CHARGED Electric Vehicles Magazine - Issue 35 JAN/FEB 2018

ELECTRIC VEHICLES MAGAZINE

2018 SMART

ISSUE 35 | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018 | CHARGEDEVS.COM

FORTWO p. 48

ELECTRIC DRIVE

The smart loses its top - and its gas engine TESLA’S MOTOR CHIEF ON MODEL 3’S PM MACHINE

IONIC MATERIALS EMERGES AS A SOLIDSTATE BATTERY LEADER

HOW CHARGING STATIONS EARN ENERGY STAR CERTIFICATION

EVBOX COMPARES US AND EUROPEAN EVSE MARKETS

p. 28

p. 32

p. 64

p. 68

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THE TECH CONTENTS

22 A closer look at energy consumption in EVs

28

28 Model 3’s PM motor Tesla’s top motor engineer talks about designing a permanent magnet machine for Model 3

32 Ionic Materials

32

The Massachusetts-based company emerges as a leader in solid-state batteries by focusing on polymer science

current events 12

Predicting the properties of lightweight carbon fiber composites

14

12

Aqueous anode enables super-fast charging

DOE awards $2.25 million to develop lightweight vehicle materials Toyota Tsusho to acquire 15% stake in Australian lithium mining company

15 BMW partners with Solid Power to develop solid-state batteries 16 Groupe PSA and Nidec form JV for automotive traction motors 17 New insight into lithium metal plating 18 Waterloo team develops low-cost approach to stabilize lithium metal anodes

Toyota and Panasonic explore joint prismatic battery development

19 Spark EV telematics solution aims to increase productivity for EV fleets 20 Recycling worn cathodes to make new batteries

20

Nexeon and partners win £7 million in funding to develop silicon anode tech

21

YASA secures £15 million growth funding, opens new Oxford production facility

THE VEHICLES CONTENTS

48 smart fortwo The smart loses its top - and its gas engine

48

82 How significant are so-called ICE bans? current events 38 2017 plug-in sales up 26%, Tesla and Chevy on top 40 All New Flyer facilities now capable of manufacturing electric buses

42

QuĂŠbec issues final regulations for ZEV mandate

42 Shenzhen goes fully electric with over 16,000 electric buses

Fuel cell truck maker Nikola gets investment from safety specialist WABCO

43 Electric container barges to sail from Europe this summer 44 Harley-Davidson confirms it will bring electric motorcycle to market

Los Angeles DOT orders 25 Proterra e-buses

44

45 Colorado releases new EV support plan to accelerate adoption 46 User survey shows buyers misunderstand the used EV market

Mercedes to build EVs in six plants on three continents

47 California Energy Commission awards $3 million to EV ride-sharing projects IDENTIFICATION STATEMENT CHARGED Electric Vehicles Magazine (ISSN: 24742341) January/February 2018, Issue #35 is published bi-monthly by Electric Vehicles Magazine LLC, 2260 5th Ave S, STE 10, Saint Petersburg, FL 33712-1259. Periodicals Postage Paid at Saint Petersburg, FL and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to CHARGED Electric Vehicles Magazine, Electric Vehicles Magazine LLC at 2260 5th Ave S, STE 10, Saint Petersburg, FL 33712-1259.

46

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64 ENERGY STAR

64

How EV charging stations earn ENERGY STAR certification

68 EVBox

The charging markets in Europe and the US: EVBox explains the difference

74

Vehicle-to-grid challenges

68

Air Force V2G project reveals challenges of the early days

58 GM wants Congress to fund EVSE, Toyota wants hydrogen fueling

Allego and Fortum collaborate on a European charging network

59 AeroVironment’s new TurboDX charging solution 60 South Korea to officially adopt CCS fast charging standard

Mack demonstrates catenary-powered PHEV at port of Los Angeles

61

61

New York announces $3.5 million in R&D funding for EV-grid integration 175 kW charging station opens in Germany, 350 kW coming soon

62 BP invests in mobile charging company FreeWire

VW subsidiary Electrify America to install 2,800 charging stations

63 PG&E’s EV Charge Network to install 7,500 new charging stations

GeniePoint Network rolls out fast chargers at UK petrol stations

62

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PLENARY KEYNOTES How Does the Electrolyte Change during the Lifetime of a Li-Ion Cell?

Addressing Key Battery Issues from a Thermodynamics Perspective

Uber Elevate - Powering an Electric UberAIR Future

Global Electrification and LG Chem

Jeff Dahn, PhD NSERC/Tesla Canada, Dalhousie University

Celina Mikolajczak Uber

Rachid Yazami, PhD Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

Denise Gray LG Chem Power

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In September 2016, Tesla and SapceX CEO Elon Musk unveiled his ambitious vision for colonizing Mars, which included building huge new rockets and spacecraft capable of holding 100 people at a time. During the presentation, Musk noted that moving a lot of humans to Mars is going to cost a lot of money. He estimated that the cost of getting the interplanetary transport system up and running would be around $10 billion total.

Musk also reiterated that his mission to get us to Mars is what motivates most of his decisions. “I think as we show that this is possible, that this dream is real, I think the support will snowball over time. The main reason I’m personally accumulating assets is in order to fund this. I really don’t have any other motivation except to be able to make the biggest contribution I can to making life multi-planetary.”

The man thinks very methodically, so it’s safe to assume his recent announcement to stay at the wheel of Tesla for another decade means that he’s confident it’s the best bet to grow the fortune he wants to funnel into space exploration. Previously, Musk had only publicly committed to staying on as Tesla CEO until the Model 3 was successfully launched and on the road.

His compensation plan for the next decade is “perhaps the most radical in corporate history,” as the New York Times put it. Musk will be paid only if Tesla reaches a series of ambitious market value milestones - otherwise, he will be paid nothing. Tesla has set a dozen market value targets, in increments of $50 billion, starting at $100 billion, then $150 billion, and so on up to a market cap of $650 billion. Also, the company has set a dozen revenue and profit goals. Mr. Musk will receive 1.68 million shares, or about 1 percent of the company, only if he reaches both sets of milestones. Tesla’s current market cap is about $59 billion.

