AT&T Becomes Lead Customer for Ford Transit Connect Electric

Azure Dynamics Corporation today announced AT&T has agreed to purchase two of the first Ford Transit Connect Electric vans, the latest addition to AT&T’s growing fleet of alternative-fuel vehicles.

The Ford Transit Connect Electric -- the all-electric version of the 2010 Ford Transit Connect, the North American Truck of the Year -- will be powered by Azure Dynamics’patented Force DriveTM electric drivetrain with an advanced lithium-ion battery from Johnson Controls-Saft. The vehicle, which goes on sale later this year, has a range of up to 80 miles on a single charge and will be rechargeable using either 240-volt or standard 120-volt outlets. It has a top speed of 75 miles per hour.

“Cleaner, alternative-fuel vehicles are the future of our corporate fleet, and the Transit Connect Electric represents a real breakthrough and will be a strong addition to our range of alternative-fuel vehicles,” said Jerome Webber, vice president of fleet operations at AT&T. “It’s exactly the kind of vehicle we envisioned when we mapped our long-term vision to invest up to $565 million to deploy more than 15,000 alternative-fuel vehicles through 2018.” AT&T currently operates more than 77,000 vehicles in its corporate fleet, including 15 gasoline-powered Ford Transit Connect vehicles AT&T began piloting in 2009.

Scott T. Harrison, CEO of Azure Dynamics, said the Transit Connect Electric project is in line with his company’s mission. “Our business is built on great technology, committed partners and customers who want to improve efficiency while reducing their environmental footprint,” Harrison said. “The Transit Connect Electric brings all of those elements together in a single package and is exactly on target with our goal at Azure of ‘driving a world of difference.’”

According to Harrison, commercial vehicles are ideal candidates for electrification due to typical duty cycle characteristics like predictable drive routes and a return to a central location each night for recharging. The zero tailpipe emission Ford Transit Connect Electric also will help protect air quality in the urban environments where it operates.

By combining car-like driving dynamics with truck-like cargo capacity, Ford Transit Connect Electric is well-suited to the demands placed on urban delivery vehicles for small businesses and larger, corporate fleets.

The Transit Connect Electric is expected to offer lower cost of operation because recharging with electricity is generally less expensive than refueling with gasoline. Additionally, customers will benefit from lower maintenance costs as the electric drive train has far fewer moving parts to maintain.

“Ford Transit Connect was first introduced in the U.S. last year as a new fuel efficient alternative to larger commercial vehicles. Adding the electric option addresses a growing demand from our customers for sustainable vehicles for their fleets,” said Gerry Koss, Ford fleet marketing manager. “This Transit Connect Electric represents the first in a family of electrified vehicles, including new hybrids, plug-in hybrids and all battery electric vehicles, which Ford will deliver over the next three years.” AT&T plans to take delivery of the Transit Connect Electric in late 2010.

Deutsche Bank: Battery costs appear to be coming down faster than expected

Another week, another 'analyst' report trying to predict the future of electric vehicles. Over the last 12-24 months we've read numerous 'reports' claiming the cost of EV batteries is and will remain a firm $1,000 Kwh.

Those holding that 'opinion' and publishing their views have included the highly esteemed Vinod Khosla, Boston consulting and engineering undergrads at Carnegie Mellon who have all predicted doom for EVs based on this figure. Their logic goes, if the Chevy volt carries a 16 Kwh pack then the price of the battery alone will be $16,000. All those willing to put their necks out and publish such dire predictions manage to totally ignore the fact that at todays wholesale prices, small format Li-ion batteries sell for closer to $350 Kwh

The good news is a new report issued by Deutsche Bank indicates that, before mass production of battery powered electric vehicles has even commenced, large format Lithium Ion battery costs appear to be coming down faster than expected. They write “we continue to believe that the market underestimates the potential for growth in this segment” and “we’ve noted evidence of steeper than-expected battery price declines which will likely bolster the consumer value proposition and potentially lead to stronger demand than we originally envisioned.”

The firm notes the average lithium-ion cell price in 2009 has been $650 per kwh, but claims automakers are already seeing bids for $450 per kwh from battery companies for delivery contracts in the 2011/2012 time frame.

