-end amenity and valued convenience our member properties can offer their guests,” said Select Registry CEO Jay Karen.

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While some plug-in vehicle owners steer towards hardwired wall-mounted charging stations, other drivers find that portable “trunk chargers” offer a sufficient and convenient solution.

Volvo has announced that its 2016 XC90 T8 Twin Engine will include AeroVironment’s portable TurboCord Dual (120 V/240 V) charger as standard equipment when the new PHEV goes on sale in the US later this year. This marks the first time a plug-in hybrid manufacturer is including a Level 2 capable, 240 V charger as part of its standard equipment package. At 240 V/16 A, the Volvo XC90 can be fully charged in as little as 2.5 hours, versus 6 hours with Level 1.

“Volvo Cars has made a strong, customer-focused statement about the direction EV charging is taking,” said AeroVironment VP Ken Karklin. “TurboCord delivers the power, portability and convenience that potential EV buyers have been waiting for.”

For Volvo XC90 buyers, charging their new vehicle will be as simple as taking TurboCord out of the trunk and plugging it in. “TurboCord’s portability and dual capability make it ideal for charging at home and anywhere else an electrical outlet is available,” added Karklin.

THE INFRASTRUCTURE

Siemens introduces VersiCharge Smartgrid WiFi-enabled charging station

Image courtesy of Tritium

Brisbane, Australia-based Tritium has shipped 23 of its Veefil 50 kW DC fast chargers to the New Zealand company Charge.net.nz, the first phase of a three-year project to establish a network of fast chargers across the country.

“We’ve identified around 75 sites across the country and our aim is to have fast chargers installed on all of them by the end of 2017,” explains Charge.net.nz Managing Director Steve West. “EVs are perfect for New Zealand; our electricity generation is 80 percent renewable and fossil fuels are expensive to export to a relatively isolated Pacific island nation. New Zealand currently has only around 250 pure EVs, but secondhand vehicles, particularly from Japan, are becoming available at a very reasonable price and as we roll out the fast charging network, I anticipate we will see a rapid uptake in the country.”

“I looked at all the fast chargers currently available and it was an easy choice,” said West. “The Veefil is ideal for our market, where many of our car parks are in buildings with limited space. It’s slim, elegant and because it is so lightweight, it’s cost-effective to ship and install without the need of specialist equipment.”

“Steve West is a true evangelist for the benefits of EVs,” said Tritium Commercial Director Paul Sernia.

“He’s an enthusiastic EV owner and driver himself, and has a real vision of the benefits this fast charging network could bring to New Zealand. He’s an entrepreneur and decided that someone had to break the ‘chicken and egg’ situation.”

Image courtesy of Siemens

New Zealand network installing Veefil DC fast chargers

Siemens’s new VersiCharge Smartgrid (SG) is a WiFienabled charging station that allows residential owners to monitor and control usage remotely through a mobile app. Users can automatically turn charging on or off, schedule charging when rates are lowest, and view past power consumption data in graphical form.

The cloud-based charging station can also interact with utilities, receiving demand response and pricing signals so that utilities can offer programs that help manage demand. By shifting each EV charging event slightly in time or varying the rate at which energy is supplied to the EV, utilities can potentially reduce peak demand on the grid.

“The VersiCharge SG solves two of the longest-lasting challenges associated with EV ownership - the uncertainty around the actual power being consumed and the ability to easily control energy consumption,” said Barry Powell, head of Siemens Low Voltage & Products.

Like all the company’s VersiCharge EV chargers, the UL-certified SG offers 30 amps of current at charging rates up to 7.2 kW, and includes a standard J1772 connector. It can be installed for indoor or outdoor use as a plug-in or hardwired installation. It can be mounted on a wall or on an optional pedestal.

The VersiCharge SG will be available for purchase later this year.

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CURRENTevents

New report: EV charger market to expand twelvefold by 2020

Image © Charged EVs

Image © Charged EVs

Over 63% of public PEV charging stations in the US are free to use

We hear a lot of discussion in the EV industry about all the possible business models for public charging. Will paid public charging ever be a profitable business in its own right? Will plug-in vehicle drivers pay a premium to charge away from home? Or will it make more sense for businesses to offer charging as a free perk to attract customers (often referred to as the WiFi model)?

New data from PlugShare’s quarterly report shows that the free model is leading the way. Nearly 2 out of 3 public charging station locations in the US are free to use - that includes stations of all charging levels in locations where anyone with a compatible vehicle can charge.

For restricted-access public stations, the free-tocharge ratio increases to about 3 out of 4. Examples of restricted access include workplaces with employee-only charging, stations located behind gates, and dealerships with charging for existing customers only.

