Charging electric vehicles

The Nissan Leaf is rolling out only in cities with charging stations.

While many energy experts, including Energy Secretary Steven Chu, think electricity will become the energy source for personal transportation in the not-so-distant future, no one claims it will be a rapid or cheap transition. But into that gap can step an entire infrastructure of America’s small- and mid-size suppliers of electronics, capable of developing and producing the batteries, regenerative brakes, advanced motors, charging systems and software control systems necessary to build the entire industry from the ground up. The coming year is slated to be one full of public-private partnerships that could sprout manufacturing plants and charging stations in subsidy-heavy states.

In August 2009, U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced $2.4 billion in grants under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act’s Awards for Transportation Electrification program. Funds went to companies addressing the key issues facing the EV market—battery improvements and reducing manufacturing costs being the top two. Additional funding is going toward developing test networks of charging stations, mostly in states with incentives for alternative vehicles.

In the first large-scale test of charging networks, Phoenix-based Electric Transportation Engineering Corporation (eTec) and Nissan plan to install test networks in cities in Oregon, Washington, California, Arizona and Tennessee. Nissan is deploying up to 5,000 all-electric Leafs that would have access to more than 10,000 “smart” chargers able to moderate when the vehicles draw current from the grid. Nissan anticipates mass-market rollout of the Leaf in 2012, but the company’s stated plans to sell the Leaf only in markets with government subsidies may indicate Nissan’s lack of confidence in the market.

One of the most important effects of the Nissan/eTec test could be the build-out of visible, publicly available charging systems. It could be just the push consumers need to get over the fear of running out of juice—that, plus the $7,500 EV-purchase tax subsidy offered by the Obama administration as an extension of its hybrid vehicle policy. General Motors (NYSE: GM), which plans to begin sales of its Chevy Volt in October 2010, has not yet released the price of the Volt, its first electric vehicle since its controversial EV1, which was recalled in the 1990s. It reportedly runs for 40 miles—the average American’s commute distance—before a gas generator kicks in.
Venture capitalists, a huge player in the U.S. EV market, have been funding car and battery R&D for years [see “Batteries included,” Sustainable Industries, January 2008] and show no signs of slowing down. “These are long-term trends,” says Arati Prabhakar, a general partner at Menlo Park, Calif.-based U.S. Venture Partners. “We don’t know how they will pay off in the venture community. This is not a sprint. This is a marathon.”

Companies racing for venture capital dollars include Fisker Automotive Inc. and Tesla Motors Inc., which were among the biggest winners of VC investment in 2009. (V-Vehicle, a stealth startup with backing from BP Capital, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Google Ventures, raised $100 million in 2Q 2009, but details about what is expected to be an environmentally sound car have not yet been disclosed.)

Regulation—which is what led to the rise and fall of GM’s EV1 in the 1990s—continues to play its role in the potential success of a U.S. EV market. One of the biggest roadblocks facing car manufacturers—basic plug design—was sorted out in fall 2009 when car makers agreed on a revised basic plug design for use across the industry, which ensures new EVs can share charging infrastructure (unlike current stations targeted at specific EV designs). In addition, California is working to update its building code to allow for higher-voltage plugs for faster charging.