Musk’s new compensation plan is similar to the previous one put in place in 2012 (he reached all but one of those metrics), but now the numbers are much larger. If he succeeds in increasing the value of Tesla to $650 billion - a figure that would make Tesla one of the five largest companies in the US his stock award could be worth as much as $55 billion.

The policy is about as shareholder-friendly as they come, in contrast to those at many other corporations, which richly reward CEOs even when the companies underperform. If the benchmarks are reached, the company’s employees, including those who work on the factory floor, who get paid in both cash and stock, could also become wealthy.

“If all that happens over the next 10 years is that Tesla’s value grows by 80 or 90 percent, then my amount of compensation would be zero,” Musk told the NYT. “I actually see the potential for Tesla to become a trillion-dollar company within a 10-year period.”

Coming from anyone else, that would seem like a totally crazy and unreachable milestone. It’s hard to imagine how Tesla could accomplish such growth, but, at this point, it’s even harder to imagine betting against Musk.

Christian Ruoff | Publisher “THE TOP 10 STARTUPS RACING TO REMAKE THE AUTO INDUSTRY”

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Publisher Christian Ruoff Associate Publisher Laurel Zimmer Senior Editor Charles Morris Associate Editor Markkus Rovito Account Executive Jeremy Ewald Technology Editor Jeffrey Jenkins Graphic Designers Mary Rose Robinson Tome Vrdoljak Andy Windy

Contributing Writers Peter Banwell Paul Beck Tom Ewing Jeffrey Jenkins Charles Morris

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“We are overwhelmed with how many people are here, very knowledgeable people. It’s very different

Aqueous anode enables super-fast charging

An international team of scientists, including researchers from the DOE’s Argonne National Laboratory, has discovered an anode material that enables super-fast charging and offers stable operation over many thousands of cycles.

In a recent article in Nature Communications, Argonne Battery Scientist Jun Lu and colleagues describe a water-bearing compound, lithium titanate hydrate, that could replace the graphite anode commonly used in lithium-ion batteries. Past research had identified lithium titanate as a promising anode material, because of its potential for fast charging and long cycle life, as well as safer operation compared with graphite. In synthesizing this material, researchers used a water-based process that involved a final step of heating the anode material to above 500° C to drive out the water completely. This step was needed because, during battery operation, the water would react with the electrolyte and degrade performance.

Argonne Distinguished Fellow Khalil Amine, a co-author of the study, noted that heating to such a high temperature caused unwanted coarsening and clumping of the structure. The international team found that, by heating the anode material to a much lower temperature (less than 260° C), they could remove the water near the surface, but retain the water in the bulk of the material without the coarsening and clumping. When the scientists tested the material in the laboratory, cycling stability improved and capacity degraded only slightly over 10,000 cycles. The material also charged very quickly - within less than two minutes. “Most of the time, water is bad for non-aqueous lithium-ion batteries. But in this case, it can be downright good,” said Jun Lu. Looking to the future, Jun Lu observed that, because water is everywhere in nature and common in chemical synthesis, the fabrication approach reported in this research could open the door to discovery of other high-performance electrode materials.

12

Image courtesy of PNNL

THE TECH

Predicting the properties of lightweight carbon fiber composites Carbon fiber-reinforced plastics represent a promising lightweight replacement for heavy steel. However, for carbon fiber to be widely adopted, new, more economical composites need to be developed. Unfortunately, carbon fiber properties are difficult to model, as they depend on complex features such as fiber loading, length distribution and orientation.

Now researchers at the DOE’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), in partnership with Toyota, Magna, carbon fiber supplier PlastiComp, and software provider Autodesk, have developed a set of predictive engineering tools that could speed the development.

Currently, in order to test new composite components, carmakers must build molds, mold parts, and test them - a long and costly process. Using the PNNL-led team’s engineering software, manufacturers will be able to evaluate the structural characteristics of proposed new carbon fiber composites without building molds, allowing designers to experiment much more quickly.

The team used Autodesk Moldflow software to predict fiber orientation and fiber length distribution in molded components. Using materials from PlastiComp, long carbon fiber components were molded and the fibers extracted for measurement. PNNL then compared the predicted properties from the simulation software to the test results of the molded fibers, and found that the software tool successfully predicted fiber length distribution in all cases and fiber orientation in 88 percent of cases.

PNNL worked with Magna and Toyota to analyze the performance gains and costs of long carbon fiber components versus standard steel and fiberglass composites.

PNNL found the polymer composite studied could reduce the weight of auto components by over 20 percent.

However, production costs can be 10 times higher than those of steel.

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THE TECH

Toyota Tsusho to acquire 15% stake in Australian lithium mining company Orocobre Toyota Tsusho, a member of the Toyota Group, has signed a share subscription agreement with Orocobre to become a 15% shareholder. The total investment amount will be about $292 million Australian.

The company expects lithium demand to continue growing with the shift to EVs, in addition to the steady growth of battery-powered consumer electronics.

Demand growth to date has seen the price of lithium more than double over the past few years.

Toyota Tsusho and Orocobre have been long-term partners in the development of the Olaroz Lithium Facility in Argentina, a lithium brine project, which was brought into successful production in 2014, and Toyota Tsusho has established a worldwide sales network for lithium from Olaroz since the first production.

The capital from Toyota Tsusho’s strategic investment will be used primarily for the expansion of the Olaroz Project (Phase 2), which aims to increase capacity by 25,000 tons per year (lithium carbonate equivalent) bringing the total capacity of the Olaroz Project to 42,500 tons per year.

The Phase 2 expansion plan is expected to be commissioned in the second half of 2019. Toyota Tsusho will be appointed as the exclusive sales agent for Phase 2 production and will to respond to the growing market demand.

14

DOE awards $2.25 million to develop lightweight vehicle materials Five American-based organizations are receiving $2.25 million in technical assistance from Department of Energy national laboratories to further develop lightweight materials technologies and more efficient vehicles. The awards are part of the DOE’s LightMAT - the Lightweight Materials Consortium.