Full access to PlugShare Quarterly 2015 Q1 - US Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Exhibits can be purchased online.

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The global market for EV chargers is set to grow from about one million units in 2014 to more than 12.7 million units in 2020, according to a new EV Charging Infrastructure report by IHS Automotive.

IHS expects public charging to be a small but important part of the picture. In 2020, approximately 10% of EV charging stations will be public or semi-public, according to the report.

According to IHS, about 7% of the world’s EVs use the CCS charging system, and about 65% use the CHAdeMO standard. This is expected to gradually evolve into a more even split.

Japan, which now actually has more EV charging stations than gas stations, is a key growth region for EVSE. Japan has more than 2,800 CHAdeMO fast charging stations, roughly half the global total of all CHAdeMO stations.

In Europe, the Netherlands, the UK and Norway are the nations with the most charging stations and, not coincidentally, some of the highest EV sales.

“We recognize the potential of Germany and France,” said IHS Senior Analyst Ben Scott. “They are the ‘sleeping giants’ of e-mobility, but their EV charging station networks are currently underdeveloped with respect to the size of those countries.”

Another tidbit in the report: in 2016, global PHEV production will exceed pure EV production for the first time, and is expected to remain that way for the short to mid-term.

THE INFRASTRUCTURE Hawaii Energy launches pilot time-of-use charging program Hawaii Energy, a ratepayer-funded energy conservation and efficiency program, has teamed up with charging station provider OpConnect for a pilot program to encourage residents with photovoltaic (PV) systems to charge their EVs during off-peak demand hours from 9 am to 2 pm.

The aim of the program is to find out at what price PV customers would be willing to charge their EVs during the day when renewable energy is most abundant.

This would shift EV charging electric loads away from the peak hours from 5 to 9 pm when the majority of residents return home and start charging.

Residents with PV systems are eligible to participate in the pilot, for which they will receive a 60 percent discount on charging through the OpConnect network.

“OpConnect members are early adopters of new technologies that will help them reduce their environmental footprint, while also saving them money, whether that is from driving electric vehicles or incorporating solar energy into their homes,” said Dexter Turner, CEO of OpConnect Hawaii.

“With effective behavioral change, this could be a successful load-shifting strategy to reduce peak demand on the electrical grid,” said Joe Simpkins, Program Operations Manager, Hawaii Energy.

According to the US Energy Information Administration, solar power has grown exponentially in Hawaii over the last five years, particularly in Oahu. About 12 percent of Oahu residents have rooftop solar, compared to the US average of 0.50 percent.

ELECTRIC VEHICLE CHARGING SOLUTIONS 1-844-EV-PARTS | 1-844-387-2787 | sales@QuickChargePower.com | www.QuickChargePower.com

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CURRENTevents

Tesla has announced that it will fully support China’s charging standards, modifying its vehicles to ensure that they are compatible. This is surely a wise and necessary policy, as concerns about charging infrastructure are widely considered to be the main reason that EV sales in the world’s largest auto market have been slow to take off.

There’s just one little snag: China doesn’t have any uniform charging standards, and some experts are not optimistic that they will be established any time soon.

China released the “recommended” GB standard for AC charging in 2011, but as a Tesla spokesperson put it, the standard “lacks definition of some important parameters, resulting in the incompatibility of EV products with different brands and charging facilities in different cities [and] it is still a voluntary standard, not mandatory.”

The central government is pushing automakers to produce EVs and, in the absence of a national standard, some localities have designed their own systems that are compatible only with locally-produced EVs. One wealthy businessman, frustrated that he couldn’t drive his Tesla Model S from Guangdong to Beijing, bought 20 Level 2 charging stations from Tesla and built his own charging network, which he says is also open to other Tesla owners.

When China does settle on an AC charging standard, “Model S in China will be compatible with the new GB AC standard,” said Tesla. Will that mean that some or all of the charging stations installed up to that point will

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Image: hans-johnson (CC BY-ND 2.0)

Tesla to adapt to Chinese charging standards - as soon as they exist

then need to be replaced?

David Reeck, formerly Manager of Electrification Strategy for GM China, is one of the pessimists, especially regarding DC standards. He points out that the DC standard that Chinese authorities are promoting lacks safety features that the SAE and CHAdeMO standards include, and that the male and female ends of the connector are reversed.

China did not collaborate on the SAE Combo standard that has been adopted by US and European automakers. A group called the Charging Interface Initiative Asia, which includes BMW, VW, Daimler, Ford and GM, has been encouraging China to adopt a similar standard. Reeck says the group plans to demonstrate a combined Chinese GB standard plug in 2015, but he doesn’t expect China to have a DC standard formalized until 2016.

