CHARGED Electric Vehicles Magazine - Iss 18 MAR/APR 2015

ELECTRIC VEHICLES MAGAZINE

ISSUE 18 | MARCH/APRIL 2015 | CHARGEDEVS.COM

A race towards

progress The FIA Formula E Championship aims to change public perception and push EV technology to new heights p. 48

p. 24

Wildcat’s high-speed science

p. 30

Q&A with LG Chem Power CEO

p. 60

EDI delivers powerful plug-ins

p. 76

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THE TECH CONTENTS

30

24 | The pulse of the industry

Wildcat Discovery Technology is solving problems and accumulating insight

30 | Making the most of materials

16

Q&A with Dr. Prabhakar Patil, LG Chem Power CEO

current events 12 |

Bitrode pack testers feature dramatically improved rise time TM4 introduces auxiliary power supply for EV accessories

13 | 14 |

21

UK startup improves free piston linear technology Improved motor and controller gives Renault Zoe a range of 149 miles Researchers discover high-performance cathode for Li-S batteries

15 | 16 | 18 |

Polypore sells two main elements for $3.2 billion Tanktwo introduces String Cell technology VW may use solid-state batteries in its next-generation EV Battery giants square off for court battle over lithium-ion patents

22

19 | 21 | 22 | 23 |

Dyson invests $15 million in solid-state battery-maker Sakti3 A123 shifts focus to starter batteries Assisted steering system uses wheel motors for more efficiency Real-time images of lithium dendrite structures

THE VEHICLES CONTENTS

48 | Formula

E

The all-electric racing series aims to change public perception and push EV technology to new heights

60 | Powerful Plug-ins

48

EDI delivers extended-range EV drivetrains for some of the biggest vehicles on the road

90 | Tesla Model X

The long-awaited electric SUV nears production

current events 38 |

60

Illinois suspends its $4,000 rebate program for plug-in vehicles Obama: Federal fleet must be 50 percent plug-ins by 2025

39 |

Proterra’s new battery pack enables ranges of up to 180 miles GM ends production of 2015 Volt, retools for next-gen model

40 |

Oregon explores replacing gas tax with per-mile road tax Tesla direct sales resume in New Jersey

41 | 42 |

Uber to test a fleet of BYD EVs in the US

90

Basic Model S gets AWD and a bigger battery BYD to triple production of batteries

43 | 44 |

China to issue licenses for EV manufacturing to new firms XALT Energy announces $1 billion battery supply agreement Tesla will now provide quarterly sales numbers

45 | 47 |

British Columbia renews Clean Energy Vehicle incentive program New hybrid Chevrolet Malibu uses tech from the Volt

47

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76 | Data Driven

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From academia to enterprise: MOEV Inc.’s distributed power smart-charging systems

82 68 |

Bolloré to build nationwide charging network in France ClipperCreek announces portable plug-in version of LCS-20

69 |

Hawaiian Electric Companies launch EV Bill Savings Estimator Nissan and Endesa partner to develop mass-market V2G system

68

71 |

Indiana gas station chain installs DC fast chargers NRG eVgo launches program to help renters charge EVs

72 | 73 |

Study: Public charging has little impact on interest in EVs Tritium brings Veefil DC fast chargers to the US SDG&E integrates EVs into wholesale energy market

74 |

Eaton DC Hyper Charger delivers rates up to one megawatt Con Edison tests smart grid technology for fleet charging

71

75 |

EV Connect and GE sign joint marketing and product agreement UK government to invest £32 million in EV infrastructure

Publisher’s Note The EV elevator pitch I find myself in a lot of conversations about the future of the automobile with people outside the automotive industry. I admit, I often struggle to clearly express why I think widespread electrification is a foregone conclusion. I suppose I need to work on my elevator pitch for EVs. The trouble is that it’s complicated, and there are many reasons why I believe that advanced battery systems will slowly but surely rule the roadways.

Christian Ruoff Publisher Laurel Zimmer Associate Publisher Charles Morris Senior Editor Markkus Rovito Associate Editor

One specific question I’ve heard a lot in the past six months: How will low oil prices affect the growth in vehicle electrification?

Jeffrey Jenkins Technology Editor

Well, a few recent studies have found that cheap oil has little or no effect on plug-in vehicle sales. It seems that either buyers don’t expect gas to be cheap forever, or that fuel costs are not the driving force behind plug-in sales. However, I don’t think an effective elevator pitch should begin with “studies have shown.”

Erik Fries Contributing Editor

In March at the 32nd International Battery Seminar, Dr. Mark Verbrugge, Director of GM’s Chemical and Materials Systems Laboratory (i.e. battery science), told the crowd that low oil prices will have no effect on the company’s plan to significantly increase electrification across its vehicle lineup – from micro-hybrid start/stop systems to long-range EVs. Responding to the price-ofgas question during a Q&A session, Verbrugge said, “from an OEM perspective, if you take a longer view, what we’re really driving at is fuel-efficiency targets, and those don’t change.”

During another presentation, Verbrugge noted that it’s not just the US CAFE target of 54.5 MPG by 2025 that’s driving electrification, but a worldwide trend of increased-efficiency and reduced-CO2 regulations. One of his slides highlighted the upcoming individual regulatory requirements of the US, Canada, California, Mexico, the European Union, China, Korea, Japan, India and Australia.

“You’ve got three ways to get there,” Verbrugge continued. “You can electrify your vehicles to some extent, or you can lightweight them, or you can reduce functionality. And [we focus on reducing] the cost of electrification and lightweighting. Reducing functionality is not something you want to do in the market.”

Well said!

EVs are here. Try to keep up.

Christian Ruoff Publisher

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. CHARGED ELECTRIC VEHICLES MAGAZINE IS PUBLISHED BY ISENTROPIC MEDIA. COPYRIGHT © 2014 BY ISENTROPIC MEDIA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. REPRINTING IN WHOLE OR PART IS FORBIDDEN EXPECT BY PERMISSION OF ISENTROPIC MEDIA. MAILING LIST: WE MAKE A PORTION OF OUR MAILING LIST AVAILABLE TO REPUTABLE FIRMS. IF YOU PREFER THAT WE DO NOT INCLUDE YOUR NAME, PLEASE WRITE US AT CHARGED - ELECTRIC VEHICLES MAGAZINE, ATTN: PRIVACY DEPARTMENT, PO BOX 13074, SAINT PETERSBURG, FL 33733. POSTMASTER: SEND ADDRESS CHANGES TO CHARGED - ELECTRIC VEHICLES MAGAZINE, ATTN: SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES, PO BOX 13074, SAINT PETERSBURG, FL 33733. SUBSCRIPTION RATES: $29.95 FOR 1 YEAR (6 ISSUES). PLEASE ADD $10.00 FOR CANADIAN ADDRESSES AND $36.00 FOR ALL OTHER INTERNATIONAL ADDRESSES. ADVERTISING: TO INQUIRE ABOUT ADVERTISING AND SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES PLEASE CONTACT US AT +1-727-258-7867. PRINTED IN THE USA.

Nick Sirotich Illustrator & Designer Tome Vrdoljak Graphic Designer Contributing Writers Michael Kent Charles Morris Markkus Rovito Christian Ruoff Joey Stetter Contributing Photographers Kārlis Dambrāns Jacques Descloitres Raphael Desrosiers Don McCullough Nicolas Raymond Eva Rinaldi Gage Skidmore Pete Souza Glen Wallace David Wilson Cover Image Courtesy of Formula E Special Thanks to Kelly Ruoff Sebastien Bourgeois For Letters to the Editor, Article Submissions, & Advertising Inquiries Contact Info@ChargedEVs.com

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CURRENTevents

Bitrode battery pack testers feature dramatically improved rise time

12

Image courtesy of TM4

Image courtesy of Bitrode

St. Louis-based Bitrode has announced a significant improvement in the rise time of its FTF line of pack testing equipment. A reduced rise time allows the battery chemist, pack designer or testing laboratory to test battery pack designs to performance levels expected to be seen in actual use.

The transient time for the current ramp in a Bitrode FTF from 10-90% of full charge has been decreased from approximately 15 milliseconds (ms) to less than 4 ms. For 0-100% charge, transient time has been decreased from 15 ms to less than 8 ms, with no overshoot. When operating in battery simulator mode and regulating output voltage, Bitrode’s FTF products accommodate fast load current transitions from 0-100% in less than 3 ms.

Bitrode’s FTF can be used to test sudden and demanding load changes from motor drives and similar components, as part of drive-cycle stress testing of batteries and packs, as well as charging/discharging banks of ultracapacitors.

“Bitrode recognizes the increasing demands of the EV/HEV battery testing industry,” said Product Engineer Shawn Dickinson. “The release of the high-power FTF-HP last summer, together with this dramatic improvement in rise time, demonstrates our commitment to provide innovative industry-leading solutions for the electric vehicle and energy storage industries.”

TM4 introduces auxiliary power supply for EV accessories with CANbased interface

TM4, a subsidiary of public utility Hydro-Québec, is active in the development of EV motors and power systems. Its latest product is the CO150-HVF, an auxiliary power supply for commercial vehicle applications.

Based on the same platform as the company’s CO150 traction inverters, the CO150-HVF offers a CAN-based interface that allows dynamic control of frequency and output voltage for EV accessory applications (such as pumps, fans or compressors) using a three-phase AC induction motor. This feature allows the use of variablespeed accessories and reduces the average consumption of auxiliaries. Also, data available on the CAN shows the status of the inverter and its load, which enables advanced control functions.

Also this week, TM4 received $3.7 million (Canadian) to develop low-cost wheel motors for electric and hybrid vehicles. The funding was provided through Sustainable Development Technology Canada’s SD Tech Fund.

The objective of this project is to design a wheel motor electric drive system for EVs, with high power density and the lowest possible cost.

THE TECH A free piston linear power generator (FPEG), which uses combustion to generate electricity directly, using no drive shaft, could provide an EV range extender that’s far smaller and more efficient than a legacy ICE. Several research groups, including a Toyota R&D team, are investigating this intriguing technology.

UK startup Libertine LPE has developed an FPEG design that it says overcomes a number of challenges having to do with motion control, emissions and power conversion efficiency.

“A free piston engine eliminates the entire mechanical drivetrain of a conventional engine, allowing ultraefficient combustion cycles to be developed and reducing the parts count and cost,” said Libertine CEO Sam Cockerill.

The FPEG has a combustion chamber at one or both ends of the free piston, and a linear electrical generator to capture power from the piston during its movement cycle. However, in the absence of a crankshaft, multiple pistons must somehow be accurately positioned and

synchronized. If each piston’s motion is not controlled precisely, the compression rate and ratio will vary, harming efficiency.

Libertine’s technology addresses this issue with a combination of piston geometry, electrical machine design and cylinder construction. All three are relatively long and smaller in diameter than those used in other designs. This reduces the moving mass of the piston relative to the electrical machine’s force, allowing more accurate control of the piston motion.

Libertine says its design is 90% smaller, 80% lighter and up to 30% more efficient compared to currently available systems. Its modular design can be scaled for applications from 1 kWe to over 100 kWe. An institution backed by Malaysian oil giant Petronas has partnered with Libertine to fund a feasibility study.

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Image courtesy of Libertine LPE

UK startup improves free piston linear technology

CURRENTevents Researchers discover new high-performance cathode material for lithium-sulfur batteries

Image courtesy of Renault

Improved motor and controller gives Renault Zoe a range of 149 miles

Renault has extended the range of its Zoe electric hatchback by 14.6% to 149 miles (on the New European Driving Cycle) by using a lighter and more compact motor and an optimized electronic management system.

The R240, designed by Renault, is a synchronous electric motor with rotor coil, with a power output of 65 kW and torque of 220 Nm (162 lb-ft). It also features a built-in Chameleon charger.

When designing the latest version of the R240, Renault’s engineers focused on integrating components, which enabled them to cut the motor’s size by 10% without sacrificing performance.

The junction box, power electronics unit and Chameleon charger are now integrated into a single Power Electronic Controller unit.

Stacked modules have been replaced by fully integrated modules that are smaller than ever. Gaps between modules have been reduced, and external power cables eliminated wherever possible.

An air cooling system is now used for the motor assembly, so ducts between modules are no longer needed.

Only the Power Electronic Controller is still watercooled.

14

Lithium-sulfur batteries could theoretically offer energy density up to four times higher than that of current generation batteries. However, one of several challenges to overcome is finding cathode materials that demonstrate long-term stability.

An international team of researchers from Drexel University and Aix-Marseille University in France developed a two-dimensional carbon-sulfur nanolaminate that could be a viable candidate for use as a lithiumsulfur cathode.

In a paper published in the German journal Angewandte Chemie, Drexel’s Yury Gogotsi and his colleagues explain how they extracted the nanolaminate from a three-dimensional material called a Ti2SC MAX phase.

The MAX phase is a layered ceramic that was discovered two decades ago at Drexel, and has been used as the basis for much of the university’s battery research.

The team found that carbon-sulfur nanolaminates have covalent bonding between carbon and sulfur and an extremely uniform distribution of sulfur between the atomically thin carbon layers. This structure may be the key to increasing the life span of Li-S batteries.

“We have enough evidence to show that the electrochemical etching can be a powerful method to selectively extract the ‘M’ elements from the MAX phases, to produce a variety of ‘AX’ layered structures, that cannot be made otherwise,” said lead author Meng-Qiang Zhao.

More than 70 MAX phases are known to exist.

Gogotsi is confident that these new “AX” structures will find applications in next-generation storage devices.

“It is not difficult to foresee that the ‘AX’ structures represent a new family of nanostructured materials, much of which will probably be 2D,” Gogotsi said. “The various ‘A’ and ‘X’ combinations already known make the ‘AX’ structures highly attractive for a number of potential applications, such as electrical energy storage and catalysis.”

THE TECH

Polypore, a maker of battery separators and microporous membranes, is to be split in two and sold. The company announced that 3M will acquire the assets of Polypore’s Separations Media segment for about $1 billion, and Asahi Kasei will purchase the rest of the company for $60.50 per share. This represents an enterprise value for Polypore of approximately $3.2 billion.

Polypore’s energy storage business has two main elements: Celgard Li-ion battery separators and Daramic lead-acid battery separators. Asahi Kasei said that Polypore is a compelling fit with its own electronic materials business, and that the combination of the two companies’ Li-ion battery separator businesses will enable the development of more sophisticated products.

“The environment and energy is an area of strategic focus for us as we expand and grow, creating new value for the future,” said Asahi Kasei President Toshio Asano.

“We look forward to combining our respective strengths

DYNAMIC

Image courtesy of PolyPore

Polypore sells two main elements for $3.2 billion

in battery separator technology, achieving new innovations that contribute to solutions to the world’s environmental and energy challenges.”

Asahi Kasei foresees major growth and innovation in energy storage, especially in automotive applications, as emerging countries buy more vehicles and developed countries demand more eco-friendly solutions. Stationary energy storage systems that enable more efficient use of renewable energy should be another strong growth area.

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CURRENTevents

The startup Tanktwo has announced the commercial availability of its String Battery technology for EVs. Tanktwo’s system replaces a vehicle’s battery pack with a container filled with several thousand “small and intelligent String Cells.”

Each string cell contains typical lithiumion cells and electronics for sensing, measuring, switching, routing, and communications. The system maps the randomly located string cells and special algorithms calculate the optimum connection routes to work as one logical, large battery pack.

For pack swapping, a sort of vacuum-cleaner device sucks spent cells out of the tank and refills it with charged cells in less than three minutes.

After watching the company’s promo video and reading the press documents, Charged had more than a few technical questions and some general concerns about the feasibility of the overall concept. Conveniently enough, the company seems to have answers to all of them. This is thinking pretty far out of the box, but it does appear to be well thought out.

For starters, it seems that the connections between cells would be very difficult to maintain in a vehicle that’s bouncing around the road. How do you keep the cells steady within the tank?

“Due to the unique geometry (ellipsoids with a specific semi-axis ratio) the random packing density is, within reason, as high as theoretically possible,” Tanktwo’s founder and CEO Bert Holtappels, told Charged.

“High random packing density means little empty space, which leaves almost no opportunity for rattle. Think how a sand bag handles, versus a bag of marbles. For less-than-full loads, we use a bladder system, not unlike that used in ordinary expansion tanks.”

16

Image courtesy of Tanktwo

Tanktwo introduces String Cell technology and a new battery swapping technique

“The algorithms are dynamic and re-route on the fly, and in the theoretical worst-case scenario where we briefly lose 100% of all contacts, a small buffer capacitance provides propulsion power until string power delivery is restored.”

OK, how about energy density? How does the energy per unit volume and energy per unit mass of a String Cell system compare to that of a traditional battery pack?

“We meet or exceed the density of a traditional pack, other things being equal,” Holtappels told us. “The ellipsoid-shaped String Cells fill about 73% (max: 76%) of the available space, a little less if the String Battery container is small (due to wall effects). At 73% fill ratio, it leaves 27% for cooling, a ratio which works out perfectly. We cool with air.”

“Also, because our String Batteries require no rigid frame, there are significant structural savings too, particularly in system weight. We supply certain engineering tools to our customers, which assist in dimensioning and design.”

Wouldn’t building the infrastructure be a huge challenge to overcome?

Unlike a flow battery (or a hydrogen fuel cell), Tanktwo’s battery can also be charged from the electrical grid, so a String Battery-equipped EV can function like a normal plug-in. You don’t have to swap the cells to recharge the vehicle - you can just do so when you need a fast charge. So, this system could gradually build momentum - there’s no chicken-and-egg problem.