• Sandia National Laboratories, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory will partner with Mallinda LLC to characterize microscopic structural defects and evaluate the high-speed impact on the company’s malleable thermoset carbon fiber-reinforced plastic technology.

• Magna Services of America will team up with PNNL to fabricate a non-rare earth magnesium bumper beam using PNNL’s ShAPE technology. ShAPE, or Shear Assisted Processing and Extrusion, is a new technology that fabricates bumper beams with sufficient strength, ductility, and energy absorption properties without the need for costly rare earth additives and elevated temperature processing.

• GM will partner with PNNL to develop a predictive performance model of dissimilar metallic spot-welds for joining aluminum to steel. Currently, automotive researchers are unclear about the factors that are most critical for predicting joint failures when welding aluminum and steel together.

• Eck Industries will work with PNNL to lower costs and address mechanical property issues in aluminum castings. The additional iron content found in recycled aluminum limits usability in performance applications because of reduced overall strength and durability.

• The computational capabilities at Los Alamos National Laboratory will be used to help the Edison Welding Institute improve the robustness of a manufacturing method called magnetic pulse welding which can effectively join different metals together.

BMW partners with Solid Power to develop solid-state batteries ther validation that solid-state battery innovations will continue to improve electric vehicles.”

Photo courtesy of BMW

Solid Power has grown rapidly since it was established in 2012 as a spin-out company from the University of Colorado. The battery developer recently moved into a new facility in Louisville, Colorado that will triple its footprint.

Now the company has announced a partnership with the BMW Group to develop its solid-state batteries for EV applications. The new facility will enable Solid Power to deliver commercial-quality battery prototypes.

Safety for vehicles Solid Power’s solid-state batteries are comprised of proprietary Bender’s ground fault detector, the ISOMETER® IR155-3204 and inorganic materials, and contain iso165C, provide safety in hybrid and electric vehicles as well as no volatile or flammable compoin Formula 1. nents. According to the company, Safety for vehicles Safety for vehicles the technology has great potenThe IR155-3204 and iso165C monitor the tial to provide BMW’s EVsBender’s with ground fault detector, Bender’s theground ISOMETER® fault detector, IR155-3204 the ISOMETER® and IR155-3204 and complete vehicle electrical drive system and increased driving range and a t iso165C, provide safety iniso165C, hybrid and provide electric safety vehicles in hybrid as well andaselectric vehicles assuwell ppoasr provide effective protection against electric battery with a longer shelf life that We la in Formula 1. in Formula 1. ormu can withstand high temperatures. shocks and fire hazards. the F ms id Tea “Since the company’s inception, The IR155-3204 and iso165C The IR155-3204 monitor theand iso165C monitor the Hybr the Solid Power team has complete worked vehicle electrical complete drive system vehicle and electrical drive system and port port to develop and scale a competitive e sup electric e sup provide effective protection provide against effective electricprotectionWagainst W a l mula solid-state battery, payingshocks specialand fire hazards. shocks and fire hazards. the Formu e For h t s m ms attention to safety, performance, id Tea Safety © id Tea r r The Power in Electrical www.bender.org b b y y H H and cost,” said Doug Campbell, founder and CEO of Solid Power.

“Collaborating with BMW is furThe Power in Electrical Safety The ©Powerwww.bender.org in Electrical Safety ©

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THE TECH

Groupe PSA and Nidec form JV for automotive traction motors Groupe PSA, owner of the Peugeot, Citroën, DS, Opel and Vauxhall brands, and Nidec Leroy-Somer, a French manufacturer of small precision motors, plan to form a joint venture to develop a range of traction motors for electrified vehicles. The 50/50 JV will receive an initial investment of €220 million ($262 million).

The main components of the electric powertrain will be designed and produced in France. The JV will supply traction motors to Groupe PSA’s vehicles, and possibly to other OEMs as well.

Groupe PSA expects the market for automotive electric motors to double to $53.5 billion by 2030.

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New insight into lithium metal plating Reducing charging time by increasing charging current can have a negative effect on battery lifetime and safety. One reason for this is a phenomenon called lithium plating.

“The rate at which lithium ions can be reversibly intercalated into the graphite anode, just before lithium plating sets in, limits the charging current,” explains Johannes Wandt of Munich Technical University.

Wandt is one of a team of researchers at Munich and two other German universities who have developed an analytical technique that provides new insights into lithium plating and how it affects charging rates.

In a paper published in Elsevier’s Materials Today, the researchers explain that if the charging rate is too high, lithium ions deposit as a metallic layer on the surface of the anode rather than inserting themselves into the graphite. “This undesired lithium plating side reaction causes rapid cell degradation and poses a safety hazard,” Dr. Wandt said.

Dr. Wandt and his colleagues set out to develop a new tool to detect the actual amount of lithium plating on a graphite anode in real time. The result is a technique the researchers call operando electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR).

EPR detects the magnetic moment associated with unpaired conduction electrons in metallic lithium with very high sensitivity and time resolution.

“In its present form, this technique is mainly limited to laboratory-scale cells, but there are a number of possible applications,” explains researcher Dr. Josef Granwehr.

“So far, the development of advanced fast charging procedures has been based mainly on simulations, but an analytical technique to experimentally validate these results has been missing. The technique will also be very interesting for testing battery materials and their influence on lithium metal plating - in particular, electrolyte additives that could suppress or reduce lithium metal plating.”

Waterloo team develops a low-cost way to stabilize lithium metal anodes Researchers at the University of Waterloo in Canada have developed a way to stabilize lithium metal electrodes by forming a single-ion-conducting and stable protective surface layer in vivo.

In “An In Vivo Formed Solid Electrolyte Surface Layer Enables Stable Plating of Li Metal,” published in the journal Joule, Quan Pang, Xiao Liang and colleagues explain how they used an electrolyte additive complex that reacts with the lithium surface to form a membrane.