THE INFRASTRUCTURE

Dutch EV charging network Fastned offers shareholders lifetime free charging

Images courtesy of eMotorWerks

EVSE manufacturer eMotorWerks has delivered over 3,500 of its JuiceBox charging stations since it began volume shipments in October 2013, and expects sales to double in 2015.

The lightweight plugin JuiceBox comes in two versions: the Classic, which starts at $449, and the Pro, which adds additional functionality including WiFi data collection and remote control. Both are available at either 30 Amp/7.5 kW or 40 Amp/10 kW power ratings.

JuiceBox is designed to be smart-grid-ready. Grid operators can shift charging times and power levels to help ease congestion on distribution grid circuits and provide rapid response to adverse grid events.

“Our advanced, reliable, and cost-effective charging solution makes it possible for every EV owner to have their own Level 2 charging station,” said founder Valery Miftakhov. “With faster charge times you get on the road more quickly, and our connected solutions allow you to schedule charging at times of reduced electricity rates.”

Images courtesy of Fastned

eMotorWerks delivers 3,500 JuiceBox charging stations

The Dutch charging network Fastned is offering investors a tempting perk: free fast charging at all Fastned stations for the rest of their life. Shareholders that invest over 25,000 euros in the company become a member of the Fastned Founders Club, and can immediately start charging for free.

In 2012, Fastned was awarded a concession to build DC fast charging stations at 201 of the 245 service areas along Dutch highways. Today, 31 stations are operational, and the company says it is adding one new station every week.

“Our goal is similar to mobile telephony - to create a national network of fast charging stations with national coverage, which allows electric cars to go anywhere with peace of mind,” said co-founder and CEO Michiel Langezaal. “Anyone who invests a substantial amount today becomes co-owner of the infrastructure of the future and can use it for free, forever.”

“We are the Shell of the future, only our energy comes from the sun and the wind,” said Langezaal.

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CURRENTevents

Denmark’s CLEVER charging network expands to Sweden

Image: IQRemix (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Image courtesy of CLEVER

Nissan and BMW to build charging network in South Africa

Nissan and BMW have agreed to jointly build a national grid of public charging stations in South Africa. The stations will feature DC fast chargers compatible with both the SAE Combo standard used by BMW’s plug-in models and the CHAdeMO standard used by the Nissan LEAF. Some stations will also include Level 2 chargers.

“Our introduction of the LEAF in 2013 was part of Nissan’s global drive to advance sustainable mobility and to grow the market for zero-emission vehicles,” says Mike Whitfield, Managing Director of Nissan South Africa. “With this in mind, we believe our partnership with BMW SA is a sound investment to create a futureproof automobile industry.”

“A key imperative of our strategy is to ensure that the necessary infrastructure is rolled out to help increase consumer confidence in the viability of electric vehicles,” said Tim Abbott, Managing Director of BMW South Africa. “We therefore believe that in order for the introduction and expansion of electric vehicles as well as plug-in hybrid electric vehicles to be successful in this market, we need to work together.”

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CLEVER, a Danish “Electric Mobility Operator” that’s owned by five utilities, is opening a subsidiary in Sweden, with the Swedish energy company Öresundskraft as majority shareholder.

“With five years of experience as an operator of both electric vehicles and charging in Denmark, the company is now ready to scale up, and transfer our knowledge and capabilities to other European countries,” says CEO Lars Bording. “Sweden is our first international opening, however it is our intention to enter into dialogue with other European markets where local investors and companies are looking for a partner that can bring a turnkey solution.”

As in Denmark, CLEVER Sweden will deliver EVSE products and installation services, and will also establish and operate a public network of fast charging stations.

The first phase of the network will consist of 35 fast charging stations with 50 kW charging.

CLEVER’s Danish network of 350 charging points supports both SAE Combo and CHAdeMO standards, and the company plans to build the same capabilities in Sweden. Charging and payment systems will be the same in Sweden and Denmark, making it easier to take EVs across the border.

“CLEVER has cooperation agreements with automotive brands including BMW, Nissan, Volkswagen, Renault and Tesla,” said Öresundskraft CEO Anders Östlund.

THE INFRASTRUCTURE

A pilot program in the Netherlands will give EV drivers the option of scheduling charging to take advantage of lower nighttime rates, and also to choose among different energy suppliers.

“Flexible Charging Rates” is a joint project of network operator Enexis, energy suppliers Green Choice and NieuweStroom, and service providers The New Motion and Greenflux. It involves 50 participating EV drivers, and will run until November 2015.

Participants will be able to choose the times of their charging sessions, and also to opt for electricity generated from renewable sources.