Automakers have their own ideas about battery form factors. Getting any of them to implement an alternative system is going to be a hard sell.

THE TECH Tanktwo says it has a functional prototype, and is already in confidential talks with “the usual suspects.” One of the company’s most intriguing promises is that its system offers a lower price per kWh than traditional battery packs. If it can deliver on this, it just might pique the interest of one or more OEMs. Battery-swapping seems like a complicated way to address a temporary problem - won’t battery advances make this sort of thing unnecessary in a few years?

In fact, while batteries’ ability to accept charge quickly is likely to increase, there may always be a physical limit to charging speed. Above a certain power level, components begin to get really hot. Tesla uses the highest charging rates with some of its Superchargers, up to 135 kW, and it still takes tens of minutes to recharge. It may never be possible to charge a Teslasize battery in three minutes, at least not without much larger cables, so a good battery swapping solution could find a place in the market someday.

A Q&A page on Tanktwo’s web site contains much more information. Here are a few more answers that we found particularly interesting: The Tanktwo batteries seem to have no polarity…no + or -. Is that correct? If yes, how can they produce electrical power?

The String Battery contains multiple String Cells, that in turn contain an electrochemical cell. The String Battery maps the string cells and decides the best way of connecting them together. The electrochemical cell inside a string cell has polarity, positive and negative. The string cell has an internal processing unit that can connect the positive or negative terminal of the internal cell to any of the contacts on the string cell surface. The electrical power is produced by the internal cell, but the string cell routes the power to any of the outside contacts, according to the routing plan received from the string battery.

What is the battery output voltage?

This is actually a multifaceted question. The String Cells inside the Tanktwo string battery form many serially connected individual battery circuits that have a variable amount of cells in them. The voltage of these circuits could, for example, vary from 50-150 V. These voltages are then converted to a voltage level that is desirable for the vehicle’s power electronics. Thus the answer, in short, is that the output voltage can theoretically be almost anything, but it typically ranges from 100-600 V. What is the price of your battery per kWh? The price of Tanktwo battery capacity always closely follows the cost of the battery chemistry, which for the foreseeable future is lithium-based.

The additional cost of the battery pack comes mainly from the battery unit’s integrated electronics, which at the appropriate scale, is marginal. On the other hand, Tanktwo battery packs offer more kWh and more peak kWs for the same cell capacity, compared to traditional battery packs. For this reason, the price per kWh for a Tanktwo battery pack will always be lower than the price per kWh of traditional battery packs made with the same battery chemistry and capacity.

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CURRENTevents

Battery giants square off for court battle over lithium-ion patents

Image courtesy of Volkswagen

VW may use solid-state batteries in its nextgeneration EV

Volkswagen has acquired a 5% stake in US battery startup QuantumScape, with an option to buy more, and is evaluating the company’s solid-state battery tech with an eye to using it in VW’s next generation of EVs. Last November, Volkswagen Group CEO Martin Winterkorn said he saw “great potential” in solid-state batteries, which potentially offer greater energy density and greater safety than current liquid-electrolyte designs. In March, Winterkorn told Bloomberg that “progress has been made,” and that VW will be able to decide whether QuantumScape’s battery tech is ready for prime time by July.

The world’s automakers are racing to develop a new generation of EVs with greatly improved range, and VW is expected to launch its offering around 2018 or after.

New battery tech would certainly help to achieve the 200-mile goal, and VW isn’t the only company checking out the benefits of solid-state. GM Ventures sunk a chunk of change into another US startup, Sakti3, in 2010.

18

Two of the world’s biggest industrial companies are preparing for a high-stakes court battle over an arcane battery chemistry, and the outcome could have important implications for next-gen EVs, according to the news outlet Quartz.

Chemical colossus BASF and the Argonne National Laboratory have filed a lawsuit against Belgian batterymaker Umicore, accusing it of selling a battery component to which BASF holds an exclusive license.

The case centers around two competing patents for the cathode material nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC).

The first was filed in 2000 by Argonne researcher Michael Thackeray. A few months later, 3M filed a competing patent on behalf of researcher Jeff Dahn of Dalhousie University.

In the current suit, BASF claims that Umicore sold Japanese toolmaker Makita cathodes containing NMC invented by Argonne, which neither Umicore nor Makita have licenses for.

The two sides disagree about the precise atomic structure of the NMC in question, with Thackeray calling his formulation a “layered-layered” or “composite” cathode, and Dahn referring to his version as a “solid solution.”

The distinction, which sounds more like a question for chemists than for lawyers, is apparently central to the case, and big dollars may be at stake. An NMC variation is used in the Chevy Volt’s battery pack, and both Argonne and Dahn claim that it is their version. NMC may also be a key material in the new and improved batteries used in the next generation of 200-mile EVs. “BASF has lost out on billions of dollars of potential revenue from selling [NMC] materials because of Umicore’s misrepresentations to major purchasers in the [NMC] materials market,” BASF and Argonne claim. “In addition, BASF has lost the ability to compete as a supplier for electric vehicle platforms expected to launch in 2016 and 2017.”

THE TECH Dyson invests $15 million in solid-state batterymaker Sakti3

Image: Eva Rinaldi (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Dyson, a manufacturer of high-tech vacuum cleaners, fans, restroom hand dryers and other nifty gadgets, has invested $15 million in Sakti3, a Michigan-based developer of solid-state battery technology.

As CEO Ann Marie Sastry explained in a panel discussion last November, solid-state batteries theoretically offer higher energy density than current Li-ion designs, and could also be safer, as well as cheap to manufacture - Sakti3 hopes to produce cells at a cost of $100 per kilowatt-hour within a couple of years.

Dyson’s interest serves to point out that battery technology has applications far beyond EVs, in consumer electronics, stationary storage, military equipment…and Dyson’s handheld cordless vacuums. Founder and CEO James Dyson has dismissed talk of plans for a Dyson

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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.

A quarter of the company’s revenue still comes from EV battery packs – its factory in Hangzhou is running at full capacity to supply batteries for electric buses and cars in China.

Meanwhile, A123’s two Detroit factories are similarly busy building starter batteries for Mercedes-Benz, and CEO Jason Forcier expects to launch production of microhybrid batteries in 2017 or 2018.

“We won’t spend too much effort on the EV markets in Europe or the US, because we don’t see them as viable markets in the next 10 years,” Forcier told Automotive News.

The strategy seems to be working – revenue is expected to grow to $300 million this year, up from $200 million in 2014.

A123’s third-generation 12-Volt starter battery has more than four times longer life than legacy lead-acid designs, and weighs half as much. According to the company, its system can deliver up to 10% greater efficiency compared to lead-acid.

A123 now has supply relationships with five European OEMs. Forcier says industry behemoths LG Chem and Samsung are also eyeing the market for lithium-ion starter batteries, but he’s optimistic about his company’s prospects, partly thanks to the deep pockets of Wanxiang. “Our parent has been investing, and our financial concerns are gone.”

Image courtesy of A123

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Modern automobiles are complex beasts, with numerous subsidiary systems that consume energy. In an EV, more energy consumption means reduced range, so it can be well worthwhile to study more efficient ways to power the various accessories.

One of these accessory systems is assisted steering, which reduces the physical effort required for the driver to steer the car. In an EV, the energy for assisted steering comes from the battery, potentially reducing range. Germany’s Karlsruhe Institute for Technology (KIT) and automotive supplier Schaeffler are collaborating on a project called e²-Lenk, which aims to develop a system that assists steering in an energy-efficient way by intelligently controlling the drive torques transmitted to the individual wheels.

“The new assisted steering system would require less system components in an electric vehicle. This would mean savings in terms of weight and energy,” explain project managers Dr. Marcel Mayer of Schaeffler and Dr. Michael Frey of KIT. “This would mean that an electric car would be cheaper and have a greater range.”

The idea is that the wheels of an EV will be driven by individual electric motors. If the wheels on the left side transmit more drive torque to the road than those on the right side, this will result in acceleration of the vehicle to the right without the need to turn the front wheels or consume additional energy for steering. Tracked vehicles and quadrocopters steer using the same principle.

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Images courtesy of Karlsruhe Institute for Technology

Assisted steering system uses wheel motors for more efficiency and better range

“The assisted steering system is part of the drivetrain with our approach,” explains Frey. Steering the front wheels is carried out without using additional energy.

“We also want to significantly increase the quality of driving. Customer benefit, comfort, safety and reliability go hand in hand here.”

The partners are building functional demonstrators which will be used to validate and optimize the concepts.

THE TECH Real-time images of lithium dendrite structures could lead to better batteries Scientists at the DOE’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) have captured the first real-time nanoscale images of lithium dendrite structures in lithium-ion batteries. The ORNL team is confident that its research, published in Nano Letters, will be of great benefit to scientists who are experimenting with different ways to tackle the dendrite problem.

Dendrites form when metallic lithium takes root on a battery’s anode and begins growing haphazardly. As the dendrites grow, they can puncture the divider between the electrodes and short-circuit the cell.

The ORNL researchers studied dendrite formation by using a miniature electrochemical cell that mimics the liquid conditions inside a lithium-ion battery. Placing the liquid cell in a scanning transmission electron microscope and applying voltage to the cell allowed them to watch as lithium deposits grew into dendritic structures.

“It gives us a nanoscopic view of how dendrites nucle-

ate and grow,” said ORNL’s Raymond Unocic, in situ microscopy team leader. “We can visualize the whole process on a glassy carbon microelectrode and observe where the dendrites prefer to nucleate and also track morphological changes during growth.”

The team was able to make precise measurements of the cell’s electrochemical performance. “This technique allows us to follow subtle nano-sized structural and chemical changes that occur and, more importantly, correlate that to the measured performance of a battery,” said lead author Robert Sacci.

“Usually when you run a battery over many chargedischarge cycles, you wait until things start failing and at that point you perform a root-cause failure analysis,” Unocic said. “Then you see there’s a dendrite – but so what? Now that we can see exactly how the dendrites are forming using our technique, we can be proactive and devise strategies for inhibiting or reducing these phenomena.”

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The

pulse of the industry Wildcat Discovery Technology is at the forefront of battery research, solving problems and accumulating insight.

By Christian Ruoff

Wildcat Discovery Technology recently celebrated

working with over

research project

companies

100th

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60

W

hen Charged wants to catch up on the newest trends in cutting-edge battery technology, there are a few companies we turn to for insight. At the top of the list is a group whose high-speed research and discovery capabilities are so unique, that it helps other industry leaders solve their toughest problems.

Wildcat Discovery Technologies recently celebrated its 100th research project, working with over 60 companies since its inception in late 2006. The company was founded on the idea of adapting high-throughput combinatorial chemistry techniques - processes that are well known for discovering new pharmaceuticals - and using them to rapidly synthesize and evaluate energy-storage materials. The result is a very active research group that builds and tests prototype batteries up to 100 times faster than a standard lab.

Wildcat originally focused on hydrogen storage, but shifted to batteries in 2008. Since then the company has developed a list of battery materials for licensing

THE TECH

Mark Gresser, Wildcat Discovery Technology CEO

High-speed science Among Wildcat’s long list of discovery projects, here are a few recent ones that it can openly discuss.

There are still a lot of companies, including us, who are going for the big energy discoveries, but there’s also more work going on in a lot of different areas.

Images courtesy of Wildcat Discovery Technologies

or partnered development that reads like a syllabus for a graduate course in advanced battery technology (and that’s only the research projects it’s legally allowed to discuss with us).

New partners and new trends Beyond developing materials internally, Wildcat works on many problems brought to them by battery companies from around the world. “Our collaboration model is taking off,” CEO Mark Gresser told Charged. “We’ve landed a bunch of new collaborative partners across different industries, including automotive OEMs, grid storage, and consumer electronics. Companies whose names you would know, but we can’t disclose right now.”

“In the early days, we did a lot of collaborations which were quite small,” he added. “But most of our projects now are much larger, and in many cases we’re involved in multi-year collaborations.”

The advanced battery industry has been on a roller coaster ride since 2008. There’s been an influx of gov-

Electrolytes A lot of companies are taking more traditional materials, like NMC or lithium-cobalt oxide, to higher voltages. And, on many fronts, Wildcat has been working on electrolytes to enable long cycle life for those materials taken to higher voltage.

EM3 is the company’s latest modular design for electrolyte additives. It combines a core-forming molecule with a functional group that imparts some desirable property, like high-voltage stability. EM3 has been demonstrated to have a significant effect in improving the cycle life of traditional cathode materials operated at higher voltages and/or higher temperatures.

Silicon anode electrolytes The company has also been working on electrolytes that improve the performance of certain high-energy anode materials. One DOE-funded project aims to develop electrolytes and electrolyte additives that perform well with silicon anodes.

Silicon anodes enable substantial improvements in energy density and cost, relative to current Li-ion tech. However, they have a very large volumetric change when cycling, so the SEI layer that forms often cracks. Then it forms more SEI and ends up with a very thick resistive film on the anode, which causes it to lose both capacity and power.

Wildcat says that its new electrolyte project, EM4, has been very successful at making more mechanically robust SEI layers on the anode. So, as volume changes occur, the SEI doesn’t crack.

MAR/APR 2015

25

ernment and venture funding, promising new markets beginning to find traction, some big failures, consolidations, and refocused efforts.

The folks at Wildcat say that they’ve noticed some changing trends as the industry has matured. “A few years back, people were really focused on the big energy discovery,” said Gresser. “Today, it feels like there is a more practical approach, and companies are focusing not just on energy, but power and all other metrics combined. There are still a lot of companies, including us, who are going for the big energy discoveries, but there’s also more work going on in a Large numbers of electrolyte additives and formulations can be screened lot of different areas.” in Wildcat’s high-throughput gas cells. In these studies, specific additives and formulations can quickly be identified to reduce gassing on cathode/ As a handful of lithium-ion anode combinations cycled over specific voltage ranges. battery manufacturers are rising up as the top suppliers of high-energy EV batteries, others are looking for different niches to target. In the past year, for example, some said Dee Strand, Chief Scientific Officer at Wildcat. companies have publicly stated their intent to focus on “Instead of just high-energy materials, they’re looking micro-hybrid solutions or stop-start batteries - a segat nearer-term solutions. Within each category, there is ment that is expected to grow significantly in the next a lot of tailoring that occurs. Even if you look at a prodfive years. uct like nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC), there’s NMC Because of the varying demands of each application, at various compositions, run at various voltages. There this means a lot of incremental research and discovery are the gradient NMCs that claim to offer the best of work to try to make existing chemistries a little better both worlds. So, a lot of people are looking, even within for a particular application. While hybrid systems like a category, at tailoring a chemistry for exactly what they stop-start technology aren’t quite as sexy as extendedwant in terms of power, energy and life.” range EVs, it’s a very viable Making incremental improvetechnology to improve efments to existing battery techWildcat can identify ficiency. Some predict that with nology requires a deeper undergaps in the research slight improvements to batterstanding of what’s taking place capabilities of its many ies, it could be standard in all in the cells, and more sophistivehicles within a decade. partners, and then create cated research techniques. One To reach these markets, of the interesting by-products of new experiments to improve Wildcat’s collaboration model is Li-ion battery builders are “broadening their portfolio,” areas of research. its ability to identify gaps in the

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THE TECH

Dee Strand, Chief Scientific Officer

With our gas-sensing channels, we can test different variations to identify and discover solutions for gassing.

Images courtesy of Wildcat Discovery Technologies

research capabilities of its many partners, and then create new experiments to improve areas of research that are tough for others to perform.

Gas detection For instance, Wildcat touts its gas-sensing channels that can simultaneously measure gasses released by cells, along with the normal electrochemical measurements of capacity, coulombic efficiency and cycle life. Gas generation is a common problem for Li-ion batteries that leads to reduced cycle life and cell failure. It’s especially problematic as cell makers strive to enable cells to function at increased voltages in the quest for greater energy density.

Wildcat has developed high-throughput in situ gas measurement cells that allow for precise detection of gassing directly inside the cell. The new method enables continuous gas measurements while cells cycle. This unique approach, coupled with the company’s other techniques, lets its speedy scientists rapidly evaluate gas evolution for thousands of electrolytes in full cells, dramatically accelerating the development of improved additives and electrolyte formulations.

With such a tool, it’s possible to start discovering very interesting correlations. For example, if certain materials have poor coulombic efficiency, do they also have a lot of gas generation? Or if materials have poor high-temperature cycle life, is that accompanied by a particular gas being released?

Lower energy, big potential On the lower-energy front, which is just as important for the auto industry, there’s a lot of effort towards micro-hybrids. These batteries need to have good power and cycle-life performance over a wide temperature range. So, Wildcat has recently been working on electrolyte formulations that enable wide temperature ranges.

“It’s really hard to find electrolytes that give you low resistance at low temperature,” said Strand.

“You don’t want them to become too viscous, or have too low a conductivity, or make too resistive of an SEI layer, and at the same time they need to have high temperature stability. A lot of the chemistries where the approach is to reduce the impedance at low temperatures generally cause the materials to be less stable at high temperatures. So, we recently had some discoveries for an additive that provide benefits at both low and high temperatures, which is really important to the automotive industry.”

It’s really hard to find electrolytes that give you low resistance at low temperature.

Solid-state Another area that Wildcat is engaged in is solidstate electrolytes (SSE). SSE technology has a number of advantages. It can improve energy density in large-format cells by using a lithium anode without the worry of dendrites, because it has a solid on top of it. Dendrites are growths that can form on the surfaces of anodes during cycling, reducing battery life or even causing a catastrophic short circuit. SSE can also reduce packaging requirements, because there is no worry of liquid electrolyte leaking out or gasses being created.