The team demonstrated stable lithium plating/stripping for 2,500 hours at 1 mA cm-2 in symmetric cells, and efficient lithium cycling at high current densities up to 8 mA cm-2. More than 400 cycles were achieved at a 5-C rate in cells with a Li4Ti5O12 counter electrode at close to 100% coulombic efficiency.

“Herein, we demonstrate a facile and scalable approach to build a single-ion-conducting SEI layer with controlled compositions in vivo (i.e., inside the assembled cell) that maintains complete and intimate contact with the locally uneven lithium metal surface,” write Pang and colleagues. “This comprises a thin amorphous Li3PS4 layer formed by using a low-concentration electrolyte additive. It reduces the reactions with the electrolyte and eliminates the heterogeneity of the SEI, thus allowing a non-impeding and uniform Li+ flux.”

“The nature of in vivo formation distinguishes it from ex situ deposition of solid electrolytes (SE), such as atomic layer deposition. More importantly, the Li3PS4 layer is a Li+ single-ion conductor with a theoretical Li+ transference number of unity, which ideally eliminates the ion depletion and strong electric field buildup at the Li surface that inspire dendrite growth. This also contrasts with other types of artificial or additive-driven ion-passivating SEIs. We show experimental evidence of these two important aspects and demonstrate that their interplay allows long-life dendrite-free lithium plating.”

18

Toyota and Panasonic explore joint prismatic battery development Toyota and Panasonic have agreed to begin studying the feasibility of a joint automotive prismatic battery business.

Panasonic has positioned lithium-ion batteries as one of its key businesses, and its automotive batteries are used by many automakers worldwide. Toyota, maker of the Prius hybrid and the Mirai fuel cell vehicle, has been a holdout when it comes to developing pure EVs, but there are signs that this policy is changing. Now the two companies say they aim to develop the best automotive prismatic battery in the industry.

“To solve issues currently confronting us worldwide, such as global warming, air pollution, the depletion of natural resources and energy security, it will be necessary to further the popularization of electrified vehicles,” said Toyota President Akio Toyoda. “The automotive industry is now facing an era of profound transformation, the likes of which come only once every 100 years. No longer can we expect a future by adhering to our current path.

Panasonic has accumulated its industry-leading capability to develop automotive batteries over many years, and Toyota has accumulated vehicle electrification technologies through the development of hybrid vehicles. Toyota also loves cars and is determined to never let them become commodities.”

“Today, the surging demand for electrified vehicles is changing the landscape of the automobile industry and, moreover, drastically transforming its entire structure,” said Panasonic President Kazuhiro Tsuga. “The battery is a key device in promoting the widespread use of electrified vehicles, and thus toward achieving a sustainable society. Panasonic can never survive if we simply cling to our current business models. Therefore, always having the mindset of a challenger, we will strive to create contributions toward the widespread use of electrified vehicles, fully utilizing our assets and strengths nurtured over the past 100 years.”

Photo courtesy of Toyota

THE TECH

Spark EV telematics solution aims to increase productivity for EV fleets Spark EV is a new AI-based journey prediction telematics solution designed to help fleet EVs complete more journeys between charges, enabling greater fleet utilization.

A combination of sensor technology, cloud-based analysis software and a smartphone app, Spark EV analyzes live driver, vehicle and other data sources, such as weather and congestion, then uses software algorithms to increase the accuracy of journey predictions. Using machine learning, the system automatically updates predictions after each journey, continually improving efficiency.

Drivers and fleet managers enter their journey through the app, Spark EV’s web interface, or their existing fleet management software, and the system advises whether they will be able to complete it, based on live data, previous trips and charging locations.

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Sold as a monthly subscription, Spark EV is designed to easily integrate with existing fleet management/scheduling systems through its open API, and can also be used as a standalone solution for smaller fleets. It can be installed with all current EVs. “Fleet managers understand that the future increasingly revolves around electric vehicles,” said Spark EV Technology CEO Justin Ott. “However, existing methods of predicting range between charges are not accurate enough for fleet use, leading to range anxiety and a consequent drop in productivity as managers cut back the number of journeys to avoid potentially running out of power. Spark EV increases productivity through more accurate predictions that enable 20% more journeys between charges.”

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THE TECH

Recycling worn cathodes to make new batteries As lithium-ion batteries proliferate, the question of what to do with them when they wear out is becoming a major environmental concern. Less than five percent of used batteries are recycled today.

Nanoengineers at the University of California San Diego have developed an energy-efficient recycling process that restores used cathodes from spent batteries and makes them work just as good as new.

As the researchers explain in a paper published in Green Chemistry, the new method can be used to recover lithium cobalt oxide, which is widely used in consumer electronics. The method also works on nickel manganese cobalt (NMC), a cathode material which is used in many EVs. Researchers pressurized recovered cathode particles in a hot alkaline solution containing lithium salt, then put them through an annealing process in which they were heated to 800° C and then cooled very slowly. They made new cathodes from the regenerated particles and found them to have the same energy storage capacity, charging time and lifetime as the originals.

“Think about the millions of tons of lithium-ion battery waste in the future, especially with the rise of electric vehicles, and the depletion of precious resources like lithium and cobalt,” said Professor Zheng Chen.

“Mining more of these resources will contaminate our water and soil. If we can sustainably harvest and reuse materials from old batteries, we can potentially prevent such significant environmental damage and waste.”

Recycling cathodes would also save money. “The price of lithium, cobalt and nickel has increased significantly,” said Chen. “Recovering these expensive materials could lower battery costs.”

Chen’s team is refining the process so that it can be used to recycle any type of cathode material, and is also working on a process to recycle used anodes.

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Nexeon and partners win £7 million in funding to develop silicon anode tech

Photos courtesy of Nexeon

Photo courtesy of David Baillot/UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering

Silicon anode specialist Nexeon, along with a couple of partners, has been awarded £7 million in Innovate UK funding for the SUNRISE project, which will develop battery materials based on silicon as a replacement for carbon in the cell anode.

Nexeon will lead the silicon material development and scale-up stages of the project, while polymer provider Synthomer will lead the development of a next-generation polymer binder optimized to work with silicon, and ensure anode/binder cohesion during a lifetime of charges.