It’s all part of a larger pilot called “Slim Charging Brabant,” in which the province of Brabant will develop a network of public charge points, connected by a smart

Image courtesy of The New Motion

The New Motion smart charging pilot lets Dutch drivers choose clean electrons

network called Slim Net that will manage power demand to avoid overloading the power network.

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Image courtesy of NRG EVgo

THE INFRASTRUCTURE

NRG EVGO ON THE MOVE With a focus on DC fast charging, the EVgo network is rapidly expanding across the US.

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it’s currently operating more than 350 DC fast chargers in the US: more than 100 in the LA market; 50 in the Dallas/Fort Worth and Houston areas; 28 in Chicagoland and 10 coming online in Denver. Dozens more sites in half a dozen metro areas are in the permitting and construction process.

The EVgo network has doubled in size in just the last 8 months. Still, despite its growth and size, it’s entirely possible that you haven’t even heard of it.

Charged recently chatted with the two company execs most responsible for the development and installation of EV infrastructure: Arun Banskota , the President of NRG EVgo, and Brendan Jones, who recently joined the team after 21 years in the auto industry, most recently running the EV arm of Nissan North America.

Charged: EVgo has become one of the largest and fastest-growing DC fast charging networks in America. However, it seems that Tesla’s charging network

Images courtesy of NRG EVgo

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n the past year, the NRG EVgo network has quietly passed some major milestones in the EV charging industry. The company now has more public DC fast charging sites than anyone else - even more than Tesla’s vast Supercharger network. EVgo also has the highest number of CHAdeMO and CCS fast chargers installed on its network, serving every EV made by the major automakers and any Tesla Model S with a CHAdeMO adapter. In fact, as of May 2015, it has over four times more fast chargers than any other public network.

The company can also lay claim to the most powerful network of CHAdeMO and CCS chargers. While others are rolling out DC chargers in the 20 kW range, EVgo has no stations below 44 kW. NRG EVgo’s network of Freedom Stations has been providing drivers with range confidence since 2011. It now operates in 19 markets, with full operations in another 7 markets coming by the end of the year. In total,

THE INFRASTRUCTURE

The purpose of the EVgo network is to provide all EV drivers, no matter the make of their vehicle, with confidence in their ability to travel.

Arun Banskota, President of NRG EVgo

receives most of the mainstream media attention.

How do you think the two networks stack up?

The numbers: NRG EVgo in the US currently operating more than

doubled in size in the past

DC fast chargers

months

350

8

Arun Banskota: Tesla has more chargers, because they have as many as 10 chargers per location, but EVgo has more locations. You also need to keep in mind that the Tesla network exists to serve just one car brand, Tesla, while EVgo serves all car brands, including any Model S driver who wants to use the Level 2 stations or the CHAdeMO fast chargers, with an adapter made by Tesla.

The purpose of the EVgo network is to provide all EV drivers, no matter the make of their vehicle, with confidence in their ability to travel. It is not just about that ability city to city. It is arguably even more important to

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Charged: You will be in 26 markets by the end of 2015.

How do you choose which areas to expand to?

AB: We started in Texas because NRG serves over 2 million retail electricity customers in Texas and has thousands of employees there. It was a good place to demonstrate the complete business model. Today, Houston and Dallas/Fort Worth are both significant metropolitan areas with growing bases of EV sales. They

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The numbers: Atlanta, Georgia

28

new Atlanta locations in last six months

9

opening another

thousand square miles to EV owners

are our most mature networks, but our fastest growing are in California, where 4% of auto sales are EVs, and Atlanta - thanks to Georgia’s history of significant tax incentives for EV purchases [Editor’s note: In April, Georgia eliminated the state’s $5,000 tax credit for EV purchases, and imposed a $200 yearly user fee].

In Atlanta, with help from our partner site owners like Simon Properties and AAA Car Care Centers, we have been able to get 28 locations online in just the last six months - opening another 9,000 square miles to EV owners.

We continue to target emerging markets where EV

Images courtesy of NRG EVgo

provide that confidence in the greater metro area of a city.

Houston, for example has a contiguous footprint that is 8,778 square miles. It is bigger than the state of New Jersey. The Freedom Station sites in Houston allow EV drivers, no matter their vehicles’ range, to roam that entire region with ease. It gives them the ability to quickly recharge in a location where they can actually get something done.

The NRG EVgo networks are growing so quickly that a driver last month drove his Nissan LEAF, starting in south San Diego, California, to the San Francisco Bay Area in one day. He drove 600 miles all in the same day, thanks to the EVgo network. That is why they are called Freedom Stations.