Furthermore, they predict an additional 25% decline in price over the next 5 years and a 50% decline over the next 10 years along with a doubling of performance over the next 7 years.

Previously LG Chem subsidiary Compact Power’s CEO Prabahkar Patil said he expected cell cost to drop up to four-fold in the next 10 years, and that lithium ion cells for non automotive applications are already $350 Kwh.

Deutsche Bank Electric Car Analysis - Batteries

First Commercial Wireless Electric Car introduced in S. Korea

South Korea has introduced the world ' s first commercial wireless electric vehicle Tuesday at a theme park in Seoul, the Seoul Metropolitan Government said Tuesday.

The "On-line Electric Vehicle,"(OELV) which debuted at the Seoul Grand Park as one of its seven shuttles, charges its electricity from power strips built five centimeters underground, instead of rails or overhead wires, as it can recharge while running, becoming the world's first commercial vehicle to successfully utilize such technology, the Seoul City Hall said in a statement.

The OELVs don't require any recharge stations or batteries on the vehicle to run, saving time and space as well as production costs, it added, as it is becoming a very viable technology in the electric car industry.

It added, the OELVs carry batteries one-fifth the size of those currently used in other electric vehicles, but it is for emergency situations only.

The new technology was developed in cooperation with the state- funded (South) Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), who said Tuesday's announcement could be a groundbreaking discovery in the electric vehicle field, as a number of research institutions and labs have failed to produce similar results in the past.

The Seoul government said it expects to apply the new technology to city buses from as early as next year, following trial operations, with plans of switching all buses and taxis to ' green-cars' by 2020.

Toyota disputes critic who blames electronics

Toyota, dogged by millions of recalls and claims that it still has not fixed its safety problems, took its strongest step yet Monday to silence critics who blame faulty electronics for runaway cars and trucks.

Toyota assembled a group of experts to refute studies by an Illinois professor who revved Toyota engines simply by short-circuiting the wiring. Toyota's experts say the experiments were done under conditions that would never happen on the road.

The automaker maintained its assertion that simpler mechanical flaws, not electronics, were to blame.

"There isn't a ghost issue out there," Kristen Tabar, an electronics general manager with Toyota's technical center, told a news conference at the company's North American headquarters in Torrance, Calif.

Meeting with reporters, Toyota addressed the work of David W. Gilbert, an automotive technology professor at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, whose work has been the basis of doubts about Toyota's mechanical fixes.

At least one outside expert said that even if Toyota's criticisms are accurate, the professor's work shows the systems that allow brakes to override stuck gas pedals can be compromised.

Toyota is mounting a public campaign to reassure its drivers about their safety and defending itself against critics who question the fix for 8 million recalled cars and trucks. Regulators have linked 52 deaths to crashes allegedly caused by the accelerator problems.

The company's fix addresses gas pedal parts and floor mats that can cause the accelerator to become stuck in the depressed position. More than 60 Toyota owners who have had their cars repaired have complained the problem has persisted.

Toyota dealers have fixed more than 1 million vehicles. But the government has warned that if the remedy provided by Toyota does not properly address the problem, federal regulators could order the company to come up with another solution.

Gilbert told a congressional hearing Feb. 23 that he recreated sudden acceleration in a Toyota Tundra by short-circuiting the electronics behind the gas pedal — without triggering any trouble codes in the truck's computer.

The trouble codes send the car's computer into a fail-safe mode that allows the brake to override the gas. Gilbert called his findings a "startling discovery."
House lawmakers seized on the testimony as evidence Toyota engineers missed a potential problem with the electronics that could have caused the unwanted acceleration.

But Monday, Chris Gerdes, director of Stanford University's Center for Automotive Research, and a consulting firm, Exponent Inc., rejected the professor's findings.
Toyota's assembled experts said the professor's experiments could not be recreated on the actual road. For example, they said, Gilbert had shaved away insulation on wiring and connected wires that would not normally touch each other.

"There is no evidence that I've seen to indicate that this situation is happening at all in the real world," Gerdes said. He added that the professor's work "could result in misguided policy and unwarranted fear."