Wildcat’s effort in SSE involves making very practical and processable films. The company says that some of the ceramics options are very brittle and hard to process. “We want to make a processable

MAR/APR 2015

27

“Lithium-titanate, for instance, is a chemistry that a lot of people like because it works well at low temperatures, and you don’t have to form a solid-electrolyte interface (SEI), but it tends to generate a lot of gas,” said Strand. “With our gas-sensing channels, we can test different variations to identify and discover solutions for gassing. We’ve had a lot of success in many different gas generation projects.”

are tested using realistic drive-cycle protocols.

“We’re now testing cells running a lot of drive-cycle protocols,” said Strand. “The question is whether you will get the same performance when the cell is discharged using a drive-cycle protocol as a standard protocol. We’ve been working hard trying to understand those correlations over the past year.”

All of Wildcat’s expanded caWildcat’s tools can Hot and cold pabilities have been pushed by Wildcat has been involved in its partners and have required independently control many projects to investigate things like software rewrites the temperature of each electrolytes that work well and reengineered, or additioncell being tested and vary in a wide temperature range. al, equipment. The result is an Measuring the performance temperatures rapidly without expanding suite of discovery of a test cell at high and low tools for the company to offer physically moving the cells. customers, but it also paints temperatures, in general, is something that everyone a larger picture of a battery does. However, to do it efficiently is difficult, because industry that’s quickly evolving and continuing to gain it usually involves moving a lot of batteries to different traction and sophistication. environmental chambers held at various temperatures.

So, the company developed tools to make those meaThe talent pool surements more automated. Essentially, it can indepenAnother clear indicator of a hot market is a fight for dently control the temperature of each cell being tested talent. You may have seen some recent headlines about across a wide temperature range (-40 degrees C to +70 companies poaching each other’s battery experts (and degrees C), and importantly, vary cell temperatures rapthe lawsuits that ensued). Throughout the world, batidly without physically moving the cells. tery scientists continue to be in high demand, and as “That’s really been a useful capability that allows us to Wildcat continues to expand, it must compete to attract move much quicker,” said Strand. the best of the best.

“We have a couple of pretty good selling points,” said Electrode design Gresser. For one, the company’s located in San Diego Another project that Wildcat has focused on is the where it’s perpetually 70-something degrees and sunny. effect of the electrode design on performance. “How “Another huge advantage is our high-throughput does electrode loading or porosity affect the power, work flow,” added Strand, “especially for those who are energy, and life?” asked Strand. “We can look at how frustrated doing battery research using more traditional ranging temperatures play into the electrode design. means, where you’re always fighting over channels and For example, if you have a porous electrode you might making compromises on the replicates you can do. Or, be limited by mass transport of your electrolyte at low you have one reactor and it takes two or three days to temperatures. If it’s less porous, things can get more make a material, so maybe you make one or two matesevere.” rials a week.”

What drives many into a life of science is the thrill of Drive cycles pushing technology to new heights - doing or discoverIt would be nice if batteries in vehicles simply charged ing things for the first time in history. At times, howand discharged at a constant current, but that isn’t what ever, the slow speeds on the road from theory to experihappens in real life. On the road, the driving loads are a ment to commercialization can be very frustrating. series of pulses. So, it’s important that new chemistries “We tell recruits that when you get involved in a proj-

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THE TECH

When you get involved in a project here, you’ll do more experiments in six months then you’ve done in your entire career to date. ect here, you’ll do more experiments in six months then you’ve done in your entire career to date. And that’s very exciting,” said Gresser. “They love to come in every day, because they’re finding new things and they’re finding them fast. For a scientist it’s invigorating. It’s not just the number of experiments - it’s the diversity of the projects and problems they’re trying to solve. It’s never boring here, and that helps.”

A faster future In many ways, following the progress of Wildcat is like taking the pulse of the energy storage industry. The company that started with its eye on developing new materials that could store hydrogen, quickly switched gears to focus on batteries, and is now rapidly expanding its capabilities.

Interestingly enough, Wildcat reports seeing something of a renewed interest in hydrogen research worldwide, and says that it may revisit that type of discovery if the uptick continues. “A lot of the tools that we originally developed to execute hydrogen research have carried over to our battery business,” said Gresser.

“The way we synthesize materials - solid-state materials in particular - is very similar to the way we started out synthesizing complex metal hydrides. As well as some of the sealing technologies originally developed for hydrogen molecules. So, we may look at it again in the future, but right now we have our hands completely full with battery research.”

Wildcat continues to build momentum as it adds to its discovery techniques. In fact, it’s currently looking to increase the speed of its growth. The company is talking to a handful of its best customers about strategic funding to build some new improvements that are in the minds of its scientists and engineers. “We’re hoping to expand our capacity this year and to do it fairly rapidly to continue the growth trend,” said Gresser. “That will lead to more discoveries faster, and that’s always been our goal.”

film with high ionic conductivity,” said Strand. “Our approach has been to use composites of ceramics with a polymer to try to get the best of both worlds - the advantages of the ceramics and the processability of the polymer.”

Helping others, helping themselves Everybody wants to bring down costs, particularly the cost of cathode materials.

Conveniently enough, one of the things that Wildcat’s high-throughput process has demonstrated to be great at is finding the process variables that can make the best-performing material at the lowest cost.

The techniques can identify important variables like the energy intensity of a process, the time it takes to complete different unit operations, the utilization of capital investment on things like expensive furnaces, etc.

Wildcat has begun working with material suppliers to bring down their production costs of existing cathode materials. These customers aren’t asking Wildcat to discover a new cathode composition, but to work with their preferred composition and help them figure out how to improve scale, performance, and cost.

“And it turns out we can do that really well,” said Gresser. “With our system, we’re able to run experiments to look at particle size, particle size distribution, morphology, etc. All the different things that are used as processing additives or in the process, like types of solvents. Basically, it’s a huge amount of experiments and very complex, like all of our research. In the end, you get a refined process for scaling these materials and with really good battery performance.”

In the end, you get a refined process for scaling these materials and with really good battery performance.

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MAKING THE Most of MATERIALS LG Chem Power’s CEO on how the company became a Li-ion battery front-runner, the economics of building batteries, and why it spends little energy on what comes after lithium

By Christian Ruoff

30

mong Tier 1 automotive suppliers of lithiumion cells, LG Chem is off to a clear lead, based on the number of announced and rumored supply agreements. GM, Ford, Volkswagen, Audi, Daimler, Hyundai, Renault and others have publicly announced deals to use the Korean chemical company’s products in production plug-in vehicles.

Thanks to the large battery packs in the Tesla Model S and Nissan LEAF, Panasonic and AESC (a Nissan and NEC joint venture) edge out LG in terms of installed battery capacity currently on the road. But that could change soon as more and more planned vehicles hit production. In fact, Nissan’s CEO has stated that the company is not opposed to working with cell suppliers like LG Chem, instead of producing its own cells,

A

THE TECH

Q&A

Images courtesy of LG Chem Power Inc

with Dr. Prabhakar Patil LG Chem Power Inc CEO

MAR/APR 2015

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Q

Charged: What’s your secret? How has LG Chem been able to secure so many contracts with big automakers?

Dr. Prabhakar Patil: We are the only battery company that’s chemicals- and materials-based.

Most of the others are electronics companies that have gone into the battery space. The critical factor for batteries is materials. Getting to cost competitiveness is not just a question of scale or reduction in material costs, it’s also about improving the characteristics of the materials. That’s what we do well, and at the same time, we have the economies of scale.

The Chevrolet Volt is a good example of how materials expertise plays a role. When we did the first generation, the goal was about 40 miles of electric range, and at 200 Wh/mile, that’s 8 kWh. But the installed capacity of the first generation is 16 kWh, because we allowed for 30% degradation over 10 years of life, and it only uses about 70% of the capacity window. If you put those two factors together, you get about 50%, so you start with 16 kWh of nominal capacity at the beginning of life.

However, if through better materials engineering you can improve the battery’s capacity retention over life and the useful capacity window, without degrading the performance of the cell, then you have a way to reduce the cost of the battery simply by reducing the number of kWh you’re putting in at the beginning of life.

Our parent company in Korea has over 400 engineers working on these projects, and that’s what it really takes - looking at every single aspect of the materials that go into making these cells.

Frankly, the time scale that we’ve been able to improve all of these characteristics has surprised me. Within a period of seven to eight years - from 2010 to 2017 or 18, when we can see our way to a 200-mile BEV for about $30,000 - it’s close to a factor of two reduction in cost in terms of dollars per kWh. There is not one thing you can point to and say, “That’s what the breakthrough was,” but it’s a combination of several things.

When GM first announced the requirements for the Volt in Dec 2006, I remember very clearly thinking,

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“Nobody can do this. Nobody has this battery technology. You can either meet the energy density or you can meet the power, but there is no cell in existence that can do both.”

Then we kind of jumped in with both feet along with GM to make it happen. To have that kind of a partnership with different OEMs has also helped, because another part of it is understanding the usage patterns and the usage profiles, and translating it into what it means from a cell perspective. To optimize what we can do on the cell side, we need the experience and expertise of how things get used in the real world by the customers.

So, it’s a materials-based technology, and it’s being able to do high-volume manufacturing without losing quality and reliability. We have over 50 million cells on the road in more than 300,000 vehicles with what would

We are the only battery company that’s chemicals- and materials-based.

Images courtesy of LG Chem Power Inc

if the economics make sense. In the battery-powered vehicle business, continually driving down costs is critical to long-term success.

Charged recently caught up with Dr. Prabhakar Patil, CEO of LG Chem Power Inc, to get his take on the advanced battery industry.

THE TECH be considered pharmaceutical-grade quality and reliability. Another thing that’s very critical to the vehicle manufacturers is not having any incidents that will tarnish the whole industry and the battery technology.

That’s why I was very concerned when I heard reports about battery incidents on passenger jetliners. To me, that didn’t need to happen. If you know what you’re doing with lithium-ion batteries, they can be very safe.

Q

Charged: What’s the biggest misconception about Li-ion batteries in vehicles?

Dr. Patil: The term lithium-ion makes many people think it’s just one thing, but there are so many flavors. One way to classify them is by the powerto-energy ratio.

If you look at, for example, a non-plug-in hybrid, the battery typically provides half the power that the vehicle needs, because the other half comes from the engine. Yet the range, which is the energy of the battery, is usually less than five miles.

For plug-in hybrids the power requirement goes up by a factor of two, because you operate in a pure electric mode with no help from the engine. But the range, or the energy requirement, can go up by a factor of 20 to 40 miles or more. So the power-to-energy ratio actually drops by a factor of 10.

And now if you get to pure electric vehicles, the power stays the same because you don’t need any more performance. Yet the range goes up by another factor of four or five.

So you get about a factor of 100 difference in power-toenergy ratio between what would be an extended-range EV and a hybrid, or a micro-hybrid. No single chemistry is going to reach all those requirements. So, one of the things we do is customize, or optimize, for the particular application. That’s one of the advantages, again, of being a materials company.

A

Q

Charged: How much time do you spend thinking about the next-generation battery technology, beyond lithium?

Dr. Patil: Not very much. The reason is pretty simple - it’s basic chemistry. Lithium is the third-lightest element, and the lightest metal.

The only thing that’s lighter is hydrogen, but as a gas it’s very difficult to work with because you cannot move it around. You lose a lot of it if you try to pipe it.

A

The term lithium-ion makes many people think it’s just one thing, but there are so many flavors.

If you try to use it as a liquid you lose a lot of the energy advantage. And helium is inert.

So, lithium is the next best thing for batteries and it will remain lithium in some form for a long time. There could be a future in lithium-metal batteries, like you hear some people talking about, or some other variant.

Lithium is very effective in terms of being energy-efficient both from a volume and a mass basis.

Right now, there is a lot of focus on improving the cathode, because that’s sort of the limiting factor. But as you improve the cathode, the anode sooner or later will become the problem, and that’s why people are looking at the silicon type of anode. These improvements will continue to happen, and they won’t be in one huge step.

There will be enough smaller steps added together that when you stand back, you will see a large reduction in costs.

Q

Charged: So you spend most of your energy focusing on driving out costs?

Dr. Patil: Correct, I focus on creating a better value equation. Cost is the denominator and the numerator is the performance, or the utility, whether in terms of life, energy density, or whatever. The emphasis is different depending on what you’re trying to design - a BEV, a hybrid, etc.

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The numbers: LG Chem

50 300 over

in more than

MILLION cells on the road

THOUSAND vehicles

MAR/APR 2015

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The numbers: LG Chem material costs are around

costs have come down by a factor of

of the cost structure

in about 24 years

60% 25

Charged: At some point, driving out costs will come down to finding more efficient ways to get the raw materials, correct? How far away are we from that point?

Q

Dr. Patil: Yes, but we’re not quite there. There are still more engineering improvements that can be made. Not as much in manufacturing, because if you look at the cost structure of cells, somewhere around 60% of costs are related to material costs. That’s material costs for the cell manufacturer as purchased material.

Some of that is driven by economies of scale and by the performance characteristics of the material.

I think there is quite a bit to be gained in terms of reducing the net material costs, while getting the same performance out of the cell, through better engineering, customizing of the materials, tweaking their properties and so forth.

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Charged: Some say that a cost target of $125/ kWh at the pack level is needed for cost parity with ICEs. Estimates put most of the current generation vehicles at around $400/kWh and Tesla at around $240/kWh. Is $125/kWh in the foreseeable future?

Q

Dr. Patil: In terms of being able to get to that level, I’m not sure exactly what the timeframe would be. If you look at it from the historical perspective, the first commercialized Li-ion cell was back in 1991 at Sony. In about 24 years,

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the cost has come down by a factor of 25 or more on a dollar-per-kWh basis.

The silicon industry is used to this type of drop, but it’s unheard-of in a battery type of technology. And the trend continues. It’s in incremental changes, but when you look at it over the span of 5 to 10 years it will look pretty significant.

Charged: The Chevrolet Bolt was unveiled in January 2015, but the goal of a 200-mile EV for around $30,000 was discussed by GM executives as early as 2013. Were you surprised by these specs, similar to when you first heard the Volt being openly discussed?

Q

Dr. Patil: We have worked closely with GM on the Volt from the start. As a result, we have been deeply engaged in the development goals for Li-ion batteries in general and the Volt in particular.

We also recognize that battery costs have to keep coming down in order for this technology to become mainstream. We can’t take what I would call a selfcentered kind of perspective that says, “I have to have my margins, therefore it’s better for me to have a higher battery price.”

We have to realize that the name of the game, at this point, is growing the volume of vehicles. And the only way that’s going to grow is if customers see a value equation that makes sense to them. So, we will do whatever we can to go down that cost curve as fast as possible.

A

Charged: The second generation Volt has 192 cells versus 288 in the first generation, both supplied by LG Chem. Can you explain the strategy of using larger-capacity cells?

Q

We can’t take what I would call a self-centered kind of perspective that says, “I have to have my margins, therefore it’s better for me to have a higher battery price.”

Dr. Patil: That’s another trend that we’re pushing for. When you can cut down on the number of cells by putting additional capacity in the cell, it reduces the overhead at the pack level. Because the fewer cells you have to take care of from a mechanical longevity or

A

THE TECH battery management system point of view, the better off you are.

Sometimes we hear battery engineers Q Charged: say they’d hate to be a cell maker because of the competition and the demands of the OEMs. What do you think about that idea?

Dr. Patil: That’s true. There is a lot of overcapacity in the market. Part of it is what I call a toxic side effect of the government incentives that were put in place. However, I have to say that the government incentives are and were a good thing. Without them, we’d still be talking about why the US is not competitive in these advanced technologies. Whenever you have a lot of government or venture funding, there are new challenges. We do have overcapacity in the US, but it’s going to straighten itself out over time.

Nobody knows exactly where the tipping point is maybe it’s the 200-mile vehicle for around $30,000, or maybe it is what’s happening in the PHEV or microhybrid space. It’s all going to continue to grow the demand for lithium-ion batteries. I think the capacity rationalization will happen. And it was good the way we got here, because if the government had done nothing and waited for the demand to grow, we would still be waiting. We recognize that is the period that you have to keep your eye on the long-term proposition.

A

Charged: LG Chem’s Michigan plant is said to be operating at about 25 to 30% of capacity. Do you see that increasing soon?

Q

Dr. Patil: Today our cells are produced in both Korea and the US. The challenge is the overall capacity - you have to do a balancing act in terms of the demand versus the capacity you have.

The good part is that we have now demonstrated that you can make cells as cost-effectively in the US as you can make them in Korea. There is always a US manufacturing issue people talk about, that you can’t really do cost-effective, or efficient,

A

When you can cut down on the number of cells by putting additional capacity in the cell it reduces the overhead at the pack level. manufacturing in the US. But that’s kind of a myth that we have disproven with data. Recently, we’ve shown that you can make cells here or in Korea and not have a concern related to yield, cost efficiency, quality, etc. So now it simply becomes a matter of what is the best way for us to use the capacity that’s in place.

Charged: Most of the automakers appear to be relying on suppliers to manufacture cells, but Tesla and Nissan have taken a much more hands-on approach. What do you think of their strategies?

Q

A

Dr. Patil: It’s a difference of histories, to some extent. Nissan was actually one of the first

LG facts and figures LG Group is a connection of about 60 different businesses in three broad categories: electronics, chemicals, and telecom. It operates subsidiaries such as LG Electronics, Zenith, LG Display, LG Telecom and LG Chem in over 80 countries.

