GM-VOLT : Chevy Volt Electric Car Site

The Chevrolet Volt has at its disposal the ability to thermally pre-condition the cabin using grid-supplied electricity while it is plugged in.
This feature is useful both in hot and cold days to turn on the AC or heat respectively.

In the Volt the owner can turn on the cabin HVAC either by using the remote smartphone app or via the MyVolt.com website.

The idea is to use grid electricity to heat or cool the cabin to avoid battery-stored power to do so once the trip commences. It uses more energy to get the cabin to the desired temperature than it does to maintain it there.

Pre-conditioning does require a bit of forethought to turn on the cabin HVAC in preparation for driving, something in paractice I often don’t remember to do. Programming it to happen automatically or being able to choose the temperature remotely would be useful features that do not exist.

A new study by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) may provide more motivation to remember.

NREL engineer Robb Barnitt led a study in which researchers simulated the effect of cabin preconditioning on PHEVs and HEVs in various different drive cycles and ambient temperature scenarios.

“We knew that climate control loads would have an impact on CD range, but were surprised by the magnitude” Barnitt said. “We found that climate control loads can reduce CD range by 35%, but that thermal preconditioning can partially restore CD range.”

The study examined the effect of temperature and preconductioning on electric range for a 100 mile BEV (i.e. LEAF), a 15 mile PHEV (i.e. plugin Prius) and a 40 mile sreies PHEV (i.e. Volt)

In the case of the PHEV-40, using heat reduced range by 35.1% and using AC reduced range by 34%. Preconditioning with heat increased range by 5.7% and preconditioning with cooling increased range 4.3%.

In a pure EV range reduction from heating and cooling were similar, though the magnitude of increase through preconditioning was less. Range increase through preconditioning was highest in the PHEV15 where 19% was predicted.

You can read the entire study in detail here (PDF).

Moral of the story. Pre-condition your Volt.

Source (NREL) via (GreenCarCongress)

The coming tidal wave of electric vehicles is both a blessing and a curse for electric utility companies, and like coastal towns awaiting a possible hurricane, they remain unsure just how to prepare.

We realize one great value of EVs is having the fuel station right in our garages.  This represents a great financial opportunity for utility companies coming from electric cars.  After all, drivers spent $325 billion on gas last year, and even a portion of that would be a boon to utilities.

The typical electric car driven 10,000 miles in a year would increase a typical home’s electric rate by 20 percent.  This could be $200 to $300 per year more revenue per consumer.

“Electric vehicles have the potential to completely transform our business,” says David Owens, executive vice president of the Edison Electric Institute, a trade group.

The typical electric car charging at 120-v will draw about 1500 watts of power, similar to a large microwave oven, or small air conditioner.  By itself this draw will have a negible effect on the grid. What the electric comanies fear, however, is clustering of EV owners within certain neighborhoods, potentially taking own local transformers.

The “nightmare scenario” is described as a hot summer afternoon when a cluster of EV owners come home to their neighborhood, turn on their air conditioners, microwaves  plasma screen TVs, and plug in their electric cars all at the same time.

We’re talking about doubling the load of a conventional home,” says Karl Rabago, who leads Austin Energy’s electric vehicle-readiness program. “It’s big.”  To prepare for this, car companies and utilities are working together looking at early adopters and seeing if they could potentially identify clusters in neighborhoods ahead of time, so that local infrastruture like transformers could be upgraded, a cost of $7000 to $9000 per unit.

Both the LEAF and VOLT will also charge at 3300 watts (240-v) potentially exacerbating the concern.

The article claims both GM and Nissan “may boost that to 6,600 watts soon.”

As exciting as a two-hour Volt recharge may be, Volt vehicle line director Tony Posawatz doesn not confirm this intention to GM-Volt.  “We are not looking at increasing the on-board charger capacity of the VOLT in the near-term,” he said.

Finally one utility director describes the future uncertainty as waiting for a baby.

“It’s like you’re about to have a baby,” says Duke Energy’s Rowand. “You know it’s going to be good, but you also know there’s going to be some throw up and some dirty diapers, and you just hope that it’s something you are prepared for.”

That’s a little less worrisome than a hurricane.

Source (Detroit News)

The Volt is weeks away from its consumer launch, with the first retail production car expected to roll off the assembly line on November 11th. GM has announced they expect to begin an advertising blitz for the car which will start during the World Series.

Though GM has made it clear form the beginning , the purpose of the Volt is freedom form range anxiety, and it is clearly the major  focus of their US marketing efforts, the automaker is quietly leveraging its global reach to develop a pure EV program as well.

So far we have heard of a fleet of Cruze EVs undergoing tests in Korea, and a pure electric Chevrolet New Sail for production in China next year.