Silicon is currently being adopted as a partial replacement for carbon - typically up to 10% - in battery anodes, but problems caused by expansion when the cells are charged and discharged remain a hurdle. Project SUNRISE addresses the silicon expansion and binder system issues, and allows more silicon to be used, further increasing energy density.

“The biggest problems facing EVs - range anxiety, cost, charge time or charging station availability - are almost all related to limitations of the batteries,” says Nexeon CEO Dr. Scott Brown. “Silicon anodes are now well established on the technology road maps of major automotive OEMs and cell makers, and Nexeon has received support from UK and global OEMs, several of whom will be involved in this project as it develops.”

YASA, a manufacturer of axial-flux electric motors and controllers, has raised £15 million in growth funding, bringing the total raised by the company to £35 million.

The new investment follows YASA’s signing of longterm development and supply agreements with customers in the automotive sector. The company has recently opened a new 100,000-unit capacity production facility in Oxford, UK to meet the growing demand for its products. YASA says that 80% of production is destined for export to automotive manufacturers across the world, including China.

In addition to automotive, YASA motors are used in marine applications and in aerospace, fields in which high power density and torque density are critical.

Photo courtesy of YASA

YASA secures £15m growth funding, opens new Oxford production facility

Dr. Chris Harris, YASA’s CEO, said, “Our customers are looking to adopt innovative new technologies such as YASA’s axial-flux electric motors and controllers in order to meet the needs of the rapidly expanding hybrid and pure electric automotive market. This additional £15 million in growth funding will enable YASA to further invest in the volume production capacity necessary to meet our customers’ requirements, and to address markets beyond automotive including aerospace and marine.”

Charging Station

Sales, Service, & Logistics provided by Local Hongfa America Team (714) 669-2888 | sales@hongfaamerica.com www.hongfa.com

Photo courtesy of Vetatur Fumare - CC BY-SA 2.0

There are five primary factors that go into determining how much power is required to propel a vehicle: velocity, mass, rolling resistance, wind resistance and the gradient of the road.

Photo courtesy of Norsk Elbilforening - CC BY 2.0

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THE TECH

A CLOSER

LOOK AT ENERGY CONSUMPTION IN EVS

By Jeffrey Jenkins

W

hen it comes to factors that affect energy consumption in EVs, the big kahunas are weight and wind resistance (aka CdA), but there are other factors that can have a surprisingly outsized effect and that tend to be overlooked, such as the use of climate control (AC, of course, but especially heat). Conversely, one factor which does not seem to affect energy consumption all that much is the use of regenerative braking.

First, though, two terms that are confused or even used interchangeably way too often are power and energy. Power is

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a measure of the rate at which work can be done while energy is a measure of the amount of work done. Ignoring the effect of wind resistance (which would otherwise disprove what comes next), it will take the same amount of energy to drive a 2,000 kg vehicle a distance of 1 km whether it is going 1 kph or 2 kph or even 10 kph. Yes, the higher speed requires more power, but it is applied for an inversely lower amount of time, and energy is power * time.

Power There are five primary factors that go into determining how much power is required to propel a vehicle: velocity (aka speed), mass (aka weight, at least as long as the vehicle remains on planet Earth), rolling resistance, wind resistance and the gradient of the road. The latter four components are used to determine the total drag force opposing the vehicle’s motion, and speed should be self-explanatory. The relevant physics equation that combines all these factors together is deceptively simple:

P=F*v Where P is power (in watts, W), F is the total drag force acting on the vehicle (in Newtons, N), and v is the velocity (in meters per second, m/s). The components that make up the total drag force need to be evaluated for the above equation to be useful, however. Also note that the power required actually increases with the cube of the speed of the vehicle, because speed is present in the power equation above as well as speed squared in the equation for wind resistance. Speed really does kill…efficiency, anyway.

Drag forces The easiest drag force to evaluate is rolling resistance, Fr, which is simply vehicle mass (in kilograms, kg) * gravitational acceleration of your particular planet (9.81 m/s² for Earth) * coefficient of friction, Cf (a dimensionless number, usually between 0.01 and 0.02 for most tires and roads):

Fr = m * 9.81 m/s² * Cf For example, a 2,000 kg vehicle and a coefficient of friction between tires and road of 0.015 results in a drag force from rolling resistance of 294 N, or a mere 30 kg of force (1 N = 0.102 kg-f). This isn’t much force to overcome, though rolling resistance does increase dramatically if tires are underinflated. Conversely, overinflating the tires to reduce rolling resistance isn’t really worth

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Note that the power required actually increases with the cube of the speed, because speed is present in power equation as well as speed squared in the equation for wind resistance. Speed really does kill… efficiency, anyway. the reduced tire life and increased risk of a blowout.

Next is the contribution from wind resistance, which is proportional to the square of speed, v (in m/s), air density, ρ (1.2 kg/m³ for air at 20° C at sea level), drag coefficient, Cd (typically in the range of 0.3 to 0.4), and the frontal area of the vehicle, A (in m²). The relevant equation to find the drag force from wind resistance is:

Fw = 0.5 * v² * ρ * Cd * A For example, a vehicle traveling at 90 kph (25 m/s) with a Cd of 0.35 and a frontal area of 2.2 m² requires a force of 288.75 N to overcome wind resistance; at 120 kph that force increases to 513.33 N, or nearly double!

The last drag force is from a change in elevation, which is the only one which can actually assist the vehicle (aside from the unlikely scenario in which a tailwind is strong enough to propel the vehicle all on its own). This equation is a little less straightforward and requires some trigonometry. If the incline of the road is not given in degrees, then converting to such is the first step. In the US, grade is given as a percentage rise vs. a horizontal run, and these figures correspond to the opposite and adjacent sides of a right triangle (the vehicle itself drives along the hypotenuse) so to convert percentage grade into degrees

Photo courtesy of Norsk Elbilforening - CC BY 2.0

Photo courtesy of Jakob Härter - CC BY-SA 2.0

THE TECH

Example: a 2,175 kg vehicle with 2.34 m² of frontal area and a Cd of 0.24 traveling at 110 kph on a road with a 5% grade: Fr = 2,175 * 9.81 * 0.015 = 320.0 N Fw = 0.5 * (110 / 3.6)² * 1.2 * 0.24 * 2.34 = 314.6 N Fs = 2,175 * 9.81 * sin(2.86°) = 1,064.6 N P = (320.0 + 314.6 + 1064.6) * (110 / 3.6) = 51,920 W first change percentage into decimal format (e.g., 10% = 0.1) then take the arctangent of the resulting number to get the slope in degrees (e.g., arctan(0.1) = 5.71°).

