DETROIT — As their company was swirling around the financial drain in the early 2000s, General Motors executives came up with an idea to counter its gas-guzzling image and point the way to transportation of the future: An electric car with a gas-engine backup that could travel anywhere.
At Detroit’s auto show in 2007, they unveiled the Chevrolet Volt concept car, not knowing yet whether they had the technology to pull off a major breakthrough in battery-powered vehicles.
It took nearly four more years, but the first Volt — a longer-range version of a plug-in hybrid — rolled off the assembly line late in 2010. GM had hopes that customers would be ready for a car that could go 38 miles on electricity before a small internal combustion generator kicked in.
Vauxhall Ampera (rebadged Chevrolet Volt) (Image: T. Larkum)
They weren’t. On Tuesday, the last Volt was built with little ceremony at a Detroit factory that’s now slated to close. Sales averaged less than 20,000 per year, not enough to sustain the costly undertaking.
The Volt wasn’t the first electric car, but it was the first to conquer anxiety over range at a reasonable cost. GM’s limited-range EV1 came out in the 1990s, and Tesla put out its 200-plus-mile Roadster in 2008 for more than $100,000.
The Volt was among the first plug-in hybrids, many of which can go only 20 or so miles on electricity and haven’t gained much popularity among consumers.
Yet the Volt did serve a purpose. It led to advances in lithium-ion batteries similar to those that power smart phones and computers. But such advances ultimately led to the Volt’s demise as GM and other manufacturers developed fully electric vehicles that can go 200 more miles per charge.
“While it was a financial loser, it did what was intended,” said retired GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz, who shepherded the Volt into production. “We viewed it as a stepping stone to full electrics, which were totally out of reach due to the then-astronomical cost of lithium-ion batteries.”
The company is cutting 15 percent of its workforce and shuttering five plants.
General Motors announced today that is planning to lay off 15 percent of its contract workers, shutter five plants in North America, and discontinue production on six vehicle models next year. The move comes as part of a major restructuring of the car manufacturer that has been suffering from lagging sales. Going forward, GM intends to focus on electric and autonomous vehicle programs, just like basically every other car maker.
As many as 14,000 salaried and contract workers will be out of work as a result of GM’s new roadmap. The company is also “unallocating” resources to plants in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada; Detroit, Michigan; Warren, Michigan; White Marsh, Maryland; and Warren, Ohio. The decision puts the future of those plants in limbo, but they will at least see a decrease in production if not a complete shut down.
Vauxhall Ampera (rebadged Chevrolet Volt) (Image: T. Larkum)
In addition to major slashes to its assembly lines, GM will also cease production on six vehicles, according to USA Today: Cadillac XTS and CT6, Buick LaCrosse and Chevy Impala, Cruze and Volt. The decision to cut out the Volt, a plug-in hybrid vehicle, seems odd given GM’s promise to focus on electric cars. It also marks the death of one of the cars lauded as a success for the company following its bankruptcy in 2009. The decision follows fellow American automaker Ford’s decision to kill off production of most of its vehicles earlier this year.
Milton Keynes is the best place for EV spotting. It has so many electric cars that you get to see all sorts.
Here’s an odd mix charging up at lunchtime today. At the left is a Vauxhall Ampera, essentially a rebadged GM Volt, and no longer made. In the middle is the ubiquitous Renault ZOE.
On the right is a Mercedes C350e, the first electric Mercedes I’ve seen in the flesh.
The 10 best ‘eco friendly’ cars of 2015 — as determined by the editors over at the noted vehicle valuation and information source Kelley Blue Book — were recently outlined in an interesting new list.
The top spot for the year was (not completely surprisingly) nabbed by BMW’s all-electric i3 model — following on the i3 grabbing other such honors elsewhere as well, and sitting at the top of all cars in the US in terms of “fuel” efficiency.
The new list from Kelley Blue Book is part of its yearly practice of compiling a ranking of the most efficient vehicles for the year, across all price ranges and power train variabilities.
“The list of ‘green’ vehicle standouts continues to blossom, and with strict Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) requirements coming down the pipeline, auto manufacturers are making stronger advancements each year in creating more environmentally friendly vehicles,” stated Jack R Nerad, executive editorial director and executive market analyst for Kelley Blue Book’s KBB.com.
“Topping this list for the second year in a row is the BMW i3 – an electric car that can sprint to 60 mph in just over 7 seconds, and is made in a factory powered entirely by four wind turbines. And if 81 miles of electric range doesn’t work for you, the i3 can be had with a small gas generator that lets you go as far as there are gas stations.”
Other vehicles that were ranked highly by the list include: the Volkswagen e-Golf (2nd); the Nissan Leaf (3rd); the Toyota Prius (4th); the Honda Accord Hybrid (5th); the Tesla Model S (6th); the Chevy Volt [Vauxhall Ampera] (7th); and onwards through the rest of the top 10.