LG Chem Ltd. (parent company of the US-based LG Chem Power Inc.) is the largest Korean chemical company.

• Established in 1947 • $21 billion in revenue in 2013 • Over 25,000 employees • 29 subsidiaries worldwide

Battery potential LG Chem’s Li-ion battery research takes the lion’s share of its R&D allocation, over 40%, even though it currently makes up only a small part of overall revenue. This highlights the strategic priority the company places on batteries as a growth engine for the future.

By 2016, LG Chem’s Li-ion global operation will include: • 4 manufacturing plants - 2 in Korea, 1 in the US, 1 in China • 2 tech centers - 1 in the EU, 1 in the US • 1 R&D facility in Korea By 2020, LG Chem expects the market for electrified vehicles using advanced battery systems to surpass 8 million units worldwide, with a 20% compound annual growth rate.

Global xEV Market Forecast Annual Volume (x103)

8,470 810

‘12~‘20 CAGR 20%

3,113 1,950

- EV

1,255 - PHEV 5,075 555 770

3,265 - HEV

2,490 3,140 - µ-HEV 1,260

2012

2015

2017

2020

Source: IHS Automotive Forecast (‘13, ‘14) and LGC analysis

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We have now demonstrated that you can make cells as cost-effectively in the US as you can make them in Korea. companies to work with Li-ion. So, they have had a lot of internal capability. Many people don’t remember, but Nissan had hybrid programs back in the 1990s.

They did a limited production that used lithium-ion batteries that were internally developed. So, there was a lot of internal capability in place.

However, I think it ultimately comes down to costs, and that’s why you see the statements from executives saying, “even with internal capability, if someone can deliver a more cost-effective solution, by all means, we’ll go there.”

Tesla has a somewhat different philosophy. They’re a much more vertically integrated company. But there again, it’ll depend on the cost-effectiveness of trying to do it all in-house versus trying to get it from the outside.

I think the other OEMs have recognized that this is such an investment-intensive business because of the R&D that it takes. You have to continue to invest in the manufacturing capability, and they cannot justify the scale on their own to put in that kind of investment.

Particularly when they have a credible supplier with a good relationship.

So, I see a trend of OEMs continuing to come to companies like us to be their supplier for batteries.

Q

Charged: The other Li-ion market that’s poised for explosive growth is large-scale energy storage. Where do you think that fits in?

Dr. Patil: I think it will be as big, or bigger, than the automotive market. A few years ago, Li-ion was dominated by consumer electronics (CE) - cell phones and laptops. I think by the 2020 time frame, the automotive market will match or maybe be bigger than CE. The current total installed capacity of the consumer electronics market is maybe 25 GWh. To give you an idea of scale, Tesla says its Gigafactory alone will be at 35 GWh of annual capacity by 2020.

For the storage market, we have the largest install in North America at the Tehachapi Energy Storage Project

A

THE TECH in southern California - 32 MWh of batteries for wind farm support. The market is slow to develop because of the size of the installations and the cautiousness of utilities. But I think as soon as it turns the corner, the large size of the installs will play to make it a very big segment.

Q

Charged: Do you think there will be a large role for secondary-use batteries that come out of used vehicles and go into grid storage projects?

Dr. Patil: That is a value proposition that we’re actively looking at. At the end of vehicle life, lithium-ion batteries still have capacity three times that of a brand new lead-acid. It could be a good proposition, but there are some challenges from an economic point of view. Yes, you have 70% of the energy left that you can use, but in the meantime the cost of the new batteries over the 10-year lifespan [of the secondary-use batteries] may have dropped by a factor of two or more. So, where does it make economic sense, to use a new battery that may be significantly

Images courtesy of LG Chem Power Inc

A

lower in cost, or capture the residual value left in the used battery?

Either way I think it’s very feasible. The main obstacle for me for secondary usage is standardization, because you don’t want to do a lot of remanufacturing. You want to be able to just pull the packs out of the vehicles and connect them together. We’re not quite there yet in terms of the standards. But there are active projects going on.

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CURRENTevents Obama: Federal fleet must be 50% plug-ins by 2025

Image: Nicolas Raymond (CC BY 2.0)

Illinois consumers who purchased a new plug-in vehicle in 2014 or later will not receive a $4,000 rebate from the state. That is the message from the Illinois Green Fleet rebate program, which announced the suspension of the rebate in March.

The Illinois Alternate Fuels Rebate Program started in 1998, and over $14 million in rebates has been issued through 2013 for over 13,000 vehicles. The amount of the rebate was 80% of the incremental cost of the alternate fuel vehicle versus its conventional counterpart, up to $4,000. It was available to individuals, businesses and government units that purchased a new qualifying electric vehicle.

Representatives from the Illinois EPA confirmed that there are no current plans to reinstate the rebate in the future, or replace it with a different incentive program.

The suspension of the Alternate Fuel Rebate Program does not impact other Illinois incentives, like the Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Rebate Program.

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Photo by Pete Souza

Illinois suspends its $4,000 rebate program for plug-in vehicles The federal government currently operates some 655,000 vehicles, and only a minuscule fraction of these are truly low-emission.

President Obama signed an executive order in March directing the feds to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 40% from 2008 levels by 2025. As a part of this plan, plug-in vehicles are to make up 20% of government agencies’ fleets by 2020, and 50% by 2025. Agencies will also have to ensure that there is sufficient charging infrastructure.

“We’re proving that it is possible to grow our economy robustly while at the same time doing the right thing for our environment and tackling climate change in a serious way” said the President.

Earlier efforts by the administration to clean up the fleet only required government agencies to buy “lowemission” or “alternative-fuel” vehicles, including “flexfuel” models that are capable of running on an 85% mix of ethanol.

However, the benefits of ethanol are controversial, and E85 is available at fewer than 2% of gas stations nationwide. It’s likely that few of these “low-emission” cars have ever burned a drop of E85.

According to the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, during the first 10 months of 2014, EVs represented less than 0.33% of vehicle registrations by federal, state, and local government agencies. That’s probably less than the proportion bought by the general public, which was 0.85% of total vehicle sales last September, according to the Sierra Club.

THE VEHICLES

City bus systems around the world are going electric, and South Carolina-based manufacturer Proterra is at the forefront of this silent revolution. The company’s latest product is the TerraVolt XR extended-range battery, which allows Proterra buses to be configured with ranges of up to 180 miles.

The combination of Proterra’s TerraFlex energy system and Catalyst vehicle platform enables customers to select the right amount of energy storage to meet specific route requirements. Transit operators can purchase a bus with just the range and charging speed required for a specific route, maximizing cost savings.

The customized battery packs can be easily reconfigured to meet changing service needs.

The fast-charge Catalyst FC is available in configurations carrying 53-131 kWh of energy storage, and can be recharged in under 10 minutes.

The extended-range Catalyst XR is available in configurations carrying 129-321 kWh of energy storage, and can be recharged in a little over an hour.

“Operating successfully in cities across the country, the Proterra Catalyst is the most energy-efficient transit bus on the market,” said Proterra VP Matt Horton.

“Adding extended-range capabilities to our existing portfolio of fast-charge products enables us to help our customers meet more of their most demanding service requirements. The flexibility of our platform allows our customers to more confidently invest in the future of transit.”

GM has suspended production of the Volt at its DetroitHamtramck plant in order to get ready for the revamped 2016 Volt, which is to go on sale in the second half of this year. The company plans to invest a total of $343 million to retool for its lineup of next-generation hybrid vehicles.

The production pause will last six weeks, which is almost double the normal retooling time. According to the Detroit Free Press, this will allow GM to clear out an oversupply of the outgoing Volt model. There’s currently about a 200-day supply of Volts at dealerships, and automakers usually like to have about a 60-day supply, said GM spokeswoman Michelle Malcho.

Sales of the 2015 Volt have been slow – only 1,874 units were sold in the first quarter, a 48% decrease from the same period last year. In March, the Nissan LEAF snatched the title of top-selling US plug-in. The EV press tends to blame the sales slump on buyers holding out for the new and improved Volt, while the mainstream media naturally ascribes it to low gas prices.

Images courtesy of General Motors

Images courtesy of Proterra

Proterra’s new TerraVolt XR battery enables ranges of up to 180 miles

GM ends production of 2015 Volt, retools for next-gen model

“Halting Chevrolet Volt production in anticipation of the all-new 2016 model year is a smart move for GM, and allows for less inventory and incentives on the outgoing model,” said Akshay Anand, an analyst with Kelley Blue Book.

MAR/APR 2015

39

CURRENTevents

US drivers are using less fossil fuel as fuel-economy standards get stricter and plug-in sales grow. The problem is that road maintenance is funded by gas taxes, and less fuel burned means less tax revenue.

Several states, concerned about falling gas-tax revenues, have enacted or proposed special taxes or fees on EVs. Oregon, however has come up with a more comprehensive approach.

A pilot program, which will begin in July with up to 5,000 registered vehicle owners, will charge drivers a flat 1.5 cents per mile driven. The Oregon DOT has teamed with Sanef ITS Technologies and Intelligent Mechatronic Systems to implement the system.

A device that plugs into a vehicle’s on-board diagnostics port (OBD II) will gather mileage data. Drivers will still pay the gas tax at the pump, but at the end of each month, the mileage data will be compared to what the driver paid in gas taxes, and participants will receive a rebate or an invoice for the difference.

Oregon already conducted a smaller pilot of the program in 2012 and 2013. This is North America’s first execution of a mileage-based road tax, according to the state DOT. However, at least 10 other states, including Florida, are considering similar programs, according to Intelligent Mechatronic Systems.

“To improve and maintain America’s roadway infrastructure, the transition from a gas tax to a distancebased road usage charge solution is a critical evolution,” said Sanef ITS president François Gauthey. “Creating a sustainable but fair system for collecting revenues is essential for future sustainability of critical transportation networks.”

40

Image: David Wilson (CC BY 2.0)

Oregon explores replacing gas tax with per-mile road tax

New Jerseyans are now free to test-drive and order a new Model S, after Governor Chris Christie signed a bill that legalizes direct sales by manufacturers of zeroemission vehicles. Tesla can now sell cars directly to consumers at its Paramus and Short Hills showrooms, and potentially open up to two more. The company will also be required to set up at least one service facility.

Tesla has sold more than 600 Model S sedans in New Jersey, but in April of 2014, the state’s Motor Vehicle Commission decided it was violating a state law that requires cars to be sold through dealers. Tesla’s showrooms remained open, but they could only refer buyers to stores in Pennsylvania and New York.

At the Short Hills showroom, Chris Lee, a driver for a transportation service that’s considering adding the Model S to its fleet, told Bloomberg he preferred having the option to buy the car in person rather than online.

“The way it was before, I would’ve been apt not to buy it if there [were] hoops I had to jump through to get it.”

Happy: Tesla VP Diarmuid O’Connell. “We are proud to tell New Jersey that we are open for business.”

Says he’s happy: Governor Christie. “We’re pleased that manufacturers like Tesla will now have the opportunity to establish direct sales operations.”

Not happy: the New Jersey Coalition of Automotive Retailers. “The factory-store model advocated by Tesla generates jobs, tax revenue and economic benefits in Silicon Valley and on Wall Street, but not here in New Jersey,” said President James B. Appleton.

C.Christie Image: Gage Skidmore (CC BY-SA 3.0), Tesla Image: bnhsu/Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

Tesla sales resume in New Jersey as Governor signs bill allowing direct sales

THE VEHICLES

Chinese automaker BYD’s electric buses have been attracting a lot of interest from North American transit authorities. However, the company’s plans to bring its E6 electric passenger car to the US, which it has been talking about since 2009, have come to little so far.

That might be about to change. According to Reuters, drivers for the controversial taxi service Uber are testing 25 BYD E6s in Chicago, and there are plans to bring the Chinese EV to other cities as well. According to Doug Snower, President of BYD distributor Green Wheels, a couple hundred more BYDs will soon be placed into service with Uber drivers.

The program by Uber allows drivers to purchase or lease EVs at special rates.

“We’ve seen interest in the program already from current and potential Chicago partners (drivers),” Uber

Image: mariordo59 (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Uber to test a fleet of BYD EVs in the US

spokeswoman Lauren Altmin told Reuters.

The E6 is already being used by a taxi company in Brussels and, according to Bidness Etc., by a chauffeur service in London.

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CURRENTevents

BYD to triple production of batteries

42

Image courtesy of Tesla

Like EVs in general, Teslas just keep getting better, one incremental step at a time.

The company recently announced that its base model will now come with AWD capability and a larger battery pack.

The Model S 60 has been replaced by the Model S 70D, which features a 70 kWh battery pack and 240 miles of range. Top speed is 140 mph and 0-60 acceleration is 5.2 seconds – not quite the “taking off from an aircraft carrier” experience offered by the top-of-the-line P85D’s 3.1 seconds, but enough to smoke most sedans you’re likely to meet at a stoplight.

All models now come with DC Fast Charging through the free Supercharger network, and all the hardware required for current and future Autopilot functions (some basic autonomy features are standard, and others, such as traffic-aware cruise control, lane keeping and selfparking, are available as a $2,500 option).

Tesla has raised the price of the base model by about $5,000, to $76,950, including destination charge.

Image: mariordo59 (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Basic Model S gets AWD and a bigger battery

Chinese automaker BYD aims to be a major player in the battery business, adding 6 gigawatt-hours of global production in each of the next three years, company spokesman Matthew Jurjevich told Reuters recently.

If it continues at that pace, BYD’s capacity will be some 34 GWh of batteries by the beginning of 2020, putting it about even with Tesla’s Gigafactory.

“We have demonstrated that BYD is capable of adding 6 GWh every year with strong market demand,” said Jurjevich, adding that BYD will scale up manufacturing in the US as demand for its batteries increases.

According to Lux Research, BYD is currently the sixth-biggest global manufacturer of batteries for hybrid and plug-in vehicles. It’s also a factor in the stationary storage market, which is expected to grow to $1.5 billion by 2019 in the US alone, according to GTM Research.

BYD plans to deploy 70 megawatt-hours of storage projects in the US this year, and has another 130 MWh on the table. Existing customers include Chevron and Duke Energy.

Most of BYD’s current production is in China, but it built two manufacturing plants in Southern California in 2013 to produce electric buses and batteries, and it plans to open a major new factory in Brazil this year.

THE VEHICLES

Chinaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) recently published modified rules for electric vehicle manufacturing, and is expected to start issuing licenses for EV manufacturing later this year, the Beijing-based Economic Observer reports. Sources said that no more than 10 companies will be eligible to apply for licenses, and the government is likely to award them to just a few.

Under current policy, only existing auto companies may develop electric vehicles, but in order to encourage innovation in new energy cars, the new rules will allow other firms, including auto component suppliers and internet companies, to apply for licenses.

According to the Observer, several component makers are striving to meet the technical requirements stipulated in the rules, and several internet companies have announced plans to move into auto-related busi-

Image: Nicolas Raymond (CC BY 2.0)

China to issue licenses for EV manufacturing to new firms

nesses and are teaming up with automakers to meet the regulatory requirements.

One of these is a video site called LeTV, which has a team of 260 people in the US, and has formed a partnership with Beijing Automotive Group.

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CURRENTevents

XALT Energy announces $1-billion battery supply agreement with Chinese bus manufacturer XALT Energy has signed a multi-year contract, valued at over $1.0 billion, with Hybrid Kinetic Group of China, to supply lithium-titanate batteries for electric buses in China. Production is expected to begin during the third quarter of 2015.

Dr. Yung Yeung, Chairman of HK Group, said, “XALT’s high quality and cost-competitive battery products fit very well with our group’s strategy of launching all-electric public transit buses in large scale with our unique business model.”

“It has always been our objective to enable electrification of global transportation markets since we ventured into the battery industry several years ago,” said Dennis Townsend, Chairman of XALT. “Today’s signing of the exclusive supply agreement with the HK Group witnesses a significant step forward towards that goal.”

Each bus will use XALT battery packs with capacity of 68 to 100 KWh, which can be recharged in less than 10 minutes. The buses will be leased to municipal transit operators throughout China.

Michigan-based XALT Energy (originally founded in 2009 as Dow-Kokam) supplies large-format lithiumion batteries for a variety of applications - automotive customers include the Formula E racing series and ZeroTruck, a builder of powertrains for commercial vehicles.

44

While every other major automaker regularly reports US monthly sales, Tesla has never done so. While this is frustrating for those who cover the EV scene, the company may have valid reasons for its reticence.

For EVs, which sell in comparatively small numbers, monthly figures probably have more to do with production schedules and inventory issues than with fluctuations in demand, and that may be even more applicable to Tesla, which delivers cars some time after they are ordered, and periodically shifts production among different markets. Elon Musk has said that the media would read too much into monthly delivery figures, and he’s probably right.

Until this year, Tesla has generally reported sales data only in quarterly earnings reports. However, the company recently announced that from now on, it will provide quarterly sales numbers within three days of the close of each quarter.

Global deliveries were 10,030 for January through March 2015 (Tesla has declined to break down sales by country). “This was a new company record for the most cars delivered in a quarter and represents a 55% increase over Q1 last year,” said the company in its announcement.

Given Tesla’s ongoing work on increasing production capacity, and assuming a boost when Model X hits the streets in the fall, this figure seems to put the company on track to hit its goal of delivering 55,000 vehicles this year.

The EV press welcomed the news, but the company felt compelled to warn us to use the new information responsibly: “This is only one measure of our financial performance and should not be relied on as an indicator of our quarterly financial results, which depend on a variety of factors, including the cost of sales, foreign exchange movements and mix of directly leased vehicles.”