Earlier this week GM Europe announced it was beginning a small scale test fleet of electric crossovers. The vehicles are based on the Opel Meriva which is a small MPV in production in Europe. The test fleet has been developed by GM/Opel in conjunction with MeRegioMobil which is an e-mobility project, and is funded in part by the German government.

The fleet consists of three of electrified Merivas and is indented to study the effects of 4o0-v fast charging and the ability of the vehicle to participate in vehicle-to-grid technology. This is the scenario where the car itself acts as an energy buffer, allowing energy to flow back into the grid when demand calls for it, and the driver doesn’t need it.

The vehicle uses a Volt-sized 16 kwh lithium-ion battery pack and an 80 kw electric motor. The motor is dampened to 60 kw in eco-mode. It has a maximum range of 40 miles and a 0 to 60 time of 11 seconds.

The 400-v fast charger can refill the battery in 1 hour.

“These demonstration vehicles, along with others GM has announced in other markets, will be used to study the practicality, user friendliness, and acceptance of electric vehicles among consumers. With our demonstration, we are making an important contribution to the definition of European standards for energy infrastructure, electricity saving technology and data communications,” said Opel Vice President of Engineering Rita Forst.

Though obviously low in volume this fleet illustrates how GM is leveraging global opportunities to simultaneously study several key aspects of electric cars, in this case fast charging and V2G.  When the market calls for it, GM will be more than ready to launch a pure electric for global sale.

“Electric mobility opens for Opel and the entire automotive industry the door to greater independence from fossil fuels and can deliver transportation with zero vehicle emissions.” said Forst. “Our contribution to MeRegioMobil is embedded in GM’s global corporate strategy of developing and demonstrating electric vehicles in daily use.”

Source (GM)

General Motors has signed a memorandum of understanding with the ABB Group to explore opportunities for the reuse of Chevrolet Volt batteries packs after their vehicular lifetimes have ended.

The Chevrolet Volt’s 16 kwh lithium-ion battery pack has a warranty of 8 years/100,000 miles during which time 40 miles of EV driving range can be maintained.  This is the longest most comprehensive warranty of it’s kind in the automotive industry and is fully transferable between owners. The warranty includes all 161 part of the battery, 95% of which were designed and engineered by GM. It also includes the thermal management, charging system, and electric drive components

It is known that the Volt’s battery will still have very significant energy storage capacity after the warranty period has ended.  The new partnership with ABB is looking at ways to best  utilize that energy storage capacity. “The Volt’s battery will have significant capacity to store electrical energy, even after its automotive life,” said Micky Bly, GM Executive Director of Electrical Systems, Hybrids, Electric Vehicles and Batteries. “That’s why we’re joining forces with ABB to find ways to enable the Volt batteries to provide environmental benefits that stretch far beyond the highway.”

ABB is the world’s largest supplier of power grid systems and a leading power and automation technology provider. Their technologies allow utilities and industry to improve performance, while at the same time reducing their environmental impact. “Our relationship with ABB will help develop solutions that optimize the full lifecycle of the Volt battery,” said Bly.

“Future smart grids will incorporate a larger proportion of renewable energy sources and will need to supply a vast e-mobility infrastructure – both of which require a wide range of energy storage solutions,” said Bazmi Husain, head of ABB’s smart grids initiative. “We are excited to explore the possibility of employing electric car batteries in a second use that could help build needed storage capacity and provide far-reaching economic and environmental benefits.”

The joint venture will explore the utilization of used Volt packs in the following ways:

• Renewable Energy Storage: Power generated by wind and the sun can be stored in Volt battery systems and used when demand warrants.
• Grid Load Management: Utilities will be able to use the Volt batteries to store electricity generated during off-peak periods to supplement demand during high-peak operation. This will help utilities to better manage the grid, improving reliability and efficiency.
• Back-up Power Supplies for Communities: Volt battery systems can store electricity that can be used by communities during power outages caused by storms or other natural disasters.
• Time of Use Management: Industrial customers can store off-peak, lower-priced electrical power in Volt batteries for use during peak demand time of day for cost savings.

“Chevrolet and GM are committed to assuring that our vehicles minimize their impact on the environment,” Bly said. “Our focus on finding additional applications for the Volt’s batteries after their vehicle use extends our commitment to unprecedented levels.”

Source (GM)

Rather than oil companies, electric cars rely on electric utility companies to supply them with power. Not only does this give electric cars the advantage of running on home-grown domestic energy, but can offer a considerable cost savings over gasoline.