THE INFRASTRUCTURE

I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think that utilities should be excluded from involvement, but they should not be using rate-based dollars to invest

sales are growing and creating the need for infrastructure to give confidence to the consumer.

One thing is for certain: the network will never be complete, because we will always continue to build Freedom Station sites to meet the needs of the rapidly expanding EV driver base.

Charged: We are starting to see major utilities attempt to enter the EV charging space. Often these plans include funding network infrastructure with rate hikes charged to all consumers. What do you think of these sorts of projects?

AB: Our business is building range confidence for EV drivers. Doing that requires infrastructure, which we are investing in all over the nation. I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think that utilities should be excluded from involvement, but they should not be using rate-based dollars to invest in rapidly changing technologies for a relatively small number of EV owners. When you build an infrastructure on rate-based dollars, you can discourage private investment in infrastructure and make everyone, even people who may not be able to afford to buy a car, pay for this infrastructure.

With the rate of change in this industry, these charg-

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Images courtesy of NRG EVgo

Brendan Jones recently joined the NRG EVgo team

ing station assets will not have the typical useful life of power plants, power lines, and transformers. They are on much more of a consumer technology cycle.

It is also important to build the right network that will truly make EV driving viable. Most utility plans, so far, have what sounds like large numbers of chargers, but they are almost all Level 2 charging, which is great for home and work charging, but does consumers little good when it comes to quickly and easily charging on the go. Our network is future-looking, with the ability to house not just DC fast charging, but next-generation charging that is double or more the capacity of current technology. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not science fiction, but systems that are right around the corner.

There is also the issue of compatibility, because there are more than 3,000 utilities in the US, which makes it impossible to have a standard of delivery. If each of those utilities develops their own mini-network, it becomes much like the early stages of cellular telephone networks. This puts the customer in a situation of being left with no service outside of his or her own small network. The solution to that ultimately was the first roaming plans and now national networks, which operate seamlessly. That is the network that EVgo already provides.

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That makes a fast, reliable network the most important piece of the puzzle.

Charged: Brendan, after more than 20 years with Nissan, you moved to a leading role at NRG EVgo. What led you there?

Brendan Jones: Last year at Nissan we sold more than 30,000 LEAFs in the US, which was a fantastic accomplishment. I feel that the next level for EVs is building the premier national DC fast charging network. This is an accomplishment that is aimed at serving not just one OEM, but all EVs into the future.

As the number and type of vehicles available in the EV marketplace continues to grow and expand, barriers to EV adoption shrink, and consumersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; biggest questions about range and aesthetics are fewer and fewer. Then, eventually all concerns regarding range are resolved.

That makes a fast, reliable network the most important piece of the puzzle.

THE INFRASTRUCTURE

Our network is future-looking, with the ability to house not just DC fast charging, but next-generation charging that is double or more the capacity of current technology.

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Charged: In the past year, there have been some other projects announced for public DC charging in the 20 kW range. What are your thoughts on the power levels of current and future fast chargers?

BJ: The future moves fast, and for EV charging that future is based on speed of delivery. EVgo is already the industry leader in DC fast charging, with most Freedom Station sites capable of providing up to 40 miles of range in just 15 minutes. But the very near future suggests that anything below 50 kW is not going to be considered fast charging.

EVgo’s vision of fast charging includes laying the groundwork for future chargers to deliver 100 kW. Our stations are designed to adapt to standards as they improve and shift with the rapidly evolving technology of both the charging infrastructure and the needs of the vehicles being charged.

Overall, EVgo’s business model is to support all EV brands and, at least initially, we believe that the vast majority of EV owners purchase their vehicles for intra-city driving. That is why EVgo began with comprehensive metropolitan coverage of EV infrastructure, and we are now serving 26 cities. As automakers are planning larger capacity batteries and longer range, 200 miles and above, EVgo is now focusing on providing a comprehensive inter-city charging infrastructure as well, allowing EV drivers to drive nationally with more range confidence.

The very near future suggests that anything below 50 kW is not going to be considered fast charging.

Charged: California has been a huge focus for Nissan and for EV infrastructure in general. How is the build out of that area coming along?

BJ: There is no doubt that a number of the individual markets in California, and the state as a whole, are the most aggressive buildouts in what is already the nation’s largest EV market. Currently, there is no other network in the Golden State that can compare to NRG’s scope in terms of charging any DC fast-chargeable vehicle.