Image: Kārlis Dambrāns (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Tesla will now provide quarterly sales numbers - 10,030 sold in Q1 2015

THE VEHICLES

British Columbia renews Clean Energy Vehicle incentive program British Columbia has announced the renewal of its Clean Energy Vehicle (CEV) incentive program, effective April 1. The CEV program, which expired in the spring of 2014 after exhausting its original $12-million budget, offers point-of-purchase rebates of up to $5,000 Canadian ($4,000 US) for battery EVs and $6,000 Canadian ($4,800 US) for hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.

The province has also allotted C$1 million in incentives for companies to add plug-ins to corporate fleets, C$1.6 million for EV charging and hydrogen fueling stations, and half a million for research and training.

Several advocacy groups pressured the government to restore the incentives, pointing out that EV sales have risen only modestly in BC since the first phase of incen-

tives expired, while in Ontario and Quebec, which have continued to offer incentives, sales have soared.

“Encouraging and promoting environmentally friendly transportation is part of a broader strategy to ensure British Columbia remains a climate action leader,” said Minister of Environment Mary Polak.

“The CEV program announced today provides critical support to consumers buying plug-in electric and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, helping to broaden their adoption, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and to help switch transportation fuel demand from non-renewable fuels to clean provincial renewable energy,” said Mark Nantais, President of the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers Association.

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CURRENTevents

THE VEHICLES

New hybrid Chevrolet Malibu uses tech from the Volt Images courtesy of General Motors

The 2016 Chevrolet Malibu will be offered in a hybrid version that uses an adaptation of GM’s Voltec plug-in hybrid system.

This will be the third generation of Malibu Hybrids, but the previous two had only a “mild hybrid” system that assists the gas engine. Although not a plug-in, the new ‘bu is a “strong hybrid,” and can drive at up to 55 miles per hour on electricity alone.

The hybrid shares most of its powertrain with the 2016 Volt, but has an 80-cell, 1.5 kWh lithium-ion battery pack, as opposed to the Volt’s 18.4 kWh pack.

It shares power electronics and a blended regenerative braking system with the Volt.

The Malibu Hybrid uses a direct-injection 1.8-liter 4-cylinder engine and a pair of electric motors that are “slightly modified” versions of those in the 2016 Volt.

Total power output is 182 hp (136 kW).

“Besides leveraging innovation from the Chevrolet Volt, the Malibu Hybrid also has unique features that help improve aerodynamics, like upper and lower grille air shutters to improve airflow and a reduced ride height, all of which help reduce fuel consumption,” said Jesse Ortega, Chevrolet Malibu Chief Engineer.

Chevy says the new model will offer a combined fuel economy rating over 45 mpg - higher than competitors such as the Ford Fusion, Toyota Camry and Hyundai Sonata hybrids.

Using the same electric powertrain components in multiple models should give GM great opportunities to achieve economies of scale - even more so as the company is expected to add several other hybrid models to its lineup over the next few years.

The 2016 Chevrolet Malibu Hybrid will be built at GM’s Fairfax Assembly plant in Kansas City, and is scheduled to go on sale in the spring of 2016.

MAR/APR 2015

47

FORMU The all-electric racing series aims to change public perception and push EV technology to new heights.

By Charles Morris

LA E

ELECTRIFIES THE WORLD

The Spark-Renault SRT-01E race cars built by Spark Racing Technology

T

he greatest obstacle to getting more EVs on the road isn’t high upfront costs, range anxiety or a lack of infrastructure - it’s simple consumer awareness. Despite the fact that the Model S, Volt and LEAF are becoming common sights in many cities, a surprisingly high number of Average Joes and Janes are unaware that mass-market EVs are available, and few people outside of the industry understand the advantages that plug-ins have over legacy vehicles.

The most inspiring thing about attending the Miami Formula E race in March was seeing a huge crowd of ordinary folks get a thrilling look at what electric powertrains can do - that’s over 20,000 people who will have a ready rebuttal the next time they hear someone talking about “poky little golf carts.” Another 23,000 spectators saw the light at the Long Beach race in April, and tens of thousands more at the earlier races in Beijing, Putrajaya (Malaysia), Punta del Este (Uruguay) and Buenos Aires.

50

Technology making its way from the racetrack to production vehicles is a story as old as the automobile industry.

The FIA-sanctioned Formula E is the world’s first fully-electric racing series. The inaugural season features 10 teams, each with two drivers, racing on 10 city-center courses on four continents - Monaco, Berlin, Moscow and London are still to come. It’s an impressive diplomatic mission for electromobility.

Formula E’s mission includes not only raising public consciousness of speedy EVs, but also serving as a catalyst for manufacturers, spurring EV-related R&D and

Images courtesy of Formula E

THE VEHICLES

42

all-electric vehicles built for the inaugural season

10

teams competing in 10 different cities

speeding the development of better and cheaper plug-in vehicles for you and I to drive. Several of the teams are sponsored by automakers or component suppliers, and others have auto OEMs as technology partners.

The master plan: from the track to the road Technology making its way from the racetrack to production vehicles is a story as old as the automobile in-

dustry. The long list of developments that first appeared on the track includes things like disc brakes, aluminum engine blocks, direct-shift gearboxes, dual overhead camshafts, carbon fiber parts, clutchless manual transmissions, spoilers, long-lasting tires and even rear-view mirrors (which were first used by racers in the early 1910s). There is just nothing like the primal thrill of a good competition to spur creativity.

Like Tesla Motors, Formula E has a long-term plan that begins modestly, focusing on what can be accomplished with current technology, and, building on the lessons learned, passes through stages to gradually evolve into a major force for technological advancement.

MAR/APR 2015

51

For the first season, all teams are using the same cars.

In lieu of recharging, each driver performs in-race car swaps between two vehicles. Spark Racing Technology built the first-season cars, with contributions from an international consortium of suppliers. The Italian firm Dallara built the carâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s carbon fiber and aluminum chassis, McLaren Electronics Systems provided the electric motor (the same as that used in the McLaren P1 supercar), Williams Advanced Engineering designed the 32 kWh (28 kWh usable) battery pack and its management system, and the British firm Hewland Engineering supplied the five-speed gearbox. 42 of the cars have been built: four for each of the ten teams and two spares.

Beginning with season two, Formula E will become an open championship, in which teams will be allowed to use their own versions of certain powertrain compo-

52

We want this championship to be the platform where different technologies can be testedâ&#x20AC;Śand then they can be implemented in road cars

Images courtesy of Formula E

Formula E Holdings CEO Alejandro Agag

nents, competing to develop the best electric drivetrains human ingenuity can devise. For season two, the same chassis and battery packs will be used, but teams can develop new motors, inverters, transmission, cooling systems and some parts of the suspension.

In the following seasons, Formula E plans a progressive opening of the vehicle specifications, and more and more of the electric drive systems will be open for development.

THE VEHICLES

Long Beach, California race circuit

Miami, Florida race circuit

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“We want this championship to be the platform where different technologies can be tested…and then they can be implemented in road cars,” Formula E Holdings CEO Alejandro Agag said recently. “One of the key elements is cost control. We want to make development gradual, and we want to make manufacturers focus on what is really important. So in season two, they will be focusing on the motor and the inverter.”

“There will be a new battery for seasons three and four. All those years, we will stay with the same chassis.

Then in year five is when the big leap will happen, and then we will go from two cars to one car. Of course, this is a big challenge, in only five years to basically double the capacity or the power of those cars.”

Eight manufacturers have already announced that they will offer components for the 2015-16 season. To level the playing field between the teams that are backed by giant global automakers and those backed by smaller technology firms, an interesting rule has been issued.

“One of the key elements of Formula E is this rule that other teams can raise their hand and say, ‘I would like to have your powertrain,’ and the manufacturers are obliged to sell that powertrain to any given team at a maximum capped price,” said Agag.

Sir Richard Branson, Virgin Racing team owner, said at the Miami race that bringing new manufacturers into Formula E next year will turbocharge the development of everyday EVs. “Every team next year will be working hard to beat each other and all that manpower, finance and energy will produce breakthroughs and make a big difference to normal battery-driven cars. We spend a lot of time these days looking to a world that is carbon-neutral by 2050, and unless you have sports like Formula E, we will never get there. I hope 10 years from now the smell of exhaust from cars will be a thing of the past as much as the smell of cigarettes in restaurants.”

Technology advancements Predicting the specific type of tech advancements that may find their way from Formula E to production EVs is tricky, but talking to the pit crews in this year’s race gives us some clues. More power and less weight are the obvious benchmarks in racing, but in the EV world there is a particular emphasis on things like energy management, advanced cooling and efficiency.

“I try to make the powertrain the most powerful and efficient possible, according to regulations,” Eric Prada, an engineer in charge of performance and powertrain optimization for the Venturi Formula E team, told

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Every team next year will be working hard to beat each other and all that manpower, finance and energy will produce breakthroughs and make a big difference to normal battery-driven cars.

Sir Richard Branson Virgin Team Owner

THE VEHICLES

Images courtesy of Formula E

I try to make the powertrain the most powerful and efficient possible, according to regulations.

Charged. The same first-season vehicles were supplied to all the teams, but each team is allowed to modify the mapping of the powertrain. “We can play with the maps, and try to tune them according to what we want to get.

We can play with different settings such as the electric motor torque maps and the brake regen maps. These are the two main parameters we can play with.”

Racing requires high power levels to be sustained over long periods, and this creates some major thermal loads for the power electronics, batteries and motor. In the pits of a Formula E race, you’ll see various kinds of dry-ice-powered contraptions. They aren’t there to cool the drivers’ beer, but for the battery packs. As Prada

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Vehicle Specifications Dimensions •Overall length: 196.85 in (max) •Overall width: 70.86 in (max) •Overall height: 49.21 in (max) •Track width: 51.18 in (min) •Ride Height: 2.95 in (max) •Minimum weight (inc driver): 1975.34 lbs

(batteries 705.48 lbs)

Power •Maximum power: 200 kW, equivalent to 270 bhp •Race mode (power-saving): 150 kW, equivalent

to 202.5 bhp •FanBoost (race-only): Temporarily increases

max power from 150-180 kW •Maximum power will be available during

practice and qualifying sessions. During races, power-saving mode will apply, with the Fan Boost system temporarily allowing maximum power for a limited time of 5 secs per car.

Performance •Acceleration: 0-100 km/h (0-62 mph) in 3 secs •Maximum speed: 225 km/h (140 mph)

Gearbox •Hewland paddle-shift five-speed sequential

gearbox •Fixed gear ratios to reduce costs

Brakes • Two separate Hydraulic systems, operated by

the same pedal • Brake material is free choice • The section of each caliper piston must be

circular, and the body of the callipers must be made from aluminium alloy.

Wheels & Tires •Bespoke 18” treaded Michelin tires for use on

both wet and dry conditions/surfaces •Championship-specific wheel dimensions •O.Z. Racing magnesium rims. Max width: front

260 mm/rear 305 mm. Max diameter: front 650 mm/rear 690 mm

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Images courtesy of Formula E

THE VEHICLES explained to Charged, as the race goes on, battery temperature rises, and if the temperature reaches more than about 50 degrees C, power output can fall. “This is what we saw, for example, in the case of Lucas di Grassi from the ABT team, who had a problem with battery temperature [during the Miami race].” After the practices and qualifying, part of preparing the car for the race is cooling down the batteries, using those heavy-duty ice packs, especially when the weather is warm, as in Miami or Buenos Aires.

The dry-ice technique will probably not make its way into the next-generation production EVs, but other advanced approaches to dealing with cooling challenges may indeed have applications to more mundane consumer cars. Towing a trailer, for example, also requires sustaining high power levels, and can put a similar thermal burden on motors and electronics. Tesla’s upcoming Model X is the first passenger EV expected to have significant towing capability, and Green Car Reports speculated in a recent article that one of the reasons its launch has been delayed is that the company has been forced to develop better cooling technology.

In season two, Prada says that both motor and inverter will offer much potential for efficiency improvements. “There are a lot of things to do on the inverter side regarding hardware and software, for example by modifying the components inside the inverter, and trying to find clever ways to control the way you drive the motor.”

For any EV, from racecar to delivery van, the general goal is the same - to develop a powertrain that can make the most efficient possible use of the energy stored in the battery. The specific constraints are different of course, but as battery energy density is a limiting factor for EVs, the idea is always to try to optimize the efficiency of the powertrain to minimize energy losses during use.

“Compared to conventional thermal

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A driver’s series There are a few differences between electric racing and the old-fashioned kind. The most obvious is that, when an EV runs out of “fuel,” you can’t fill it up again in a few seconds like a gas car. Formula E deals with this issue with a simple low-tech solution: each driver has two cars, and simply switches midway through the race.

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Images courtesy of Formula E

Venturi Buckeye Bullet 2.5

engines, which use petrol, the problem is not the same,” said Eric Prada. “For ICEs we don’t really care about efficiency, because we have a large amount of energy stored in the fuel. With batteries, energy density is limited, so we have to be really efficient and not guzzle energy.”

Venturi is one of several companies connected to Formula E teams that are doing cutting-edge EV development. The company has helped develop a range of extreme electric vehicles, including the Venturi Buckeye Bullet 2.5, in partnership with Ohio State University, which holds the world speed record for BEVs at 307 mph (see the feature article in our April 2014 issue). The company’s Antarctica is a tracked EV designed for scientific missions to use in super-cold climates (down to -50 degrees C).

THE VEHICLES

The tracks tend to be a bit shorter than a typical Formula 1 track, because speeding down a long straightaway burns up a lot of energy. The amount of equipment and crew needed is smaller than a typical Formula 1 team the Venturi team consists of around 25 people, and each car and its related gear fits into a single shipping container.

Katherine Legge, a driver for the Amlin Aguri team, told the Fully Charged blog about some of the differences from a driver’s standpoint. The car’s weight is distributed a bit more toward the rear, because of the heavy battery pack, and there’s loads of torque, especially in the full-power map, but the biggest difference has to do with energy management. Drivers must skillfully manage regeneration, in order to avoid running out of energy too soon. The pit crew works out an optimal strategy, but once on the track it’s entirely up to the driver.

The steering wheel has a lot of buttons to fiddle with, and close communication with the support team is essential - you’ll see loads of laptops in the pits, keeping tabs on a massive feed of data from the cars at all times.

The first season, now more than half over, has seen sellout crowds enjoying some very exciting racing. The teams seem quite evenly matched - six races have been won by six different drivers. The checkered flag waved for Lucas di Grassi (Audi Sport ABT) in Beijing, Sam Bird (Virgin Racing) in Putrajaya, Sébastien Buemi (e.dams-Renault) in Punta del Este, Antonio Felix da Costa (Amlin Aguri) in Buenos Aires, Nicolas Prost (e.dams-Renault) in Miami, and in Long Beach, for

Nelson Piquet (China Racing), whose father won his first Formula 1 race on the same streets almost exactly 35 years earlier.

More partners, more power Just prior to the Miami race in March, Agag announced that two international media giants, Liberty Global and Discovery Communications had acquired minority stakes in Formula E - a major achievement that might just provide the impetus needed to convince more OEMs to come on board. “We knew we needed another partner to take it to the end,” Agag told reporters. “Really, it’s the last challenge. The beginning to now was the launch. Now we’re in orbit. We need to get to the moon still, but we’re in orbit.”

“We definitely expect more manufacturers to join from season three onwards. We are also talking with OEMs. Some teams we suspect have OEMs behind [them] but they are not revealed yet, because OEMs are cautious, OEMs want to see that the championship is there, strong, consolidated. In year two, we do have them coming to the next races, we are having this dialogue with some of the really big OEMs, and I think they will be joining us in season three.”

Agag also noted that he had spoken with Tesla CEO Elon Musk, but so far to no avail. “He says he doesn’t want to go racing. We hope to make him change his mind down the road. I think what he’s doing is amazing.

We want to do what he’s done - change the perception of electric cars for people.”

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POWERFUL

Plug-ins

By Michael Kent

EDI delivers extended-range EV drivetrains for some of the biggest vehicles on the road.

n November 2014, US officials and electric utility executives stood in front of the White House to announce a new EV commitment from power companies. More than 70 investor-owned electric utilities have pledged to spend an estimated $50 million per year - $250 million over five years - to add more electric vehicles to their fleets.

Among those in attendance were US Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, Counselor to the President John Podesta, Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) Chairman and CEO Tony Earley, and Edison Electric Institute (EEI) President Tom Kuhn.

Also front and center at the announcement was one of PG&E’s new plug-in hybrid Class 5 Ford F-550 bucket trucks. This 20,000-lb vehicle has some seriously powerful electrified specs, including over 35 miles of all-electric range, highway speeds that exceed 65 mph in EV mode, and continuous AC power export up to 120 kW. The vehicle’s hybrid system was designed and built

by Silicon Valley-based Efficient Drivetrains Inc. (EDI).

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Image courtesy of PG&E

I

The company is uniquely positioned to benefit from the electric utilities’ new EV programs and the global trend towards electrified fleet vehicles. Charged recently talked to CEO Joerg Ferchau about the growing market.

THE VEHICLES

Charged: We’ve seen a few plug-in hybrid boom trucks for the electric utilities unveiled over the past few years, but none with the all-electric capabilities of those by EDI. Is this a first for the industry?