With the slope in degrees the following equation can be used to find the drag force from a change in elevation:

Fs = m * 9.81 m/s² * sin(Θ) Where Fs is the drag force from a slope in N (Fs is a positive number if going up the slope and a negative number if going down), m is the vehicle mass in kg, 9.81 m/s² is the gravitational acceleration of Earth, and Θ is the slope in degrees. For example, a 2,000 kg vehicle going up a 10% grade experiences a drag force of 1,952 N (or 199 kg-f).

Putting all the above together in another example should help solidify an understanding of the concepts:

And if the road is flat? Now the power required is 19,390 W. Slope is no joke!

Weight Weight also has a direct impact on the amount of energy it takes to change speed. It probably goes without saying, but the heavier the vehicle the more energy will be expended to increase its speed. The relevant formula for determining such is:

K = 0.5 * m * v² Where K is energy (in Joules, J, aka W-s), m is mass (aka weight, in kg) and v is velocity (aka speed, in m/s).

For example, to increase the speed of a 2,000 kg vehicle by 72 kph requires 400 kJ (or 0.111 kWh). That might not seem like much, but it can add up surprisingly quickly

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in stop-and-go traffic, and the ability of EVs to recapture some of this energy via regenerative braking is one reason why they deliver superior “fuel” efficiency in city driving compared to their ICE counterparts.

Regen While regenerative braking can recapture some of every positive change in speed, keep in mind that energy must be fully converted twice when regen is used, so it incurs twice the losses.

Using the above equation for kinetic energy for a 1,000 kg vehicle decelerating from a speed of 100 kph gives a result of 384 kW-s (kilowatt-seconds). Divide by 3,600 to convert seconds to hours and that gives us a rather paltry 0.11 kWh of recovered energy - assuming 100% efficiency.

Multiply 0.11 kWh by the price for electricity ($0.11 per kWh) and the resulting savings is $0.0121. Still, you can’t make gasoline by braking in an ICE vehicle so any energy recaptured by regen is better than nothing.

It bears mentioning that along with regen, the two other reasons EVs excel in city driving are that they don’t need to idle their motor while stopped, nor do they need to use energy over and above what is required to deliver good acceleration performance. In the bad old days of carburetors and the first port fuel injection systems, there was a pump that literally sprayed a dollop of fuel every time the accelerator pedal was pressed, just to make sure the engine didn’t run too lean and stumble (of course, the engine could also stumble from running too rich).

Climate control The final factor that can affect energy consumption sometimes dramatically so - is cooling or heating the cabin. Many first-generation EVs used a conventional automotive AC system, except that the compressor was driven by its own electric motor, rather than by a belt to the traction motor. Using a dedicated motor is a more costly solution, but it is far superior, as the compressor always runs at its optimal speed, allowing it to be more efficient, and cooling isn’t lost every time the vehicle is stopped, since the traction motor doesn’t idle in an EV. One huge disadvantage of the conventional automotive AC system is that it only pumps heat in one direction; there was no need for it to operate bidirectionally (i.e., as what is commonly thought of as a “heat pump”) because the ICE is a profligate producer of waste heat which comes at no additional burden to the engine or fuel economy. In contrast, the efficiency of the EV inverter

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You can’t make gasoline by braking in an ICE vehicle so any energy recaptured by regen is better than nothing. and motor combination - the only potential sources of waste heat of any magnitude - is typically in the high 90s and the losses directly scale with power output, so you might get a reasonable amount of waste heat climbing hills all day, but very little driving the speed limit on any limited-access highway in the US. So, heating the cabin in an EV requires an additional source of heat. Many early designs used resistance heating, as it is cheap, simple and 100% efficient at converting electricity into heat. That last spec sounds impressive, except that the typical compressor-type heat pump can move around 2 - 4 W of heat for every 1 W of electrical input power; the so-called “Coefficient of Performance” in refrigeration/HVAC parlance. This is also why switching from almost any kind of furnace to a heat pump tends to save quite a bit of money heating a home. Another bonus of the heat pump operating as a heater (rather than as an AC) is that waste heat produced by the compressor is useful, so the COP tends to be 1 higher in heating mode compared to cooling.

For a more concrete example, the average vehicle needs somewhere in the range of 4-8 kW of heating/cooling capacity, depending on interior volume, exposed glass area, insulation R value, outside temperature, etc. If heating is via electrical resistance then that will be a direct 4-8 kW of additional drain on the battery, whereas if it is supplied by a modern heat pump system with a COP of 4.0 in heating mode, then only 1-2 kW will be drawn (with 1.33-2.67 kW drawn in cooling mode, as COP will then be 3.0).

Using the previously worked example for vehicle power demand, 19.4 kW was required to travel at 110 kph on the flat, so an additional draw of 2 kW for climate control would be equivalent to increasing the speed by nearly 6 kph or decreasing the range by 10%. Bumping the draw up to 8 kW for an electric resistance heater would be equivalent to increasing speed to 130 kph or cutting range by 40%!