California has more than 200 NRG EVgo fast chargers. The network supports both the CHAdeMO standard that’s used by the largest number of EVs on the road, and the CCS standard that supports some of the newest EVs. These chargers are found at Freedom Stations, stand-alone locations at high-use areas and publicly-accessible sites at car dealerships. Individually

The numbers

26 200 now serving

cities

fast chargers in California

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Images courtesy of NRG EVgo

more than

THE INFRASTRUCTURE and combined, they comprise the largest fast charger network in any state in the nation, stretching from San Diego through Los Angeles to San Francisco and Sacramento.

Drivers are proving the increasing value and need for available fast charging, highlighted by a 135 percent increase in station use in the last three months of 2014 over the previous three months.

Charged: What is your strategy for choosing site locations?

AB: In order for a network to be successful, it needs to serve the customer where and when they need it. We have found that what drivers want is ease of access and something to do while they charge.

EVgo has signed partnership agreements with 59 retail hosts all over the country, including Simon Properties, Macerich, Kimco, Whole Foods and Walgreens. These agreements continue to grow, putting our stations in prime parking locations. Our partnership with Simon now totals more than 60 locations nationwide at highend and well-located Premium Outlet Malls and other locations. The first of those sites opened in 2013 with the Freedom Station at Fashion Valley in San Diego.

EVgoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s vision of fast charging includes laying the groundwork for future chargers to deliver 100 kW. These are prime destinations in and of themselves.

You need look no further than Copley Place in Boston, Leesburg Corner and Hagerstown Premium Outlets in the Greater Washington DC area, or the Town Center at Cobb, Mall of Georgia, and Lenox Square of Phipps Plaza in the Atlanta area.

We have a number of important factors we consider in charger placement, everything from safety to ease of access to hours of availability. The placement of a Freedom Station is generally within feet, not miles, of a major thoroughfare or freeway, giving drivers not just a place to plug in, but also a true destination.

Our future includes linking these metro areas together to allow for confident driving for EV owners of all ranges.

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GAINING

TRACTION AT LAST Efacec, a leading supplier of DC fast chargers, discusses the long road from zero to over 600 installations worldwide.

By Michael Kent

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THE INFRASTRUCTURE

I see that people are now starting to realize that the installed chargers are driving people to buy the cars.

Images courtesy of Efacec

Image courtesy of Efacec

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f we’ve heard it once, we’ve heard it a thousand times: EVs and charging infrastructure present a chicken-and-egg problem. This thesis has been the topic of countless EV industry conference panels over the past decade.

In recent years, many experts have attempted to declare the issue settled. Back in January 2013, European Union Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard wrote that “we can finally end the discussion about the chicken and the egg when it comes to whether the infrastructure needs to be present before the electric car market explodes. It has to make sense to buy an electric car, and it doesn’t if you can’t even drive halfway across [Denmark] without running out of charge.”

However, despite the conclusions drawn by Hedegaard and others, we still hear the topic discussed all the time.

The good news is that those on the front lines of infrastructure deployment report a very noticeable shift in the attitude of their customers. “Finally, after years of discussion, there is growing activity and excitement for charging station projects,” Efacec’s Mike Anderson told Charged. “I see that people are now starting to realize that the installed chargers are driving people to buy the cars.”

Anderson is EV Charger Sales Manager for the Portuguese company’s US division. He believes that it’s the convenience of fast chargers that’s making the biggest difference. “When someone sees how easy it is to pop

into Starbucks for coffee and get up to 50% of their battery life back in 15 to 20 minutes with DC fast charging, it makes a big impact. I think that’s what’s garnering a lot of the new infrastructure push now.”

Navigating the standards The shift in momentum for the fast charging industry couldn’t have come too soon. It’s been a long road for those who’ve attempted to shape the nascent industry in the past few years, with new obstacles at every turn.

The war between the CHAdeMO and SAE Combo standards placed everyone in an awkward position early on, including charging equipment manufacturers and those attempting to plan infrastructure projects. For a

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Image © Charged EVs

The war between the CHAdeMO and SAE Combo standards placed everyone in an awkward position early on.

few years, only CHAdeMOequipped Nissan LEAFs were on the road in meaningful numbers, yet all of the major automakers that aren’t Japanese agreed to use a different plug. In these circumstances, many opted to “wait and see,” rather than “build it and they will come.”

Fortunately, as EVs fitted with SAE Combo plugs like the BMW i3, VW e-Golf and Chevy Spark EV - hit the road and grow in popularity, DC fast charger manufacturers have successfully promoted a variety of chargers that support dual standards. Anderson estimates that, of about 150 Efacec chargers installed in the US to date, 70% are dual-standard. The company supplied about 50 CHAdeMO-only units for two early projects, but since then, customers have largely requested both charging plugs.