Overall, a pretty ‘safe’ ranking arrangement — the e-Golf, the Leaf, and the i3 all got due recognition, as many other lists have been providing them. I suppose you could always contest Tesla’s position further on down the list, but all things considered, I’d say it’s probably fair. Myself, I’m heavily biased towards the Leaf, and would have placed it higher.
April this year, Kelley Blue Book (KBB) compiled a list of the most efficient stand-out cars of the year that are chosen based on efficiency, price, practicality and powertrain, just in time for Earth Day.
KBB’s “Best Green Cars of 2015″ list includes 10 vehicles, 5 of which are plug-in electric cars.
For 2015, the BMW i3 is the repeat winner. It captured the top spot from KBB last year too.
BMW i3 and Volkswagen e-Golf
In #2, we find the Volkswagen e-Golf, followed by the Nissan LEAF in third. The two other plug-ins to make the cut are the Tesla Model S in sixth and the Chevrolet Volt [Vauxhall Ampera] in seventh.
And here’s the ranking:
KBB.com’s 10 Best Green Cars of 2015
Rank 2015 Model-Year Vehicle
1 BMW i3
2 Volkswagen e-Golf
3 Nissan Leaf
4 Toyota Prius
5 Honda Accord Hybrid
6 Tesla Model S
7 Chevrolet Volt
8 Toyota Camry Hybrid
9 Ford C-Max Hybrid
10 Volkswagen Jetta TDI
Electric Cars Are City Cars? Not In U.S.: They’re Suburb Cars Here
Automotive journalists who write about electric cars hear the phrase “city car” a lot.
As in, “Battery-electric cars are perfect city cars, but [fill in different powertrain] is required for other uses.”
There’s just one problem: No one in the U.S. has ever turned to their better half and said, “Honey, let’s go buy a city car.”
A recent blog post by electric-car advocate and restauranteur Tom Moloughney points out that, in fact, electric cars are largely used in the suburbs here in the U.S.
His article expands on comments to trade journal Automotive News by BMW’s U.S. CEO, Ludwig Willisch, that the company’s BMW i3 battery-electric car has not caught on in the “big urban centers in the Northeast,”
Instead, BMW sells the largest numbers of i3s in areas of California, Texas, and southern Florida.
2014 BMW i3 REx vs Chevrolet Volt (Vauxhall Ampera) comparison (Image: D Noland/T Moloughney)
(Willisch also then suggests that Northeasterners aren’t particularly concerned about the environment and sustainability–conflating desire for electric cars with solely environmental concerns, while overlooking the practical challenges of owning and recharging them in city centers.)
Moloughney notes that dense urban centers–like those of Boston, Manhattan, and San Francisco–are some of the most challenging places to own any car, let alone a plug-in electric car that requires a charging station.
The BMW i3 Moloughney drives was originally developed as the “Megacity Car,” intended for use in future cities of 15 million or more people that are even more densely packed than today.
But his arguments underscore a unique challenge to selling electric cars with ranges of 62 to 100 miles to U.S. drivers: We don’t buy “city cars.” We just buy cars.
In Western Europe, where local, regional, and long-distance mass transit is common, clean, punctual, and a regular part of travel patterns, a much smaller car for short local trips can make sense.
That was the idea behind the 8-foot-8-inch-long Smart ForTwo (which has been completely redesigned for the first time since the late 1990s for the 2016 model year).
You see Smarts all over Amsterdam, London, Paris, and Rome, sometimes parked end-in at the curb.
In the U.S., not so much. They’re no cheaper than larger subcompact cars, so they’re almost entirely restricted to those same dense urban centers where minimal length is a huge advantage for street parking, but recharging is scarce and expensive.
In fact, very small cars of any kind have largely been a sales flop in this country. Toyota’s Smart competitor, the Scion iQ “3+1-seat” minicar, has now been pulled off sale.
Moloughney’s post is worth reading because it underscores the challenges facing all automakers as their executives grapple with the very real challenges of understanding who buys electric cars, how they use them, and what specific challenges they face in making them practical.
Upcoming longer-range battery electric cars–including the 2017 Chevrolet Bolt, for which 200 miles of range has been promised, and the second-generation Nissan Leaf–may make electric cars more broadly palatable to buyers for whom a range of less than 100 miles is a dealbreaker.
But for North American marketing, we’d suggest that automakers simply eradicate the phrase “city car” from their lexicon.
Thus far, electric cars are largely bought by relatively affluent suburban buyers for whom off-street charging at their homes is possible.
Urban dwellers, meanwhile, are starting to participate in car-sharing programs that eliminate the need for them to pay for and store a vehicle they may not use for commuting.