Photo courtesy of FotoSleuth - CC BY 2.0

THE TECH

Efficiency Last to be considered is the question of how changes in the efficiency of some of the major drivetrain components affect energy consumption. The inverter seems to receive a lot of the focus here, but there really isn’t much room for improvement - 98% is already achievable using stateof-the-art 600 V IGBTs, and to get to 99%, say, would require cutting losses in half‌good luck with that. The traction motor is a juicier target as it typically operates with an efficiency in the 80-90% range, but improving motor efficiency invariably results in a bigger (and costlier) motor. Still, higher efficiency in both these components can have positive effects in other areas, such as reduced cooling complexity/cost and, of course, even a small efficiency boost can add up to significant energy savings over the life of the EV. Using the same example as above, if the average efficiency of the motor is improved from 90% to 95% (easy to achieve for an industrial motor operating at a fixed load; a rather more heroic achievement for a traction motor in an EV), then the power would drop from 21.56 kW to 20.42 kW (assuming 19.4 kW required at 100% efficiency), which works out to a savings of around $0.125 per hour if energy costs $0.11 per kWh. Guesstimating a 5,000 hour operational life for the EV (e.g., 300,000 km at an average speed of 60 kph), that works out to a lifetime savings of $625, minus whatever it cost to achieve the efficiency improvement (a figure which may very well exceed the savings).

TESLA’S TOP MOTOR ENGINEER TALKS ABOUT DESIGNING A

PERMANENT

MAGNET MACHINE FOR MODEL 3

By Christian Ruoff

ost mainstream EVs from major automakers have used some form of permanent magnet traction motor technology, with two high-profile exceptions: Tesla’s Model S and Model X both use induction motor technology.

Internet engineering forums are full of compelling arguments for using both technologies in vehicles, as well as loads of speculation on what drove Tesla to favor induction machines from day one.

The best explanation I’ve read is one based on historical factors. By many accounts, the reason Tesla started developing an induction motor in the first place is because it inherited the design from AC Propulsion.

The induction motor used in the Roadster actually had roots going all the way back to GM’s EV1 motor, which was designed by Alan Cocconi. Cocconi based

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it on existing AC induction motor specs. Tesla initially licensed the design from Cocconi’s company, AC Propulsion. However, Marc Tarpenning later said that Tesla had completely redesigned its induction machine “a year before we were in production…long before we were even into the engineering prototypes.” A lot has changed since those early days in terms of available R&D technology and material costs.

In any case, Tesla’s exclusive use of induction machines has been intriguing to motor experts and EV techies. So, it was particularly interesting in August 2017 when Model 3’s EPA certification application revealed a big change in the powertrain - the document states that Model 3 uses a 3-phase permanent magnet motor.

Tesla rarely offers official comment on technology decisions, so it can be hard to discern the exact engi-

THE TECH

Konstantinos Laskaris, Tesla’s Chief Motor Designer

neering thought process. Luckily, I recently moderated a keynote panel discussion of EV tech experts at the Coil Winding, Insulation & Electrical Manufacturing Exhibition (CWIEME) in Chicago. The panel included Konstantinos Laskaris, Tesla’s Chief Motor Designer, so I had the chance to pry a few more details from the world-class motor engineer.

As usual when interviewing engineers from ma-

jor automakers, Laskaris wasn’t at liberty to tell us all about the specific quantitative analysis that led to choosing a permanent magnet motor. However, he did offer some interesting insights into the engineering processes the company employed in the analysis.

The following is a transcript of our on-stage conversation, edited slightly for clarity.

Konstantinos Laskaris: It’s well known that permanent magnet machines have the benefit of pre-excitation from the magnets, and therefore you have some efficiency benefit for that. Induction machines have perfect flux regulation and therefore you can optimize your efficiency. Both make sense for variable-speed drive single-gear transmission as the drive units of the cars.

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For the specification of the performance and efficiency, the permanent magnet machine better solved our cost minimization function, and it was optimal for the range and performance target.

So, as you know, our Model 3 has a permanent magnet machine now. This is because for the specification of the performance and efficiency, the permanent magnet machine better solved our cost minimization function, and it was optimal for the range and performance target.

Quantitatively, the difference is what drives the future of the machine, and it’s a tradeoff between motor cost, range and battery cost that is determining which technology will be used in the future.

Laskaris later added: When you have a range target [for example], you can achieve it with battery size and with efficiency, so it’s in combination.

When your equilibrium of cost changes, then it directly affects your motor design, so you justify efficiency in a more expensive battery. Your optimization is going to converge on a different motor, maybe a different motor technology. And that’s very interesting.

If you combine these comments with those made

by Laskaris during our 2016 on-stage interview at the CWIEME event in Berlin, you begin to see a clearer picture of the sophisticated process Tesla uses to evaluate different motor designs and optimize them for the specific desired parameters of each vehicle.

Laskaris: Understanding exactly what you want a motor to do is the number-one thing for optimizing. You need to know the exact constraints - precisely what you’re optimizing for. Once you

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know that, you can use advanced computer models to evaluate everything with the same objectives.

This gives you a panoramic view of how each motor technology will perform. Then you go and pick the best.

With vehicle design, in general, there is always a blending of desires and limitations. These parameters are related to performance, energy consumption, body design, quality, and costs. All of these metrics are competing with each other in a way.

Ideally, you want them to coexist, but given cost constraints, there need to be some compromises.

The electric car has additional challenges in that battery energy utilization is a very important consideration.

This is the beauty of optimization. You can pick among all the options to get the best motor for the constraints. If we model everything properly, you can find the motor with the high-performance 0-60 constraint and the best possible highway efficiency.

THE TECH

A broader discussion During our Chicago panel discussion, Laskaris also made a few other comments that our motor enthusiast readers might find interesting.

Q What are the most critical motor design parameters that EV motor designers care about?

High torque density, high power density, high speed, size, etc?

A Laskaris: Power density is a very important parameter. For electric vehicles you have the gear that can transform the power density into torque density. Therefore you can take advantage of a power-dense machine being compact, and can create the requested tractive effort to the car. Also, power density is minimizing the materials cost. So when the specifications allow for a power density increase it should always be taken. I think that is a rule for motor design. You can build power density through torque density and through speed, and you should not be neglecting one thing for the other when you’re designing a machine for particular specifications.