“The only reason someone would still request a CHAdeMO-only fast charger is if they’ve only been able to secure funding for the CHAdeMO portion of a project,” explained Anderson. “We’ve had a couple folks buy the chargers with CHAdeMO only, then work to try to get financing for the SAE Combo side as well.

And when that happens, they can upgrade the unit even

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if it’s already installed. We can go onsite and update the power cabinet with some more components inside and the second connector.”

Other than a handful of cases in which a customer requests a single-plug charger for a private installation, like an automaker’s testing facility, Anderson says that “as EVs are getting more prolific around the country, everyone sees the value of two connectors on one station.”

Incentivized The EV-savviness of Efacec’s client base ranges from EVSE distributors and utility companies, which are very familiar with the equipment and the industry, to retail property owners, who know very little about how fast chargers work and what to expect from them. So, the sales team is required to answer an array of questions about the latest regulations and incentives that are very detailed, constantly changing and different in every market.

“The different incentives not only drive the vehicle purchases, but the infrastructure requirements too,” said Anderson. “Georgia, where we’re based, just voted

to do away with its $5,000 EV tax credit. So, we’ll see how that affects vehicle sales and charger rollout.”

Last year, Maryland enacted some of the country’s most generous tax credits for both new vehicles and charging stations - up to $3,000 for qualifying PEVs and 50% of the purchase and installation price of EVSE, up to $5,000 for a commercial unit. It didn’t take long for Efacec to see the increased demand, and this summer DC fast charging installations will begin to roll out across the state, including one project led by an Efacec distributor to deploy 15 of its dual-standard fast chargers at Royal Farm gas stations throughout Maryland.

Outside of the states that have significant tax credits, Anderson also reports seeing increased activity for projects that are funded by private investors, automakers and utility companies.

“With the utilities, it’s based on the laws of the state as to what their level of involvement can be with providing charging services direct to consumers,” said Anderson. “It’s a heavily regulated industry: whether they can own, operate, charge for electricity, or even provide it for free. It’s literally all over the map.”

A world of charging In the US, Efacec’s charging equipment can be found on just about every public charging network: NRG EVgo, ChargePoint, Greenlots, EV Connect and OpConnect.

The company’s work in Europe prepared it to work well with a lot of different network service providers. “Every time you cross the border into another country, there is a set of new networks to deal with,” said Anderson.

“There are three to four times more networks in Europe than in the US.” Efacec has been in the car charging business since 2008, and in 2010 it partnered with Nissan in support of the rollout of the LEAF in Europe. Now with over 600 DC fast chargers installed worldwide, site locations include Sweden, Norway, Portugal, England, North

Efacec DC Fast Chargers about

150

installed in the US

around

70%

are dual-standard

Image courtesy of Efacec

As EVs are getting more prolific around the country, everyone sees the value of two connectors on one station.

Image courtesy of Efacec

THE INFRASTRUCTURE

Africa, Dubai, Brazil, South Africa, USA and the Caribbean.

In the US, all of Efacec’s installed stations are the 50 kW model, but in Europe the company also has 20 kW DC chargers and Level 2 charging stations deployed.

Anderson told us that they’re currently in the certification process to bring the other products to the states, and he sees a fair amount of demand for DC charging in the 20 kW range. “I think the lower price point is

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THE INFRASTRUCTURE

Charging the US market

Image © Charged EVs

Image courtesy of Efacec

Founded in 1948, Efacec is the largest Portuguese-based company in the electric utility industry, with over 3,900 employees in 65 countries. Its portfolio of business divisions includes transformers, switchgear and automation, environmental engineering, transportation and electronic power systems (which includes the electric mobility division).

After selling its Georgia-based smart grid automation and power transformer manufacturing operations in 2014, Efacec’s EV Charging division became its main US-based area of activity.

going to attract new customers, and the smaller physical size is also beneficial,” he said. “Also, the 20 kW will run on 208 V three-phase, which is a lot more available than 480 V, which is what our 50 kW requires, and it has all the same features - dual connectors and the same color screen and push-button interface.”

The company has also announced a 24 kW wallmounted DC charger that it expects to be very popular, based on its price point and the ability to use either 208 V three-phase or 240 V single-phase power. The small, sleek charger weighs about 130 pounds, but is only capable of one charging connector per unit because of the packaging constraints.

A culture of convenience A hundred years ago, when cars were fighting for road space with horses, and gas stations were few and far be-

Efacec's 24 kW wall mounted DC charger

tween, people were willing to strap 5 cans of gasoline to the bumper. Unfortunately there is no analogous intermediate solution for EVs, and until the new technology meets or surpasses the convenience of legacy vehicles, adoption will be limited.