Q

70 $250

Image courtesy of Efficient Drivetrains Inc

Joerg Ferchau: Yes, it is. Actually, we find that there is a lot of confusion in the marketplace, because “plug-in hybrid” can mean a lot of different things. Customers see two vehicles that are called plug-in hybrids, but it’s not so clear that one has electric drive and the other might not. For example, there are companies in this space that call their vehicles plug-in hybrids but have zero electric drive. The plug-in energy only powers their tools and accessories.

EDI’s plug-ins are essentially full EVs and use the engine only when the battery energy is low. The mediumduty vehicles we developed with PG&E are Ford F-550s.

They are big work trucks with all-wheel electric drive that are capable of full speed on the highway. When they arrive at the job site they can operate the boom or any other accessories for up to 24 hours without ever starting the engine.

The other feature that’s very valuable to utilities is power export. Our trucks can export 120 kW of synchronized AC power. One truck can provide enough power to hold up 100 homes. That’s more than more than three times the power most competitors can export.

These capabilities are a function of a few different things. The drivetrain has four modes of operation, investor-owned which is unique. It can electric utilities have operate in electric mode pledged to spend with one traction motor, and if more power is needed to get up a hill, it can actually use the “generator” that’s coupled to the engine as a second million over 5 years to traction motor. The two electrify their fleets motors combine for a very powerful EV, and

A

EDI’s plug-ins are essentially full EVs and use the engine only when the battery energy is low.

EDI’s Ford F-550 PHEV platform 35+ mile all-electric vehicle driving range 350+ mile range with Series-Parallel PHEV Drive Highway speed of 65+ mph in full electric vehicle mode Up to 500 horsepower available in parallel mode 24+ hours idle-free power for vehicle ePTO, accessories and job site tools Continuous AC power export at 120 kW Synchronization with grid for live servicing Vehicle and telematics data collection 2WD/4WD capable in electric or hybrid mode

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when you don’t need it, the generator goes back to being a generator. That’s what we call EV and EV Plus modes.

The other thing that’s very unique about the truck is that it has two hybrid modes that kick in when the battery is low. For low-speed or city driving it’s most efficient to operate in series, so the engine is running and turning the generator to supply more energy to the batteries. Then when you get on the highway, you run in parallel mode - using both motors and the engine to provide power to the wheels in parallel mode.

The high power export capabilities are possible because we leverage everything on the vehicle to create AC power and export it - it’s designed from the ground up for that purpose.

Q

Charged: So the power export function can power homes during emergencies?

Ferchau: Yes, but the utilities also have a different mission in mind. All of the power companies are rated by the minutes of customer downtime they have.

So they’re always trying to find ways of reducing that. It turns out that the majority of their downtime is actually for planned outages when they’re doing things like swapping out transformers. With these plug-in vehicles you can roll into a neighborhood in all-electric mode, clip the truck to the power lines, export power off the batteries, and swap the transformer while it’s hot. There is no need to cut power to homes. PG&E, for example, has 1.25 million transformers in the state of California, and if it had enough of these trucks to do all hot swaps, its annual downtime would be drastically reduced. They are very excited about this.

A

Q

Charged: What’s the typical ROI for a utility company? Is it hard for them to digest?

Ferchau: For commercial vehicles, setting aside any emissions requirements, most operators want an ROI of around three years or less. Most hybrid and electric systems will have a payback between three and eight years. But that’s changing quickly.

For example, if we look at costs associated with batteries from 2006 to 2010, we didn’t see much of a decrease in costs. From 2010 to 2013, there was a small drop. But in the past 12 months, we’ve seen significant decreases in battery system costs. We’re also seeing new motor technology that’s smaller, with higher power and lower costs.

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Images courtesy of Efficient Drivetrains Inc

A

THE VEHICLES

The ROI is going to improve rapidly. It’s not going to be a 7% year-over-year decline, it’s going to be much more aggressive And there are other drivers beyond fuel savings. Back in 2007, the EV market was about environmental impacts, then it was about fuel prices, then energy security, then job growth, and so on. In the last 12 months it’s become more defined and largely driven by regulatory compliance, both here in the US and in China. Government policies are getting a lot more aggressive about fuel economy standards, emissions reductions, and no engine idling in certain environments like schools, hospitals, and city centers.

Every OEM on the planet is having to look at hybridization as a way to be compliant. And once you put

batteries and motors into vehicles, customers become accustomed to the acceleration of electric launch. Before you know it, they want more electric range and power.

It’s past the tipping point, it’s actually happening now and being driven by compliance and great functionality.

So, the ROI is going to improve rapidly. It’s not going to be a 7% year-over-year decline, it’s going to be much more aggressive. Today they’re still expensive, but the good news is that there is demand, systems are getting out into the field, everybody is getting more experience, and suppliers are seeing more volume and are bringing costs down.

Q

Charged: EDI has designed drivetrains for many other vehicles as well. Tell us about your design architecture.

Ferchau: We use what we call an open or modular architecture. Batteries and motors are sourced from best-of-breed companies in the US, Europe, Korea, Japan, and China. The idea is to always have the ideal battery and motor that is right-sized for the vehicle

A

application. That way we have the best price performance on the road. We treat the battery as a black box, agnostic to chemistry. We create the requirements for the battery module and then we bring in the best chemistry and company for the purpose.

Most of our IP is in the control software. When you have a hybrid drivetrain, it’s a pretty complex thing to manage. You’re managing engines, clutches, generators, motors, batteries, chargers and more. The way that you control power and energy with software is very critical to efficiency.

The company was founded in 2006 as a technology spin-out of University of California, Davis. They had done about ten years of R&D on the technology and got to a point where they decided to commercialize the patents. Over the past four or five years at EDI we’ve significantly expanded the IP and now have a great pat-

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Images courtesy of Efficient Drivetrains Inc

We actually engineer each drivetrain so it’s the ideal drivetrain for any vehicle in its market.

THE VEHICLES ent portfolio. One of the challenges of bringing a new technology to market is that it’s hard to get an industry position without IP. You can even be blocked from entering the market, so having some sort of IP behind you is a really important thing. EDI’s patent portfolio is extensive and covers things like hybrid vehicle architecture, control algorithms and transmission technology.

From the very beginning the business plan was to develop plug-in hybrid drivetrain solutions for commercial and fleet vehicles, with a primary focus on medium-duty markets. Years later, that’s still our sweet spot. Medium-duty generally means Class 3 to Class 6 vehicles, that’s roughly 6,000 to 26,000 lbs gross vehicle weight. We’ve also done some lighter-duty trucks and city and highway buses.

All of the drivetrains we’ve developed share the same architecture as the Ford F-550s we delivered to PG&E - that is, plug-in hybrids that are full-power EVs until the battery is depleted and they switch to hybrid modes.

We’ve developed a very unique open architecture that has lower cost, smaller size, and less weight, and we use the same system for everything from small vehicles up to large buses.

Most other companies have a drivetrain solution, then they try to force it to fit a certain application. We actually engineer each drivetrain so it’s the ideal drivetrain for any vehicle in its market. Because our architecture is modular, we can bring in the right motors and batteries based on the size of the vehicle, cost targets, and performance requirements, then use the same control software for a small pickup truck in the US or a 50,000 lb highway bus in China.

Q

Charged: Does EDI design the drivetrains and then license the technology, or do you manufacture vehicles as well?

Ferchau: Whenever you start a new company there is always a learning curve. You have your vision of the business plan and then you’re hit with reality and you have to adapt. This is one area where we’ve made a few adjustments to the model.

The plan was always to be a drivetrain technology provider, but we learned early on that while our customers liked the technology, they didn’t have the experience or culture to actually build the first vehicles. So we had to become very good at rapidly engineering and producing drivetrains and also building the first vehicles for the initial trials by our customers. Last quarter we built

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We had to become very good at rapidly engineering and producing drivetrains and also building the first vehicles for the initial trials by our customers. about 20 vehicles, and this year, we’ll do significantly more.

To answer your question, our main business model is to help our customers develop and build the first vehicles using our technology and our drivetrains, whether it be an OEM, an upfitter or a fleet manager.

Then once they go to the market and mass production, we’ll become the supplier for things like control software, controllers, and some drivetrain subsystems.

In concept, we do low-volume manufacturing, and once the vehicle is tested and certified, our goal is to turn that over to our customers and just provide them with drivetrain technology. It may sound like we’re doing a lot of different things at once, but we’re actually very focused.

Q

Charged: Can the drivetrains be retrofit to used vehicles, or only installed at the beginning of the manufacturing process?

Ferchau: We can do it either way. OEMs can set up a production line to install our drivetrains, or they can be retrofit. The chassis and the body remain unchanged, so you can build them new or install our drivetrains down the line. Today, EDI often functions as the upfitter. Customers buy new vehicles and provide them to us to be hybridized.

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Charged: What are some of the other vehicles that EDI has developed drivetrains for?

Ferchau: We have a lot of development programs here in the US and also in China. We set up wholly owned subsidiaries in China, and our business is expanding.

Some of the recent projects include a plug-in hybrid system for a GM-based Class 3 utility pickup truck, PHEV CNG city buses, and low cost PHEV SUVs.

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30-40 miles of all-electric range Series-parallel extended range of 300 miles Bi-directional charging 50-120 kW off-grid reliable exportable power Enough battery capacity to operate vehicle accessories and job site work tools without idling the base diesel engine

Images courtesy of Efficient Drivetrains Inc

Q

EDI’s GM 3500 PHEV platform

THE VEHICLES We’ve done plug-in hybrids using gas engines, diesel and compressed natural gas (CNG).

One CNG-based PHEV system - in partnership with Greenkraft, CALSTART, and the California Energy Commission - is a 14,500 lb, Class 4 medium-duty delivery truck. It achieved an MPGe of 26.9.

In another partnership with the Chinese bus company Euease, we developed a low-cost CNG PHEV bus. It’s manufactured entirely in China with local components and EDI control systems. It runs in all-electric mode for about 20 to 30 miles per day, and can also use opportunity charging to go further, including CNG hybrid operation for extended ranges.

This year in China we’re also starting to do some pure electric projects. These will actually be government and consumer vehicles. Our focus has always been commercial and fleet, but in China the government is starting to buy smaller electric vehicles. So we’re building some EV versions of SUVs and five-passenger sedans.

Q

Charged: How many vehicles powered by EDI drivetrains are on the road today?

In China we recently received government certification, which was a huge milestone for us.

Ferchau: A lot of our customers received the first vehicles powered by EDI technology in 2014. In China, for example, we recently received government certification, which was a huge milestone for us. So, last year we were continuing to build the initial units for the first trials and the shakedown efforts. This year is about ramping up more production, and next year we’ll be focused on going into more mass production. This year we expect to have about 100 vehicles being tested with our drivetrains. Next year we expect it to be in the thousands. And the really interesting part of our story is the variety of those vehicles.

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ClipperCreek announces portable plug-in version of LCS-20 charging station

Groupe Bolloré, the French conglomerate that operates electric car-sharing services in Paris, Bordeaux, Lyon and Indianapolis, has won government backing for a charging network across France.

Bolloré plans to invest 150 million euros ($172 million) to install 16,000 Level 2 chargers over the next four years. Subscribers will be able to reserve time slots at chargers, and the network will also offer wi-fi and carpooling services.

“Wherever you are on the map there will be at least one recharging point every 40 kilometres,” said the company in a statement.

In September, Bolloré and Renault established a joint venture to build EVs at the carmaker’s plant in Dieppe in northern France.

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Image © CHARGED Electric Vehicles Magazine

Image: Raphael Desrosiers (CC BY 2.0)

Bolloré to build nationwide charging network in France Contrary to popular belief, Level 2 charging does not necessarily require a custom-installed, hard-wired charging station. ClipperCreek offers a line of portable chargers that can be plugged into existing 240 V outlets.

The company’s latest offering is the LCS-20P, a plug-in version of its popular LCS-20 hard-wired charger.

“As the popularity of moveable charging stations has increased, customers have been asking for a plug-in version at the LCS-20 price point,” said Jason France, President and Founder of ClipperCreek.

“The LCS-20P comes with the four most common residential 240 V power plugs. Some customers will be able to use an existing receptacle and it will cost virtually nothing to install,” said Will Barrett, ClipperCreek Sales Manager. “At ClipperCreek we use long cables in all our charging stations. ClipperCreek stations require no assembly, just mount it to the wall, connect power and start charging.”

The American-made LCS-20 is ETL-certified and comes with a three-year warranty. The original LCS-20 hard-wired unit is offered at $379, and the plug-in LCS20P is $395.

THE INFRASTRUCTURE

Islands make perfect EV habitats, and the state of Hawaii is rapidly getting charged. To encourage off-peak charging, the Hawaiian Electric Companies offer special time-of-use (TOU) electric rates. The new EV Bill Savings Estimators give residential customers an online tool to estimate how much money they can save by driving electric.

With a recent electric bill in hand, a customer can input data to calculate the amount of savings from using the TOU EV rate, which varies depending on the time of day. For example, the O’ahu TOU EV rate provides a discount of about 6 cents per kilowatt-hour for electricity consumed between 9 pm and 7 am.

A typical customer with an EV can save about 30% on fuel costs by using the standard residential rate. The TOU EV rate yields an additional 15% savings for O’ahu customers charging an EV at home.

“Plug-in electric vehicles are key to a clean energy future for Hawai’i,” said Jim Alberts, Hawaiian Electric Senior VP. “EVs can help reduce our dependency on imported oil, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and save customers money in the process.”

Image courtesy Nissan

Image courtesy of Jacques Descloitres, NASA

Hawaiian Electric Companies launch online EV Bill Savings Estimator

Nissan and Endesa partner to develop massmarket V2G system

Nissan and Endesa have agreed to work together to develop a mass-market vehicle-to-grid (V2G) system. The two companies plan to introduce V2G services in the European market and to explore the use of second-life EV batteries for stationary applications.

“Every Nissan electric vehicle battery contains a power storage capability that will prove useful in contributing towards smarter and responsible management of the power demand and supply of local power grids, thus reducing our EV total cost of ownership,” said Paul Willcox, Chairman of Nissan Europe.

A major challenge for electricity management systems is assuring grid stability, especially in countries with high levels of renewable energy generation. In the future, EVs could be at the center of an integrated system that allows owners to participate in wholesale energy markets using the power stored in their batteries.

The EV user could not only decide when and where to charge their EV, but how best to resell the energy stored in its battery pack, receiving financial benefits for doing so.

The system consists of the Endesa two-way charger and an energy management system that can also integrate off-grid power generation. Using this equipment, a Nissan LEAF or e-NV200 owner can charge at lowdemand tariff periods, with an option to then use the electricity stored in the battery at home when costs are higher, or to feed it back to the grid for a net financial benefit.

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THE INFRASTRUCTURE

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Indiana gas station chain installs DC fast chargers Public EV chargers are popping up at all kinds of locations, including, of all places, gas stations. Convenience store chain Ricker Oil has installed nine DC fast chargers at locations in central Indiana.

Ricker partnered with the Greater Indiana Clean Cities Coalition and Nissan, which offers two years of free public charging to LEAF buyers through its No Charge to Charge program. The stations are part of the Greenlots network.

“Whatever the future of fuel is, Ricker’s will be here to dispense it to our loyal, Hoosier customer base,” said CEO Quinn Ricker. “Through our partnership with Nissan, we are thrilled to be able to provide electriccharging stations at no cost and be among the largest providers of electric-charging stations in America.”

Indianapolis has taken a number of pro-EV measures, including a plan to convert the city’s non-police fleet to plug-ins by 2025. “In Indianapolis, we are taking bold steps to reduce our city’s oil dependence,” said Mayor Greg Ballard. “Growing our citywide network of EV charging stations is important as we transition the city’s entire fleet off foreign oil and work with residents to increase their access to electric vehicles.”

Could Ricker’s move be part of a coming trend? Gate Petroleum recently installed a Nissan DC Fast Charger at a Gate convenience store in Jacksonville, Florida. A Jack Flash gas station in Effingham, Illinois has announced plans to install six Tesla charging stations.

Image courtesy of NRG eVgo

NRG eVgo launches program to help renters charge EVs

Charging your EV is a snap if you live in a house with a garage, but for renters living in multifamily housing, it can be a deal-breaker. Charging network operator NRG eVgo, a subsidiary of NRG Energy (NYSE: NRG), intends to defuse this problem with its Take Charge program. The company is currently offering charging station installation at no cost to qualified apartment communities in California.

“Renters could be left out of the EV movement unless they have a reliable option for charging their cars at home,” said VP of Business Development Terry O’Day. “We believe that everyone should have access to athome charging. For a limited time, multi-family housing communities are eligible for upgrades to support electric vehicle charging at no cost to qualified property owners.”

NRG eVgo is publicizing the new program with a road show - live events in cities across California will give apartment residents an inside look at owning an EV, and let them know about the opportunity to get charging capabilities at home.

“Driving an EV saves time, money and the environment, and we want this opportunity to be available to everyone,” added O’Day. “For rental property owners, we find that offering charging on-premises raises property value and creates competitive advantage.”

NRG eVgo has a similar no-cost program for California employers who would like to offer EV charging at work.

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CURRENTevents

If we’ve read it once, we’ve read it a thousand times: increasing EV adoption depends on providing more public charging infrastructure. Governments, automakers and some public utilities tend to agree with this conventional wisdom, and many are investing substantial amounts in rolling out public charging networks.

Some in the EV world are skeptical of this scenario, however. A couple of studies have found that most charging happens at home and at work, and many industry observers believe that range anxiety is mostly a malady for less-experienced EV owners.