To prove their point, Toyota officials revved the engines of cars made by competitors, including a Subaru Forester and a Ford Fusion, by connecting a circuit rigged up to the wiring of the gas pedals.

Toyota supports other research programs at Stanford's engineering school and is an affiliate of the Center for Automotive Research, but Gerdes said he came to his conclusions "with complete independence."

Gilbert did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.
Exponent has conducted work for companies that are being sued and once determined that secondhand tobacco smoke was not cancerous. It was also hired by the U.S. government to investigate the Columbia space shuttle disaster.

Exponent officials said they were conducting an extensive study of Toyota electronics but they had not yet found any problems with the electronic throttle controls.
Toyota has been steadfast in saying the problem is strictly mechanical. Company president Akio Toyoda assured Congress two weeks ago that Toyota research had not found a link between the reports of runaway acceleration and electronics.

Instead, the company is shortening gas pedals to prevent them from becoming lodged under floor mats and inserting metal pieces the size of a stamp to keep gas pedals from sticking in the depressed position.

An outside expert, Raj Rajkumar, an electrical and computer-engineering professor at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh who studies auto electronics, said Gilbert's work raises doubts about the fail-safe systems.

"Pretty much anybody who works on electronic-based vehicle systems understands that things can go wrong," he said.

He said a number of factors could cause vehicle electronics to malfunction, including software coding errors, electrical interference and static electricity. He said technology wasn't available to prove that a system as complex as Toyota's electronic throttle control will always behave correctly.

The professor wasn't trying to prove that his test was a real-world scenario, said Keith Armstrong, a British electronic engineer and consultant who advises companies on electromagnetic interference. Instead Gilbert demonstrated that fail-safe systems may not kick in if faulty signals are sent to the throttle, Armstrong said after reviewing Exponent's report on Gilbert's tests.

Congress has more questions. The House Oversight Committee wants to look at a 2006 memo from company employees to Toyota senior management that raised concerns the automaker was taking shortcuts on safety.

In the memo, first reported Monday by the Los Angeles Times, the employees said they were concerned the processes used to build safe cars might be "ultimately ignored."
The employees warned that if Toyota failed to act, it could "become a great problem that involves the company's survival."

Toyota executives also plan to address recall issues at the company's annual suppliers meeting in Kentucky on Tuesday.

Mitsubishi, Peugeot Finalize Electric Car Deal

Mitsubishi Motors Corp. said today it reached a final agreement with PSA Peugeot Citroen on electric car development and supply.

The Paris-based carmaker will sell electric vehicles under the Peugeot and Citroen brands, Mitsubishi said in a release on its Web site. Production will begin in October and European sales will start by the end of the year. The agreement covers 100,000 vehicles, the companies said.

The announcement came after the two automakers ended talks last week over an equity tie-up and said they will focus on broadening a five-year partnership that includes shared sports- utility vehicle production and a planned Russian factory.

Tokyo-based Mitsubishi and Peugeot are competing with Nissan Motor Co. and General Motors Co. to take the lead in electric vehicles. Automakers are under pressure from governments throughout the world to trim carbon-dioxide emissions and develop more fuel-efficient cars.

Peugeot decided against buying a stake in Mitsubishi partly out of concern that the plan would damage the French company’s debt ratings, Chief Executive Officer Philippe Varin said last week.

The company said in March 2009 that Mitsubishi would supply it with the i-MiEV, an all-electric minicar. Peugeot and Citroen expect to sell 25,000 of the new electric cars each year.

Subaru Impreza Hybrid due in 2012

Several months ago, Ikuo Mori, president of Subaru, declared that the company will introduce a new hybrid vehicle in 2012.

At first, we suspected that the Legacy would be the car chosen to accomplish this task, but insiders say that the chassis of the Legacy isn’t suited for a hybrid powerplant; therefore Subaru engineers are looking at the Impreza. An all-new Impreza is due to arrive in the fall of 2012, and our sources in Japan say there’s a high possibility that a hybrid version will be included in the lineup mix.

If so, you can expect a pretty powerful setup, perhaps mating the Japan car’s current 2.0-liter flat-4 with an electric motor. And since U.S.-spec Imprezas are equipped with a 2.5-liter flat-4, we may get a more powerful setup.