“People don’t want to be restricted as to where they can drive an EV,” said Anderson. “The days of early adopters willing to drive around with extension cords in their trunk and asking to use people’s outlets are behind us. It’s primarily the economics that’s driving adoption now - the ability to save on the fuel costs - but consumers are not going to be inconvenienced in order to do that. That’s why I think we’re seeing more of a push for fast charging infrastructure now. Everyone has realized that in order to drive car sales, consumers need to see convenient quick charging sites in their communities.”

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e’ve all heard lots of theories about what needs to happen to make EV sales “really take off,” but there’s no question that a better selection of different vehicle types would be a great thing - not every car buyer wants a hatchback or a luxury sedan.

For better or for worse, what many buyers around the world really want is an SUV, so plugging in that segment presents plenty of profit potential (to say nothing of the symbolic value of electrifying the universal icon of heedless gas-guzzling).

There’s a good case to be made that the small city car was never the most promising segment for electrification, and several industry execs have recently made statements to that effect, including EV visionary Bob Lutz, who said, “We electrified the wrong end of the business.”

It may be that automakers are acting on this theory, or it may be that (as much of the media is convinced) they feel the need to compete with Tesla, but for whatever reason, a generous selection of Plug-in SUVs (PSUVs - you read it here first) and crossovers is now in the production pipeline, and several should show up in US showrooms within the next year.

The first PSUV to be sold in the US was the Porsche Cayenne S E-Hybrid, which went on sale here in November 2014. With an MSRP starting at $76,400, it’s been making respectable sales for a low-volume model, but has yet to show any signs of revolutionizing the auto market.

Sales of Mitsubishi’s Outlander Plug-In Hybrid have been strong since the crossover went on sale in Europe and Japan two years ago, while sales of its tiny iMiEV have been meager, at least in the US. The good news: the California Air Resources Board recently decided to allow smaller OEMs such as Mitsu to earn ZEV credits with PHEVs. The bad news: the Outlander’s US launch has been delayed again and again, and the latest word is that it won’t hit American dealerships until the second quarter of 2016.

The Volvo XC90 T8 Twin Engine Plug-In Hybrid (featured in this issue) will go on sale in the US this summer, with an MSRP starting at $69,095. It features a 2.0-liter gas engine and two electric motors. Electric range is estimated at 17 miles.

The 2016 Mercedes-Benz GLE 550e will be the company’s third plug-in hybrid, with a 329-hp V-6 engine, an 85 kW electric motor and about 18 miles of electric range. It’s expected to go on sale this September.

BMW’s X5 xDrive40e, sporting permanent all-wheel drive, a four-cylinder gas engine and a synchronous electric motor, musters total power of 313 hp, and a 19-mile electric range. It’s also expected this fall.

Audi has several PSUVs in the pipeline. The revamped 2016 Q7 crossover will be offered in a plug-in hybrid version, with a 258 hp 3.0-liter V6 diesel engine, a 94 kW electric motor, and an electric

Image courtesy of Porsche Image courtesy of Mitsubishi

PSUVs

By Charles Morris

Here come the

Image courtesy of Tesla Motors

Image courtesy of BMW Group

W

range around 20-25 miles. It will probably show up in select markets in late 2015. The Q7 e-tron, a large SUV that Audi has developed specially for Asian markets, is scheduled to go on sale in 2016. The company also says it’s developing “a sporty SUV with electric drive,” to be launched in 2018.

And that’s not all. Jaguar Land Rover is rumored to be developing an electric version of its F-Pace crossover. Even Chrysler, the least charged of automakers, is expected to offer a plug-in powertrain for its new Town & Country minivan, and is “exploring hybrid options” for other models, including the Jeep Grand Cherokee. Meanwhile, China’s Great Wall Motors has plans to put a PSUV into production in 2017. ...and then there’s the Model X. Tesla is furiously working on beta vehicles, crash testing and so forth, and hopes to make the first US deliveries in the third quarter of this year. As the only pure electric SUV, the only American offering with a plug, and, well, the only Tesla, the X seems sure to be the standard-bearer for its segment. The European plug-ins will surely attract a lot of interest when they arrive, but the first question on every potential buyer’s mind is likely to be, “For the same price, could I have a Model X?”

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The M653 is currently available in a 750V, 800A rating and features our integrated 3rd Generation Aluminum Water Jacket for optimal cooling.

For more information please visit our web-site: www.americas.fujielectric.com

Fuji Electric Corp. of America Semiconductors: semi-group@fecoa.fujielectric.com EV: lbutkovich@fecoa.fujielectric.com

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We offer the largest public DC Fast Charging network in America.

Visit info.evgonetwork.com/dcfast to learn more.

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