Utility rates throughout the country vary anywhere from 10 to 20 cents per kwh, which would allow the Volt to travel 40 miles on from 80 cents to $1.60. Some regions over lower overnight rates, as there is often excess production caapcity at those times, and cannot strain the grid which may be at or close to capacity during daytime hours.

Detroit Edison (DTE) has announced it is the first utility company in the nation to offer EV owners special electric car rates, after receiving approval from Michigan regulators. DTE is Michigan’s largest utility company and will provide the low rate and other incentives to up to 2500 customers though 2012.

EV owners will get a free 240-v charging station, dedicated meter, and $2500 towards the cost of installing the station. Owners will then pay either a low nighttime rate, or a fixed $40 per month. The company is considering the program an experiment to determine what pricing structure is most appropriate for EV owners, and to examine the effect of EV charging on the grid.

“We view — as do a lot of people — electric vehicles as something of the future,” said Edward Falletich, manager for pricing at Detroit Edison. “What this does is let us be privy to how much power is used to charge a vehicle.”

“We need to better understand the customers,” he said. “We just have very little information on electric vehicles.”

DTE has been working closely with GM to develop this program. “We’re seeing utility companies like DTE take a progressive step to incentivize people to drive electrically,” said Volt spokesperson Rob Peterson. “They give customers more reason to go out and test-drive an electric vehicle.”

These 2500 free chargers are in addition the the already announced 4400 free chargers Volt customers will be eligible for through DOE supported programs from charger companies Coulomb Technologies and EcoTality.

GM is expected to announce its Volt charger installation partner shortly.

Source (Detroit News) and (Detroit Press)

Coulomb Technologies is a Silicon Valley start-up founded by former mayor of Cupertino and serial entrepreneur Richard Lowethal.

The company has developed electric car charging stations embedded with special propriety networking software that lets those stations communicate with a central office and utility companies as well as providing a billing platform.

In 2009 Coulomb sold and installed over 700 stations to 130 customers globally, and earlier today, they announced a huge new public infrastructure initiative.

The company will be providing 4600 free electric car charging stations for home and public use. The “ChargePoint America program” will provide charging stations to participants in nine regions in the United States: Austin, Texas, Detroit, Los Angeles, New York, Orlando, Fla., Sacramento, Calif., the San Jose/San Francisco Bay Area, Redmond, Wash., and Washington DC in a strategic partnership with three leading automobile brands including, Ford, Chevrolet and smart USA.

The funds to pay for this $37 million program are coming in part from a $15 federal government DOE grant and an additional $22 million in other grants.  Coloumb plans to install 1000 new stations by the end of 2010 and the rest by the end of 2011. Of the total, 2000 will be for residential use and 2600 will be for public locations such as parking garages, retail centers, apartments and curbsides.

Chevrolet and Ford have committed to deliver electric vehicles to these regions through this timeframe including the Chevrolet Volt and Ford Focus Electric pure EV.

“The Obama Administration has set significant and considerable goals for the widespread adoption of electric vehicles in the coming years,” said Richard Lowenthal, CEO of Coulomb Technologies. “This grant will bring thousands of networked charging stations to nine US regions that are slated to receive the first electric vehicles from our automobile partners. These charging stations will build upon our already growing and established network of infrastructure and will accelerate the deployment of public and private charging infrastructure which will in turn encourage consumers to buy electric vehicles. Our Department of Energy grant, also known as the stimulus bill, was funded to provide jobs for Americans. Our products are built and installed with American labor. Every time we ship a ChargePoint charging station, three Americans go to work for a day.”

The Coulomb ChargePoint networked charging stations offer the following features:

• Providing open access for all drivers using any standards-based RFID card
• Generating revenue for station owners to offset electricity and maintenance costs
• Sending SMS or Email notifications to drivers for charging complete or interruptions in charging
• Controlling access to eliminate energy theft and to enhance safety
• Integrating with the utility Smart Grid for demand side management and preferred pricing

Individuals or businesses that are in one of the nine locations and interested in signing up  up for a free charging station can register on Coulomb’s  ChargePoint America web site.  Installation is not free, though may be in some areas.

The charging stations can of course be used to charge the Chevrolet Volt through the standard SAE J1772 interface, and may be used in lieu of GMs proprietary charger.  GM hasn’t committed to rolling out the Volt in all nine locations by the end of 2011, but all those locations will have at least one of the three partnering company’s electric cars by then.

“Our priority is charging at home ensuring our customers have a positive charging experince,” says Volt spokesperson Rob Peterson.  ”We are pleased that Coulomb and the DOE are working to enhance that experience.”

“Though studies show public charging can effectively double the electric range of the Volt, it isn’t necessary,” says Peterson.  ”The Volt has its infrastructure under its hood.”

Source (Coulomb Technologies)