It’s still early to say now, but a powerful awd hybrid sports hatchback is right up our alley when it comes to being green.

Studies show ‘range anxiety’ may be low hurdle for EV acceptance

All those cities worrying about how they are going to get wired for electric vehicles: Fret not. "Range anxiety" may not be as acute as you think.

Studies of drivers who already have electric cars are finding that they prefer the convenience of charging at home, and despite their vehicles’ limited range, most are able to avoid public charging.

That's good news as tightfisted states and cities prepare to deal with the transition by some drivers to battery-powered vehicles. And it's also good news for automakers who were worried that acceptance of the vehicles would depend on creating a network of charging stations, much as there are now gas stations dotting every neighborhood.

“I would expect the market for electrics does not depend at all on the development of a [charging] network, given the way in which these vehicles are used,” said Tom Turrentine, director of the Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle Center at the University of California, Davis.

Through his survey of 150 people leasing the BMW MiniE battery electric prototype last year, Turrentine discovered that its maximum range of 100 miles per charge was enough to satisfy their normal driving habits.

Turrentine found that most MiniE drivers were able to drive between 80 and 100 miles per charge, which they found to be sufficient. “The vehicle meets their needs in this range,” he noted.

Market research firm Frost & Sullivan also queried more than 2,000 drivers of all kinds of car nationwide and found that most feel the recharging time for an electric car's battery is acceptable.

This satisfaction with the battery's range meant that drivers were able to charge conveniently at home, rather than dealing with the hassle of plugging in at work or in other public parking locations. The relative lack of these recharging locations could prove less of a deterrent to electric car acceptance than was expected, Turrentine said.

“While many statements are made about the need for infrastructure prior to [EV] sales, I have seen much more evidence to the contrary,” he said.

When Berlin, Germany, installed a public charging network, the chargers went largely unused by the city’s electric car drivers, he added.

Still, electric drivers don't like the notion of getting stranded and sympathized with one another’s plight. MiniE drivers posted their locations on a Web site they shared, so if one of them found themselves far from home with a low battery, they could head to another MiniE driver’s home for some electrons to get home.

The home-charging units provided with the cars can juice up a battery more quickly than just plugging into an available 120-volt outlet, getting the driver back on the road in less time.

This self-organized grass-roots support network that sprung up through the use of social media is an example of how electric car test drivers have communicated with one another and with carmakers even without organized surveys like Turrentine’s. “Our customers will give us feedback anyway, whether we like it or not,” said Ulrich Kranz, head of BMW’s Project i.

Even if drivers infrequently need public charging, knowing it is available provides considerable peace of mind to prospective EV buyers, according to Frost & Sullivan’s director of automotive and transportation research, Veerender Kaul.



“There is real range anxiety, and people are concerned about being stranded,” he said. “We found a strong preference for a plug-in, range-extended electric vehicle like the Chevrolet Volt,” which lets drivers continue on gas power once the battery is exhausted, he said.

The Volt’s lithium-ion battery, which can be charged at home using a residential electrical system, has a range of about 40 miles, enough for most people's daily commute, according to the studies. For further travel, a small gas-powered engine on board feeds power to the electrical engine, extending the range for another 300 miles. Most test drivers never needed to use the gas motor, reported Tony Posawatz, global electric vehicle line director for General Motors.

Because 80 percent of Americans commute less than 40 miles to and from work every day, it was expected that Volt drivers would be able to drive Monday through Friday using electricity from the grid. It turned out, however, that the expectation that people frequently drive long distances on weekends was overblown, Posawatz said.

Despite that, cities such as San Francisco are still getting themselves prepared for the arrival of electric vehicles such as the Volt and Nissan's Leaf, both of which are expected to be introduced around the end of the year.

“It is not a great surprise” that drivers prefer charging at home because it is more convenient, observed Bob Hayden, clean air transportation manager for San Francisco, which is installing charging stations in public parking areas.

“But it doesn’t minimize the need for public charging,” he said. Home, work and public charging stationts "are all critical parts of the puzzle," he said.