A new study conducted at Simon Fraser University seems to support this view. Professor Jonn Axsen and his graduate students found that awareness of public chargers has little impact on consumers’ interest in EVs. The team detailed their findings in “Is awareness of public charging associated with consumer interest in plugin electric vehicles?” which was published in the peer-reviewed journal Transportation Research Part D. The researchers concluded that increasing access to home-based vehicle charging could do more to boost the popularity of EVs than deploying more public chargers. This has important implications for governments with limited budgets to support the EV market.

The team recently presented their study to the National Academy of Sciences’ Transportation Research Board.

“When we account for the relevant factors, our analysis suggests that the relationship between public charger awareness and plug-in electric vehicle demand is weak or nonexistent,” says Axsen. “In other words, the installation of public chargers might not be the best way to encourage growth in the electric vehicle market.”

The study polled a sample of 1,739 households in Canada - respondents were asked about awareness of

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Image © CHARGED Electric Vehicles Magazine

New study suggests public charging has little to do with consumer interest in EVs

public charging in their region, and about their overall interest in purchasing a plug-in vehicle. The data showed that British Columbia’s Clean Energy Vehicle program - which had installed almost 500 public chargers when the survey was conducted in 2013 - was successful in increasing charger awareness. Almost a third of British Columbian respondents had seen at least one public charger, compared to only 13 % of respondents in the rest of Canada. However, that awareness didn’t translate into increased interest in plug-in vehicles.

The study also found that potential buyers were far more likely to be attracted to plug-in hybrid vehicles, such as the Volt, than to pure EVs such as the LEAF. “Given what we’ve seen here, it seems wise for governments to focus their money on incentives other than public electric vehicle chargers,” says Axsen. “We know that purchase rebates can spark consumer interest, and we’ve shown that home charging is important. In combination with the implementation of a Zero Emissions Vehicle mandate like California’s, these measures could be the biggest boosters of electric vehicle sales.”

THE INFRASTRUCTURE SDG&E integrates EVs into wholesale energy market

Australian-based Tritium has signed an exclusive US contract with ChargePoint to install Tritium’s Veefil DC fast charging stations.

The shapely Veefil has a power output of 50 kW, and is available with both SAE Combo and CHAdeMO connectors.

The Veefil is designed not only to look cool, but to be light and compact. Its polycarbonate and aluminum construction gives it what the company says is the smallest footprint and lowest weight (364 lbs) of any 50 kW DC charger, allowing it to fit neatly at the end of a standard parking bay. A liquid cooling system is designed to make it robust over a wide range of temperature and humidity conditions.

“ChargePoint approached us because it was attracted by both the design and unique technology of the Veefil, plus the fact that it is extremely simple for the EV owner to use,” explains Tritium’s CEO, David Finn. “We were looking for a strong partner in the US which had excellent distribution and an established network throughout the country.”

“These stations can be used by any EV equipped with fast charging and will be installed in convenient locations where drivers need them most,” said Pasquale Romano, ChargePoint CEO.

Images courtesy of Tritium

Tritium brings Veefil DC fast chargers to the US

San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) has launched a pilot vehicle-to-grid project under which it will bid a group of energy storage systems and EV fleets as one resource directly into the California Independent System Operator’s (CAISO) energy markets. Utilities use storage resources like this to address short-term imbalances in electricity supply caused by such things as intermittent renewable energy.

“There is tremendous potential for dispatchable distributed energy resources to enhance reliability and achieve greater efficiencies,” said SDG&E Senior VP James P. Avery. “The key to unlocking that potential is to better understand how these resources provide value both at the customer site level and at the larger electric grid level. This project does just that.”

The project aggregates stationary storage systems together with EV fleets at five separate locations. The assets are remotely controlled using software that balances the participant’s charging needs and identifies opportunities to provide demand response services at the grid level. The project correlates charging activity with wholesale energy prices. By agreeing not to charge at peak hours, the aggregated resource is paid the marginal energy price in those hours, similar to a conventional generator.

“Creating a framework for small, aggregated resources to directly participate in energy markets is a natural evolution of SDG&E’s earlier, pioneering efforts at the San Diego Zoo and Borrego Springs Microgrid,” added Avery.

“This pilot creates an important connection between actual grid conditions and customer response,” said CAISO’s Heather Sanders. “By having electric vehicles directly participate as a grid resource in the wholesale market, vehicles respond to signals from the grid operator to reduce when electricity is scarce, and continue or resume charging when renewable generation is plentiful.

This capability helps maximize the use of energy from renewables while keeping the grid reliable.”

There are currently more than 13,000 EVs in SDG&E’s service territory.

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Eaton DC Hyper Charger delivers rates up to one megawatt

Power management company Eaton has announced an addition to its EVSE product line. The DC Hyper Charger is designed to serve mass transit EVs such as buses, and is scalable from 250 kW to 1 MW charging rates.

Eaton’s engineers collaborated with product testing firm Intertek to devise a testing regimen for the new charger. It is now ETL-certified for safety, meeting UL standards 2202 and 2231.

Eaton’s DC Hyper Charger is already in revenue service on bus routes in several cities, and has logged over 600,000 miles to date.

“Our years of experience in developing electrical and hybrid power systems for trucks and buses helped us apply existing standards for consumer plug-in chargers to this larger and very different device,” said Product Line Manager Jon Beaver. “Pursuing these industryrecognized safety certifications for the Hyper Charger demonstrates Eaton’s dedication to providing safe, innovative and effective charging solutions that help set the stage for mass adoption of EVs in North America.”

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Image courtesy of Con Edison

Con Edison tests smart grid technology for fleet charging

Corporate fleets can save big by going electric, but those savings can only be optimized if a company can manage its charging intelligently and minimize demand charges, potentially hefty fees that are based on a customer’s highest power usage during a month.

New York utility Con Edison, together with FedEx Express, General Electric and Columbia University, are testing a system that uses Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition smart grid technology to manage power flow to EVs and reduce the vehicle owners’ energy bill.

Researchers placed 10 GE smart charging stations at a FedEx Express facility in Manhattan, home base for 10 electric delivery vans with 80 kWh battery packs.

The chargers communicate with a system that uses algorithms to predict the daily electricity needs of the building and the vehicles. The chargers can adjust the power flow to ensure that the trucks stay charged up, while keeping demand charges low.

“The number of electric vehicles on the road is growing, and that’s good for our customers and good for the environment,” said John Shipman, who manages EV programs for Con Edison. “The technology in this project helps a fleet owner get the power its customers need while saving money on electricity. In today’s competitive business world, companies that can reduce their energy costs have an edge.”

THE INFRASTRUCTURE

Image: Glen Wallace (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Image © CHARGED Electric Vehicles Magazine

EV Connect and GE sign joint marketing and product agreement

UK government to invest £32 million in EV infrastructure, £11 million in R&D

Charging station software developer EV Connect has signed a joint marketing and product agreement with GE’s Industrial Solutions business. GE will be a preferred charging station supplier of EV Connect, and EV Connect will be a preferred management provider for GE charging stations. EV Connect gains a perpetual license to access the GE WattStation Connect cloudbased operating platform.

“This expanded relationship with GE further solidifies EV Connect’s position as the recognized industry leader in the management of electric vehicle charging stations,” said EV Connect President Jordan Ramer. “Customer demand for a versatile and feature-rich management platform, combined with high-quality equipment for their charging station infrastructure, is an essential element in the decision-making process.”

Since April 2014’s announcement by GE regarding open access to the WattStation network, both companies have pursued joint customer opportunities using GE’s charge stations and EV Connect’s management platform.

“Together with EV Connect, we will be able to provide customers with an innovative, end-to-end solution capable of meeting customers’ everyday EV charging station requirements,” said GE Senior Product Manager Seth Cutler. “The combination of our products and EV Connect’s service capabilities will help address the growing demands and expectations within the EV industry.”

The UK government has announced £32 million ($49 million) in new funding for EV infrastructure, to support “the fast-growing popularity of plug-in vehicles.”

The announcement noted that claims for government grants to plug-in buyers increased fourfold in 2014.

The new pot of money, which will be invested between now and 2020, includes: £15 million to continue the Electric Vehicle Homecharge Scheme, which offers homeowners a grant for 75% of the cost of installing a home charger (up to £700); £8 million to support public charging infrastructure; and £9 million “to address other infrastructure priorities, for example, ensuring that the UK’s charge point network remains accessible and open for users.” This may be a reference to funding for ongoing maintenance, which has been a particular problem in London.

An additional £11 million of funding has been announced for R&D in low-emission vehicle technology.

The 15 supported projects include: the creation of a new recycled carbon fiber material; development of a fuel cell range-extended electric bus; and a prototype zero-emission power and cooling system for refrigerated trucks and air-conditioned buses.

“Our support to the ULEV industry will help ensure the innovation that is a hallmark of the British automotive industry will continue to drive development in this vital growth sector,” said Transport Minister Baroness Kramer. “The niche vehicle sector, which makes everything from premium sports cars to double-decker buses, is a key strength for UK industry.”

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Data

Driven

By Michael Kent

PlugShare, the company behind that handy charging station locator app, has evolved into a market research leader.

Its PlugShare Data tool offers comprehensive infrastructure analytics to the EV industry.

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THE INFRASTRUCTURE

I

Images courtesy of PlugShare

n the past five years, the amount of public PEV charging infrastructure in the US has skyrocketed to over 25,000 charging stations.

In June 2010, that number was fewer than 1,000.

That’s when the PlugShare team first began mapping EV chargers, allowing its app users to share tips and tricks about their favorite places to charge.

As public infrastructure installations took off, PlugShare’s software evolved into a data-rich mixture of crowdsourced and curated streams of charging station information. Today, users of the charging station locator app see a comprehensive map of both networked and non-networked public stations with extra details like station costs, last mile navigation tips, and nearby amenities.

Behind the scenes, a key piece of PlugShare’s business model has been to work closely with automakers, utilities, and charging networks to provide them with the best possible data on charging infrastructure.

PlugShare’s partners include heavy hitters like Ford, Nissan, Pacific Gas and Electric, NRG eVgo, and General Electric. They use the company’s data stream for a lot of different functions, such as populating in-vehicle navigation systems and mobile apps, infrastructure reporting and analytics, and benchmarking their installation velocity.

“How do different charging standards compete with one another across time and over market areas? In what states is infrastructure growing the fastest? Which networks are most popular in different areas? Those are the kinds of questions we can answer with PlugShare Data,” Akhil Jariwala of PlugShare’s business development team told Charged.

Data integrity PlugShare Data provides licensed access to industry stakeholders interested in charging infrastructure analytics. Customers use a web portal to review and export EV infrastructure data on demand in the form of graphs, charts, maps, and tables.

less than

1,000

v charging stations in the US in 2010 now over

25,000 according to PlugShare Data

To maintain its competitive advantage, the company continually strives to have the most comprehensive data available. New charging station information comes in from three sources: the charging networks, industry partners, and EV drivers. PlugShare works closely with the various charging networks, and in many cases, they have licensing agreements to share data. It also works closely with industry associations like CHAdeMO to help them parse and vet US charger data. In exchange, the association provides real-time access to the latest station counts abroad.

PlugShare also encourages users of its app to upload new charging stations to the database. Crowdsourcing has proven to be the most useful method to track nonnetworked chargers. The only alternative would be to communicate with every single electrician who installs a station - not a feasible option. “Drivers are excited to share travel resources wherever they go, and station operators want to attract new customers economically,” PlugShare CEO Brian Kariger told Charged. “Empowering the crowd to add stations on PlugShare is a natural fit for EV owners and installers alike.”

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Figure 1: Station counts by county in Oregon

Number of charging stations 1

The company claims its data is superior to other sources in two ways: coverage and accuracy. The company employs a full time “data integrity team” to ensure that all incoming station data is accurate, consistent, and compliant to its standards. The in-house editorial team validates the location and station details every time a new site is added to the feed.

“Networked station data is a little easier, since we collaborate with the charger networks to audit data regularly. For the other half of stations out there that are non-networked, we invest a lot of time and effort into getting accurate station information,” Jariwala told Charged. “We examine Google Maps satellite and street

For the other half of stations out there that are non-networked, we invest a lot of time and effort into getting accurate station information.

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We have advanced mapping capabilities that can extend to city level, zip code level and beyond.

100+

view images, review user corrections, and even contact site hosts. To us, managing EV infrastructure data is like caring for a living, breathing animal. We think data integrity is paramount to the driver experience.”

A tour of the tools To give us an idea of the scope of PlugShare Data, Jariwala gave us a demo.

In the US, PlugShare reports over 15,000 public and restricted-access charging sites, with around 25,000 stations, as of March 2015. Those are the stations that have their own hardware or sub-contained units. For example, if one of NRG eVgo’s California sites has a dual J1772 Level 2 station and a DC Fast Charger with both a CHAdeMO and SAE Combo Plug, that equals one site, two charging stations and four connectors.

To make it easier to gain insight from these figures, it’s important to structure the data in a way that allows for many levels of detail and granularity.

“The first question we get asked is, ‘Where is charging infrastructure located?’” Jariwala said. Obviously, the standard PlugShare map is available for free on the web

THE INFRASTRUCTURE Figure 2: DC fast charger connector growth in California CHAdeMO 324 300

Number of connectors

250

Tesla Supercharger 224

200

150

SAE Combo (CCS) 104

100

50

0 2012

2013

2014

2015

Growth charts are particularly good at revealing historical trends in the market.

Growth and iOS and Android devices.

InCharger California, the SAE Combo PlugShare Fast Connector Growth Data also keeps While it’s a good user interstandard is about two years track of when stations were face for drivers trying to locreated. This allows the syscate a single charging station, behind CHAdeMO, based on to plot the expansion of it’s not the most efficient way both current plug counts and tem infrastructure in many differto see a global census of where trend lines. ent ways. For example, we can infrastructure is currently monitor the progress of the installed. PlugShare Data’s different DC Fast Charging standards. Figure 2 shows tools, on the other hand, provide visualizations that agthat in the state of California there are 324 CHAdeMO gregate charging station locations by shared dimensions connectors, 104 SAE Combo plugs, and 224 Tesla Susuch as utility company territories, charging networks, perchargers, as of March 2015. connector types, points-of-interest, etc. “We have a lot These growth charts are particularly good at revealing of advanced filter capabilities,” said Jariwala. historical trends in the market. For example, there is a If we look at the state of Oregon, for example, the lot of discussion in the EV community about the SAE dashboard quickly breaks down the numbers of sites, Combo and CHAdeMO standards and what the growth stations, and total connectors. With a few clicks we can of these standards will look like. slice and dice the data into reports like “station counts A quick look at Figure 2 shows you that, while all by county.” The system can then generate a heat map the different charging standards are growing relatively that highlights the highest-density areas at a glance, as quickly in California, the SAE Combo standard is about shown in Figure 1. “We have advanced mapping capatwo years behind CHAdeMO, based on both current bilities that can extend to city level, zip code level and plug counts and trend lines. beyond,” said Jariwala.

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Figure 3: DC fast charger growth by network in PG&E’s service territory Network

SuperCharger eVgo Blink

Tesla Supercharger - 90 Non-networked

90

Greenlots 80

Number of stations

70

eVgo - 59

60

50

40

Blink - 32

30

Non-networked - 24

20

Greenlots - 10

10 0 2012

2013

2014

2015

Tracking networks Point-of-interest While the rate of fast charging “Another question that Another useful data set rollout by the Blink network we hear a lot is, ‘Which that’s tracked by PlugShare networks have the best is the point-of-interest has slowed in PG&E’s coverage in a particu(POI) type where a staterritory over time, eVgo and lar area?’” said Jariwala. tion is installed. Charging PlugShare Data is not only locations are assigned a Supercharger growth has able to parse the different POI type such as Dealeractually ramped up. network counts by market ship, Parking Garage/ designations such as CBSA, Lot, School/University, DMA, and utility zone, but it can also compare that Shopping Center, Hotel/Lodging, etc. Comparisons to non-network station growth in the same territory. can be created for the most common POIs in different Figure 3 breaks down DC fast charger growth trends by areas. Figure 4 shows the most common POIs for the network in Pacific Gas and Electric’s service territory top metropolitan markets in the state of California. In in California. Here we can see that while the rate of fast the Bay Area, the plurality of charging locations are at charging rollout by the Blink network has slowed in the workplaces, while in San Diego, schools/universities territory over time, eVgo and Supercharger growth has and shopping centers are the most tagged host type. actually ramped up.

This ability to illustrate station counts across netPlugInsights works is a valuable tool for any stakeholder that’s evaluAnother division of PlugShare, which is focused on ating a market’s competitive landscape or investment market research, is PlugInsights. It operates a research opportunities by geography. panel comprised of more than 11,000 PEV drivers,

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THE INFRASTRUCTURE

Figure 4: Station POIs for the top metropolitan markets in California POI (group)

San FranciscoOak-San Jose

Los Angeles

San Diego

Sacramnto-Stkt.

Grand Total

Parking Garage/Lot

15.31%

15.42%

8.88%

21.26%

15.27%

Workplace

27.18%

5.80%

11.68%

5.31%

14.87%

Store/Retail

9.01%

10.69%

7.94%

12.56%

9.92%

Dealership

5.72%

12.52%

10.75%

9.66%

9.30%

Government

7.73%

8.09%

4.21%

15.46%

8.34%

School/University

4.29%

7.94%

13.55%

4.83%

6.82%

Shopping Center

4.01%

8.70%

12.62%

4.35%

6.82%

Hotel/Lodging Other Grand Total

5.01%

7.02%

7.48%

4.35%

5.97%

21.75%

23.82%

22.90%

22.22%

22.70%

100.00%

100.00%

100.00%

100.00%

100.00%

the largest of its kind in the world. “Our mission is to amplify the voice of the PEV driver to the automotive OEMs, investment firms, utilities, regulators, and the rest of the plug-in community,” explained PlugInsights Managing Director Norman Hajjar. “We work on a custom basis with clients, helping them design tomorrow’s vehicles, policies, services and more.”