And until there are far more publicly-available plug-in vehicle charging stations–and most likely the far faster DC quick-charging stations–the city centers of Boston, San Francisco, and so forth will remain a far more challenging place to own electric cars.
One of the best benefits available for drivers of electric cars is that London Midland provides free car parking at its railway stations.
This is particularly attractive at two of its stations, Milton Keynes and Watford, as they have very high parking charges (an annual season ticket at these stations costs £1200 and £1093 respectively).
Fuel Included ‘pop-up shop’ outside Milton Keynes Central railway station (Image: T. Larkum)
The deal is that London Midland provides a discount off a car parking permit at its station car parks for what it calls an “ECO friendly vehicle”. The discounts are as follows:
50% discount on monthly, quarterly and annual parking permits if the vehicle emits no more than 120g of carbon dioxide every kilometre (120g/km).
100% discount on monthly, quarterly and annual parking permit, if the vehicle is registered with the DVLA and has “Electric” fuel type. This can be checked on the vehicle registration document (V5C) sent by the DVLA.
Full details are given on the London Midland website for the parking permits and their associated discounts; they are very generous. Clearly if someone pays £200 per month to lease one of our electric cars, for example, they can get back half that money just from savings in parking charges.
Rapid Chargers next to Milton Keynes Central railway station parking (Image: T. Larkum)
We used this idea recently as the basis for a marketing campaign, in two parts. Firstly we set up a small ‘pop-up shop’ outside Milton Keynes Central station. This was done in a similar way to the school event we did late last year, with the ZOE on display and me chatting to passers-by. It ran for a couple of hours in the early evening to catch commuters on their way home.
Renault ZOE in Milton Keynes Central railway station multi-storey (Image: T. Larkum)
Secondly, we did a pass through the station car park a couple of days later, putting fliers under the wipers of cars with season tickets in the windscreen to give information on the discount and our offers. While there I noticed there was a new pair of rapid chargers installed outside and awaiting commissioning, so it definitely looks like a welcoming location for electric cars.
Vauxhall Ampera in Milton Keynes Central railway station multi-storey (Image: T. Larkum)
Inside the multi-storey part of the car park there were already a couple of EVs in residence, a Renault ZOE and a Vauxhall Ampera. With a bit of luck there will be a lot more soon.
Figures recently released show that the Nissan LEAF maintains its position as the most popular electric car or van in the UK, with at least 5,838 vehicles registered by the third quarter of 2014, representing over a third of all EV sales.
The registration data also shows the new Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV has made a dramatic entry to the UK market; the electric SUV is already in second position with over 2,706 sales less than a year after its UK release.
In third and fourth places are two more established plug-in hybrids, the Toyota Prius PHEV (with 1,226 registrations) and the Vauxhall Ampera (1,039 vehicles). The BMW i3 now ranks fifth with at least 1,029 UK registrations (454 all-electric and 575 range-extender variants).
The Renault ZOE and Tesla Model S are also selling well in the UK with over 775 and 474 sales respectively; the two models in fourth and fifth sales positions across Europe as a whole (YTD October 2014).
UK electric vehicle registrations UK (Image: Next Green Car)
With the recent announcement from OLEV that 23,083 claims have been made through the Plug-in Car Grant scheme, the number of electric cars and vans in the UK now exceeds 24,500 vehicles for the first time.
Another indicator that the EV market is gaining momentum is the number of fully electric and plug-in hybrid models available in the UK. While only 9 EVs were available for the major manufacturers in 2011 (excluding quadricycles), this increased to 18 models in 2013, and now stands at 24 high-quality cars and vans (in 2014) with more models due for launch in 2015.
Dr Ben Lane, Director of Next Green Car said:
“The strong growth of the EV market in the UK as elsewhere provides yet more evidence that the light-duty vehicle market is undergoing a radical change with consumer preferences changing from petrol and diesel models to electric power-trains. With sales growing exponentially, the EVs are set to become commonplace on UK roads within the next few years.”
Owning a car provides freedom. Drive hundreds of miles if you want. When you’re low on gas, fill up in five minutes. Electric cars don’t work that way. Most modern models can travel fewer than 100 miles on a full charge, and gas tanks fill much faster than batteries charge. But one type offers a compromise that combines the benefits of an electric car with the convenience of a combustion-powered vehicle.
“I come to the conclusion that the main competitor of electric cars is the plug-in hybrids because they offer the best of both worlds,” said Ricardo Daziano, who studies the way engineering and economics affect the adoption and improvement of new technologies at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.
“So you can go electric on your daily commute and then you feel good about the environment.”
Plug-in hybrids, such as the Chevrolet Volt (= Vauxhall Ampera), offer battery power sufficient for commuting. The battery power is often paired with a gas-powered engine that provides either direct propulsion or on-the-go battery charging during long-distance travel. In some cases a plug-in hybrid’s gas engine only charges the battery.
