Life in the Fast Lane – Electric Vehicle Observations

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Recently I had the opportunity to use a Nissan Leaf™ for several full days, a much more interesting exercise than a simple test drive. As someone working in the sustainability area, as a co-chair of the California Clean Cars campaign and as a likely car buyer in 2012 (my current vehicle has over 230,000 miles on it) I am very interested in the electric vehicle (EV) market.

Nissan’s Leaf™ is among the handful of low emission cars that are presently authorized to carry a Clean Air Vehicle Sticker, entitling a single occupant to use the carpool lanes during rush hours – a very nice side benefit to EV ownership that helped speed my commute this week.

My general impression of EV driving is very favorable. This particular model is roomy, it has all the bells and whistles (bluetooth, navigation, backup camera, etc.) and most importantly, it really drives well. Acceleration, handling and power are all indistinguishable from a gas powered vehicle. The only issue I’ve had this week is the one that continues to slow down growth in the EV market, namely range anxiety and ease of recharging. I have been charging the vehicle at home and at work using conventional 120v outlets and while the process is simple and easy, it certainly takes a while, e.g. 11 hours to get a full charge last night. When I left my home the range indicator read “100 miles”, but 35 miles of highway driving depleted that amount to 42. In other words, at 60+ miles per hour, a 35 mile trip used up 58 miles of driving range. Keep in mind, I tried to use the EV just like I use my current one, driving as fast as usual as opposed to crawling along in the slow lane just to conserve the charge. With the indicator staring at you the entire time, you also start thinking about all of the devices that consume electricity in the car, such as the lights, the radio, and the seat warmers and so on. Since I want a fully functional vehicle, the notion of driving around in a dark, cold vehicle is not a selling point.

My conclusions: I love just about everything in the EV experience other than the limitations on range. If the car had a 200-mile range, I would be placing an order tomorrow. Until batteries are improved, however, fast charging 240v stations are essential and the buyers for whom EVs work perfectly may be limited. By the way, Applied Materials is among the companies working to address some of the battery issues. It will also be exciting to see a whole slew of new EVs and plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) in 2012.

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Comments

Life in Fast Lane

Submitted by Mike Nesteroff on Thu, 03/01/2012 - 11:59.

Very nice article. We’ve had a Leaf for six months now and, despite encountering some of the limitations you point out, we still love it as a commuter car. We typically drive 25-miles roundtrip (unfortunately most of it freeway) between work and home each day, so range anxiety is not an issue for the most part because our commute is short enough that we have plenty of electrons left over for errands, etc.
Where range anxiety becomes an issue for us is because we like driving the car so much — it’s roomy enough for a 6’4″ driver and still works for my 5’2″ wife and it gets up and moves better than most gas-powered cars we’ve owned — that we find ourselves wanting to drive it for longer distances out of town, but can’t due to the lack of charging facilities. We’re hopeful that will change with time. It helps that my office building garage now has charging stations (complimentary even) and that we have 240v home charging, but there isn’t much outside our metro area. Nevertheless, six months down the road we’re glad we made the decision and would do it all over again.

vanadium lithium battery

Submitted by Bevo Beaven on Tue, 02/07/2012 - 14:44.

Bruce - nice recap of what the Leaf is like to drive/charge. Some of the car publications have talked about vanadium battery technology extending the range of EVs by magnitudes. Do you have any knowledge of this area?

Life in the fast lane...

Submitted by Chris on Wed, 01/18/2012 - 14:31.

One of the easier things to implement is an auto start-stop feature for cars with gasoline or diesel engines. That alone brings up the gas mileage about 10% around town and the battery system only needs to be strong enough to run things like the radio and lights, and maybe to propel the car a few miles per hour. Probably one of the biggest bangs per buck for battery.

Interesting to hear about the

Submitted by Jim Lowe on Thu, 01/12/2012 - 09:22.

Interesting to hear about the Leaf. I've been looking into the super-efficient auto market for some time too, and recently purchased a new highly efficient car. Similarly, I don't think the mass market is ready for 100% electric vehicles. We all enjoy our travel freedoms too much, and the range anxiety requires that next level of travel planning. It's great if you can use the Leaf for one purpose, say to work and back. But with spur of the moments errands, doctor visits, or other unplanned needs, a Leaf with limited range could “leaf” you in a really rough spot. And forget about out of town travel.
In my opinion, the next best option, and real game changer, was the Chevy Volt. Although not the claimed 100 mile range of the Leaf, 40 miles would be enough for me, and most folks, to get to work and back. If something comes up, and I need more range, a trip out of town, no problem, we are all familiar with the gasoline infrastructure across the country. I just wasn't willing to pay the price, even with the tax credit for the Volt. Styling wasn't there for me either, as I don't care for sedans too much.
So it came down to basically 2 options for me. The Audi A3 TDI or the Lexus CT200h. Given all the factors that were important to me (styling, value, comfort, performance, quality) I went with the Lexus and love it. I wish it had more battery only drivability, but it's a step up from gas only powered vehicles, and changing my driving style can yield mid to upper 40s avg. mpg. I think the next step is around the corner with Ford and Toyota stepping up to plug-in hybrids as well. This should be a great step to get people comfortable with electric driving, without the range anxiety, and give infrastructure time to catch up (i.e. installing 240V charging stations everywhere, or "swappable battery packs").
At least there are more and more options coming to market. With options available for nearly all driving needs. With more and more battery assisted or powered cars hitting the market, it shouldn't be long before the battery technology allows more and more confidence, and range, in EV driving. If nothing else, at least I can use those “hybrid only” or “high efficiency, super low emissions vehicles only” parking spots (when they aren’t pirated by SUVs LOL).