Because the PlugInsights panel is so large, it allows clients to get answers to extremely detailed, highly specific questions regarding driver desires, behaviors, attitudes, and demographics. “We can take it as deep as a client wants,” said Hajjar, “right down to more than specific models, technologies, geography, behavior segments, you name it. It’s like a Hubble telescope PEV drivers in for PEV marketers and PlugInsight’s research engineers, giving them a panel look at things that were invisible until now.”

11,000

We work on a custom basis with clients, helping them design tomorrow’s vehicles, policies, services and more.

“Between the PlugInsights and PlugShare Data tools, we’re really feeling confident that we can answer any questions that might come up about market research in the EV space,” said Jariwala.

The company’s goal is to be the leader in PEV research and analytics, and it’s well on its way. In this young industry, there are still many unanswered questions about what the future of infrastructure rollout and vehicle deployment will look like. With a rapidly changing market, using powerful and accurate tools to analyze trends is the only way industry players can hope to predict what comes next.

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An

Educated Part of the academia-to-enterprise pipeline, MOEV Inc.’s distributed power smart-charging systems may be the economical answer to California utilities’ grand infrastructure plans.

BY MARKKUS ROVITO

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T

he usually pejorative term “ivory tower” refers most often to an intellectually cut-off academia, which sits separated from the practical world, musing away on obscure research or useless pursuits. However, it’s shortsighted to think of the academic ivory tower as wasteful unless no one ever brings something useful down from it. The occasionally overlooked purpose of academia is exactly what its critics target: it provides a protective environment in which to tackle challenging questions and problems for the simple sake of finding solutions and gaining knowledge, whether the results are practical or not.

The cool thing is that more often than not, the best ideas will out. In the process of studying problems for the simple sake of finding answers, a small percentage of those answers will suggest a larger potential for doing good in the world at large, and that’s usually the time when an academic pursuit becomes a business.

In that way, academia functions similarly to a venture

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THE INFRASTRUCTURE

capital firm. The VCs’ only goal from the outset is to pick ideas that will make a profit, but in some respects, the VC firm just picks its 10 favorite darts to throw at a target, expecting one of them to hit the bullseye.

When it comes down to plucking intellectual property (IP) out of academia and spinning it off into a business, “one gets a sense that a technology is able to solve an immediate problem for a real user, as opposed to only solving a technically or fundamentally hard problem,” said Dr. Rajit Gadh, a professor of engineering at UCLA and co-founder of MOEV Inc. A Los Angeles startup spun out of UCLA IP less than a year ago, MOEV develops EVSE hardware and software for distributed smart charging that could reduce some of the burdens of workplace and multi-unit dwelling (MUD) charging.

Gadh sees it as a plus to be located in Los Angeles, which, although not the tech startup mecca that its northern neighbor Silicon Valley is, does have the highest concentration of registered plug-in drivers - about

Eventually, a very small number of technologies have the potential to be of use to the industry and therefore of commercial value at a given point in time.

26,000 - in the biggest plug-in state in the country.

“Charging is a physically fixed application,” Gadh said.

“Being in proximity to this market is an advantage.”

MOEV’s IP and founding team come out of UCLA’s Smart Grid Energy Research Center (SMERC), which focuses its research and invention on the next-generation electric utility grid with DOE funding. That group works on many problems and product prototypes, as one can see from their publications at smartgrid.ucla. edu, but there’s another key factor concerning which ideas get spun off into companies: timing.

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Vehicles are connected for more time than they’re charging

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on EV chargers, that doesn’t mean the riches will automatically flow into MOEV’s coffers. So let’s see why MOEV’s founders believe its charging system is so utility-friendly.

Sharing the load Two key innovations of MOEV’s charging system are circuit sharing and dynamically allocated power. Many typical locations for public charging, such as a workplace or MUD, won’t have a lot of extra electrical infrastructure.

MOEV’s system can take a single 100 W line and divide it among four cable handles.

“Vehicles are connected for more time than they’re charging,” said Michael Boehm, MOEV’s Director of Business Development. “If someone has a LEAF and they need to leave it for three hours, and someone else has a Volt they’re parking for eight hours, we can trickle-charge the Volt and send the majority of the power to the LEAF, so we satisfy the customers. We’ve developed many algorithms that can optimize the charging experience, depending on one’s rate sensitivity, the type of vehicle and the amount of time to charge. The utilities like it, because another thing you can do is take the demand response signal and damp down all of the charging sections.”

MOEV’s charging network can handle many different distributed energy objects on the grid, making it easier to manage energy loads. “It’s a happy future for the utilities when they can control what happens with EV charge loads,” Boehm said. “UCLA looked at how you could use the vehicle charging load to complement

Image © CHARGED Electric Vehicles Magazine

“The timing of a prototypical technology has to be just right, and that’s difficult to determine or predict,” said Dr. Peter Chu, a co-founder of MOEV. “Eventually, a very small number of technologies have the potential to be of use to the industry and therefore of commercial value at a given point in time.”

The time seems to be right for MOEV’s cloud software-controlled smart charging infrastructure, because right around the time that MOEV spun out of SMERC late last year, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) lifted its 2011 band on investor-owned utilities owning EV charging infrastructure (the controversy over that decision is its own story).

Now three major California utilities have proposals on the table for installing many thousands of EV chargers. San Diego Gas and Electric, Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas and Electric all have separate proposals to install tens of thousands of public charging stations over the next several years.

Once again, a promising EV startup owes its potential success not only to academic research, but also to government intervention. Time and again, Charged has covered new ventures - names like Spider 9, EC Power, EnerG2 and California Lithium Battery - that thrive off of some combination of university IP and governmental action, whether that be a grant, purchase incentives or in the case of MOEV, the lifting of a regulation. Of course, just because California utilities are now looking to spend more than $1 billion of combined money

THE INFRASTRUCTURE

We’ve developed many algorithms that can optimize the charging experience, depending on rate sensitivity, the type of vehicle and the amount of time to charge. your solar generation. If a cloud goes over the photovoltaic, you could drop your charge load, and you’ll be net-neutral to the grid. So it could be an alternative to more expensive V2G local battery storage, which still needs a of work to figure out.”

Each big utility will probably have its own take on how to implement its charging network, and MOEV’s “well behaved” system provides a lot of flexibility for designing it. “The utilities have this vision for how charging should act, and regulators allow them to throw some money at it,” Boehm said. “Often what we do in California becomes a model for other places, so it’s interesting to look at what the model for public charging will be.”

While at SMERC, MOEV’s founders installed more than 200 chargers, tweaking and collecting data from them for around four years. They experimented with combining them with solar energy and energy storage.

Since seeing the opportunity to spin out MOEV in late 2014, the start-up has installed two systems - one of them as part of an educational micro-grid - and has three more in the pipeline. MOEV has its own EVSE hardware that it designed, patented and built. Typically, each charger is a “quad-box” with four cables, but they can have anywhere from two to eight charging cables working off of a single electrical line.

There’s also a retrofit version of the system MOEV can use for larger-scale projects. “We have engineered a solution that works retroactively with other dumb chargers,” Boehm said. “It doesn’t provide as great a benefit as with our own hardware, but we can provide the load shedding, the management and so on using other folks’ chargers.”

Graduating to business The PhDs who work at UCLA’s SMERC and also co-founded MOEV have a pretty keen perspective on what it takes to spin out academic IP into the business sector. While it’s not their primary focus, SMERC and UCLA both have organizations through which the university researchers interface with industry to help identify real-life challenges and evaluate whether certain technology should transition into industry.

“In some instances,” Dr. Gadh said, “we participate in technology demonstrations, and if the outcomes show promise, we bring in industry experts to figure out what to do with the technology.”

One big difference that often stands out between laboratory technology and a commercial product is the appearance of complexity. A business has to try to hide complexity from the user and make the solution appear simple. That’s often unfamiliar territory at a university, where everyone involved is an expert focused on solving a hard problem, rather than on the user experience.

Dr. Gadh gave a couple of successful examples of academia-to-enterprise ventures. One came out of UCLA in a manner similar to MOEV. “NanoH2O took an academic research stream and turned it into a solution to a well-defined problem, water desalination,” he said. In about nine years, NanoH2O went from an idea in a lab to a company that found investors, entered the market and was acquired by LG Chem in 2014.

One other example you may have heard of: Google. The world’s number-one-ranking algorithm was developed at Stanford before morphing into a search engine. “Again, there was a university lab in which a difficult technical problem was researched,” Gadh said, “and working with local angel investors and VCs, the idea was launched in to one of the biggest technology companies in the world.”

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phisticated things and need to meter everything. That alone adds a fair amount to the bill of materials.”

We talked to all the stakeholders, figured out where there’s a niche and what to create to target that business niche.

The retrofit gateway box holds the “brains” of the MOEV system, and Boehm says it’s quite inexpensive because he sees MOEV as primarily a software company and that’s where the biggest value of the system lies.

“We really make our money on the services contract,” Boehm says, “the cloud service to run it, manage it and provision it with new algorithms.”

The full MOEV hardware will cost a premium for now, but it’s a system you’re not likely to find anywhere else, and that’s partly a result of MOEV’s academic origins. “That makes sense, because we approached the problem from an intellectual/academic point of view,” Boehm said. “We talked to all the stakeholders, figured out where there’s a niche and what to create to keep that business niche. In California we call the system a demand aggregator. The hardware will for sure cost more than a $500-600 dumb charger, because (1) we’re not in volume manufacturing yet and (2) we do a lot more so-

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A Use-Case Scenario We asked Boehm to walk us through a MOEV charging experience, from installation to consumer use.

It begins with MOEV visiting an interested site owner to find out where the chargers would be, how many circuits there are and whether there are communication uplinks like ZigBee or Ethernet. For each circuit, they run a conduit down to a box, and in the case of the quad-box, it would have four charging cables coming out. Whether it’s using a wired or wireless communication protocol like Wi-Fi or cellular, they establish an uplink to connect the charging box to the cloud and punch in some info about the available power of the circuit.

Next it’s the user’s turn. If this were a workplace charger, each employee would set up their EV and account with MOEV’s smartphone app. In the app, they tap in the charger’s code, which sends a request to the cloud, then the network turns on the appropriate charger and cable for that user. After starting the session, they indicate how much power they need and how long they will be plugged in. An individual site host can also ask them for additional information, for example, the rate they’re willing to pay. If one customer is willing to pay more per kWh, they may get top priority. (That’s one feature a site host could implement with the flexible software, but it would not apply to every site.) The user’s app then sends a notification when the charging finishes, as well as a statement with the final bill, kWh used, etc. The app also helps them navigate to available chargers.

“The way we see it, we’ve got three happy customers,” Boehm said. “First is the site owner, because if

Image courtesy of MOEV Inc

The founders of MOEV Inc.

THE INFRASTRUCTURE

Image © CHARGED Electric Vehicles Magazine

The fact is, most charging sessions do not require a full Level 2 for a full eight hours. they wanted four chargers, there’s not enough circuits for four standard installs. They would have to put in a transformer, a new set of panels and switches and circuit breakers and then run those cables down to wherever the chargers are. So they could well offset five times the cost of the hardware in infrastructure costs.”

“Second, the EV owner has a nice smartphone app to help them through the experience, and there’s a greater availability of plugs for charging. And the fact is, most charging sessions do not require a full Level 2 for a full eight hours. So the utilities are happy about it, because they don’t have to build up a lot of new infrastructure, and if it’s dumb charging and everyone plugs in at 9 am, you have a big surge then, and they’ll share their pain in the form of demand charges with the site host. They also have the ability to leverage this against renewable energy integration. It’s a winwin for all.”

MOEV over, V2G There’s one tricky caveat to this big win-win vision for California, which is that the CPUC has approved in principle the right of investor-owned utilities to install EVSE, but they have not yet approved each individual utility’s proposal. And there is some opposition both

in the EV industry and among consumer advocates to letting utilities make this investment. Detractors say that it’s a government handout of an effective monopoly to the utilities, that the proposals don’t include enough DC fast chargers, that it’s not fair for the utilities to pass on EVSE costs to all their customers, regardless of whether they drive EVs or not, etc.

However, Boehm is optimistic. “I don’t see the regulators as being a big risk,” he said. “They’ve already approved it. We’ve had a change of chairmanship in the CPUC, but the policy has stayed the same. I think those units will all be installed in the next three or four years. That will be a lot of EVSE coming into California, which is great news for our industry.”

Furthermore Boehm sees the MOEV system as an immediate way to realize some of the potential benefits of vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology, which may still be quite a few years away.

For one thing, he says that for V2G to achieve success on a broad scale, the OEMs/manufacturers would have to make certain vehicle information available that they currently hold very close to the vest, such as state-of-charge information and the ability to trigger bi-directional charging. Not every EV is currently made to be V2Gcompatible, and of those that are, some have bi-directional charging software disabled.

Researchers such as those at SMERC trying to work on V2G technology usually have to approach the OEMs to get them to supply a vehicle that can do bi-directional charging.

“I think that will be the next big change in the charger industry,” Boehm said, “and that will take a while to come about, because of OEMs’ reluctance to share data.

It may even be that the first V2G models are in fleet sales, because with fleets, the liability may be more local; they’re more flexible; they’re more customized. It’ll be interesting to watch that space.”

MAR/APR 2015

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The long-awaited

Image: Don McCullough (CC BY 2.0)

Tesla Model X nears production

By Charles Morris

here are several reasons why the Tesla Model X will be the most momentous new EV of 2015.

It will be the first pure electric SUV to enter production and, for better or for worse, the SUV segment is just about the most popular one in the US and many other parts of the world. SUVs are the cars that emissionsconscious greenies love to hate, and they happen to be some of the most profitable models for automakers.

So the Model X represents a powerful symbolic victory for the EV, and seems likely to generate some healthy income for Tesla. Another reason we’re waiting so eagerly is simply that we’ve been waiting an awfully long time. The Model X was unveiled in 2012, and the launch date has been pushed back several times. However, Tesla has firmly stated that the new model will hit the road late in 2015, and most (not all) industry-watchers are confident that they’ll meet this deadline.

Eagle-eyed Tesla fans have confirmed several sightings of Model X test cars. At least two undisguised Model X have been photographed on California roads, and there’s a fuzzy video that shows what is almost certainly an X going through acceleration and cornering maneuvers at a former runway that Tesla has used for test driving in the past.

These spy shots are about all we’ve seen lately. Having admired the Model X at the 2013 Geneva show, we were surprised at its absence from the 2014 and 2015 shows. In fact, it kind of disappeared from sight, and now Elon Musk has said that, in a very unusual move for any automaker, Tesla is not going to show the Model X until deliveries begin.

No star-studded sound-and-light show? There probably just isn’t time. There’s enormous pressure on the company to meet its announced delivery date, and there are believed to be major technical details that have be worked out, having to do with the Falcon Wing doors, the “nicest second-row seats you’ve ever seen in any car,” and some “other things” that are still a mystery.

One thing that won’t be a problem is making sales. On the contrary, Tesla will have to push its production capacity to the max to meet the demand in any sort of reasonable timeframe. According to the company, it received orders worth over $40 million the day the car was unveiled in February 2012, and advance orders continue to pour in Musk compared the situation to a fishing trip in which fish are “jumping into the boat.”

So, what can have caused a years-long delay for such an in-demand vehicle? Musk says Tesla is simply taking the

T

time to get it right. “I’m somewhat of a perfectionist when it comes to product design,” he told Bloomberg. “So, I can actually take the blame for some of that delay being due to me personally not being completely happy with the product. The hardest thing about the X is achieving great form and great functionality. It’s easy to give up on one of those two. It’s damn hard to make an SUV that’s beautiful and yet incredibly functional at the same time. Actually, it’s a harder design problem than the Model S.” In fact, there are several unique features of Model X that present very hard design problems indeed, and if you consider these closely, as Green Car Reports did in a recent article, it’s not hard to find possible reasons for the delay in production. Model X is larger and heavier than Model S and, for psychological reasons, Tesla needs the range to be greater than 200 miles, so it may be scrambling to find ways to squeeze out every possible mile of range.

The Falcon Wing doors are complicated in more ways than one. They not only need to work smoothly, but they need to provide side-impact protection that’s comparable to that of Model S, which means they probably need to incorporate stout (and heavy) horizontal beams that lock into the sides of the vehicle when the doors are closed.

Firmly anchoring these heavy movable objects to the fairly narrow roof spine may be a further challenge.

Towing capability will be not just a neat feature, but a virtual necessity if Model X is to compete in the SUV market. It’s safe to say that Model X won’t be able to pass a semi on a steep grade while towing a huge horse trailer, as an All-American pickup does in one TV ad, but even towing a small boat presents a special challenge for an EV. Sustaining maximum output for long periods places a major thermal load on an electric motor, so heavy-duty cooling will be required. One of GCR’s sources suggested that the glycol-based coolant system in the Model S P85D may not be sufficient, and speculated that Tesla may be testing a refrigerant-based system.

It will be worth the wait, says Musk. “I don’t want to come out with something where the production version is in any way worse than the prototype - in fact I really am quite insistent that the production version be superior to anything we’ve demonstrated before.”

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