Vauxhall Ampera in Milton Keynes Central railway station multi-storey (Image: T. Larkum)
Current battery costs keep electric vehicles expensive and limit their range. But, electric cars don’t require gas and the vehicles themselves emit no greenhouse gases or other fumes. Of course, gas is relatively cheap right now, with oil at about $70 per barrel. Low gas prices could slow the adoption of new auto technology because the most direct benefit of using battery power to propel a vehicle is probably the money they’ll save at the gas pump.
Electric vehicles, in many ways, require a new approach to travel. Drivers can charge at home while they sleep, or at charging stations while at work. They don’t need to go to gas stations. But, if they expect to approach the limits of their range, they need to plan their daily trips carefully. They may even purposely choose busy, stop and go traffic instead of free-flowing highways.
“If people were to use some of these more congested areas, they can regenerate some of that battery charge,” said Srinivas Peeta, a transportation engineer at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. “In some sense, what we are saying is that the range can get extended a little.”
Hybrids, plug-in hybrids, and electrics typically recapture as much of the car’s energy as they can. When the driver applies the brakes, a portion of that energy is sent back into the battery for later use.
While traditional vehicles use extra fuel for heating and cooling the cabin, with an electric, all that energy has to come from the battery, further limiting the range.
Recharging an electric or plug-in hybrid is different than the typical routine of filling up a traditional vehicle. There’s not just one pump, like for gas. There are multiple types of charging, ranging from the trickle of a normal household outlet, which takes hours to fill a battery, to fast charging stations such as Tesla’s supercharger that add about half a charge to a battery in 30 minutes. It’s as if some gas pumps drip into the tank, and some are fire hoses. For electrics or plug-in hybrids, the additional time required to charge the car encourages businesses to offer expanded services at highway rest stops, in order to make it more engaging for people who would have to linger to charge a car’s battery.
“You have to come up with compatible services. People wouldn’t just wait there or stand there for 20 minutes, right? Because that doesn’t make sense,” said Eric Huang, a civil engineer at Clemson University in South Carolina, who led a session on electric vehicles and charging at the annual meeting of the professional society INFORMS this fall. He suggested that a company like Starbucks might begin offering outlets to electric vehicle drivers making intercity trips.
“Those fast chargers have to be strategically located along the highway with appropriate services.”
Developing the infrastructure to support intercity travel for electric vehicles will take time. There are other types of engines out there, including hydrogen fuel cells and compressed natural gas, but electrical power is generally easier to access. Developing an electric vehicle with both a moderate cost and a more robust range will take some time.
“You look at a car, whether it’s electric, or fuel cell, or an internal combustion car, you want it to be affordable and you want it to have adequate driving range,” said Cosmin Laslau, a technology researcher at Boston-based Lux Research, a firm that studies emerging technologies. “You can get a very affordable electric vehicle, but it has poor driving range. You can get one with astonishingly good driving range, maybe 300 miles or more, but it is going to be very, very costly. The challenge is to make a car that can drive 300-500 miles for the purchase price of $20,000-25,000. That’s not going to happen for another 10 or 15 years.”
Some experts think it might take longer. But many agree that in the next couple of decades, plug-in hybrids are going to be an important vehicle option. Why? Consumer demand.
Jonn Axsen, who studies the relationship of human behavior, energy technology and environmental policy at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia, said that one reason people are attracted to plug-in hybrids is because the first 10-30 miles are completely electric. But, he found that relatively few people are interested in all-electric vehicles.
“It seems no matter how I present it, there are far more consumers that are willing to buy a plug-in hybrid rather than a pure electric vehicle,” he said.
When drivers commute to work in a plug-in hybrid, it’s possible to use gas very rarely.
“Usually Chevy Volt owners drive on the battery alone,” said Laslau. “It’s a really high percentage of their driving pattern that’s battery power alone.”
Currently, these technologies are new to consumers, so experts don’t know how people will adapt to these choices. Also, the relative costs of use for electrics and plug-in hybrids are difficult to project into the future.
“There is so much uncertainty,” said Axsen. “Because you have to have perfect foresight about what the fuel costs are going to be over the next 15 years. And we have no idea.”
“If you’re looking at the whole picture, [a plug-in hybrid vehicle] has greater potential at least in the near term,” said Zhenhong Lin, a senior researcher at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee.
Huang and Peeta, both indicated that electric vehicles will eventually win out. One factor is that by including a gas-powered generator in a plug-in, means that there are two systems of propulsion in the same car.
“Because they have two different power trains and so on, the cost associated with them in the long run is one thing to factor,” said Peeta.
Huang called plug-ins a transition model, and suggested that when the batteries and infrastructure are ready,
“I think battery vehicles are the way to go.”
How far into the future can we expect to observe that transition? As of today, it’s unclear.