The EV technology expert panelists at the CWIEME Chicago event included, from left to right, • Jaydip Das - Carpenter Technology Corporation, • J. Rhett Mayor - DHX Machines, • Konstantinos Laskaris - Tesla, • Peter B. Littlewood - Argonne National Laboratory, • Tom Prucha - Protean Electric, • Matthew Doude - Mississippi State University, and • Christian Ruoff - Charged Electric Vehicles Magazine.

To find answers for these tough engineering questions, Tesla uses sophisticated custom computer simulations that run custom algorithms designed in-house. Before joining Tesla, Laskaris earned a PhD writing the programs that allow computers to more accurately predict how different motor geometries will perform in the real world - a handy skill when you’re trying to evaluate countless motor topologies to find the best.

The next CWIEME event is in Berlin, June 19th to 21st, 2018. I’ll see you there.

Q How is stator and rotor cooling technology impacting electric machine design - for example, slot cooling, water jackets, direct coil cooling, etc?

A Laskaris: The rotor thermals and the stator thermals are affecting the design of the motor in different operating conditions. Like when you’re at different torque speed points, you’re constraining the rotor thermals and the stator thermals, especially when you’re operating in field weakening in variable-speed drive single-gear transmissions.

This means that cooling technologies can have different gravity according to what you are designing for, and different effectiveness. Overall, cooling technology allows you to achieve higher continuous capability in the machine. And that’s very important because that drives the size of the machine as well.

So you can cost-effectively design machines that do the same thing if you can drive them at higher continuous points.

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EMERGES AS A LEADER IN SOLID-STATE BATTERIES

BY FOCUSING ON

POLYMER SCIENCE

By Paul Beck

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Photo courtesy of Ionic Materials

IONIC MATERIALS

THE TECH

M

ike Zimmerman, CEO and founder of Ionic Materials, has this to say about his company: “Ionic will play a major role in the solution to the world’s energy problems.”

That’s a pretty bold statement. But then again, Mike Zimmerman is a pretty bold man. An experienced polymer scientist, Zimmerman has worked on a number of ground-breaking technologies, from the first fiberto-the-home system in electronics to the first plastic package for semiconductors. He started and sold a successful materials science company called Quantum Leap Packaging, and has spent the last 25 years teaching materials science at Tufts University.

But all that was only the prelude to Ionic Materials.

“For some reason, five years ago I started thinking about batteries,” Zimmerman says. “I wasn’t a battery person, but I started looking at the materials of a battery. I saw that a lot of the improvements were being made on the anodes and cathodes, and I noticed that the electrolyte was a real limiting factor.”

With that one serendipitous observation, Zimmerman had begun his journey to help solve the world’s energy problems.

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Photos courtesy of Ionic Materials

The trouble with liquid electrolytes “Since about 1990, the major rechargeable battery has been a lithium-ion battery,” Zimmerman told Charged.

“And it had a liquid electrolyte. And I said to myself, you probably couldn’t put together three worse materials: reactive anode, cathode, and this very flammable liquid electrolyte.”

By now, the hazards of liquid-electrolyte lithiumion batteries are pretty well known to the public. Even though they’re ubiquitous in all sorts of devices, from personal electronics to EVs, they do occasionally shortcircuit and catch fire. In 2016, for example, smartphone manufacturer Samsung was forced to recall 2.5 million Galaxy Note 7 phones after reports of fires resulting from manufacturing defects. A quick YouTube search will also reveal video after video of what happens if lithium-ion batteries are punctured (spoiler alert: smoke, smoldering, flames and the occasional rapid release of gases - i.e. explosion).

One approach to this problem is to swap the flammable liquid electrolyte for something more durable: a solid. And although this is the approach Zimmerman took, he was not the first to try it.

“There’s been two classes of solids, ceramics and glasses,” he explains. “And they all have their challenges.

One of the big challenges with both is to make them thin and big. Ceramics are very brittle, so it’s hard to scale them up. And you can imagine even putting glass in an electrolyte is a difficult challenge.”

Zimmerman, with his background in polymer science, saw the potential advantages of developing a solid polymer electrolyte. Before he began his work, there was only one such electrolyte: a polymer called polyethylene

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It would be very beneficial if somebody could develop a polymer that could be extruded and used plastics processing technology that could actually function appropriately at room temperature. oxide. Although this substance can transfer ions, it suffers from two major drawbacks: it’s only conductive at high temperatures, and it’s not compatible with high voltages.

“So I said, being a polymers person, it would be very beneficial if somebody could develop a polymer that could be extruded, and used plastics processing technology that could actually function appropriately at room temperature. So I started working on a polymer electrolyte that could be as functional as a liquid electrolyte but would solve a lot of the problems of a liquid electrolyte, mostly safety and energy density.”

The solid solution Through his efforts, Zimmerman managed to develop a solid polymer which addressed the limitations of polyethylene oxide - and opened the door to a better type of battery.

“What I did as a polymer scientist was to come up with a material which has a completely different conduction mechanism,” Zimmerman explains. “It doesn’t re-

THE TECH

quire movement of the chains. The conductivity at room temperature is equivalent to that of a liquid electrolyte with a separator. And the polymer is processable like in roll-to-roll, so it’s highly manufacturable. That’s what separates us from everybody else.”

In a conventional lithium-ion battery, two electrodes - the anode and cathode - are on either side of a separator, which prevents a short circuit while allowing ion transfer. The liquid electrolyte, which conducts the ions, surrounds each electrode.

Zimmerman’s new material allows for a unique battery architecture. “We’re replacing both the separator and liquid electrolyte with polymer,” he says. “So the ionic polymer does two functions: it’s electrically insulative, so it acts as the separator, and it’s ionically conductive, and acts as the electrolyte.”

This approach creates a completely solid-state lithiumion battery, which unlocks a number of benefits. Chief among them: safety.

“You can shoot bullets through a battery made with our material and it won’t explode, it won’t burn, and it still works afterwards,” claims Zimmerman. But don’t take his word for it - you can actually go to the Ionic Materials website and watch a video of exactly that. The technology was also featured on a recent Nova documentary, Search for the Super Battery, in which you can see Zimmerman’s battery get cut, stabbed, and burned without giving off so much as a single spark (and while remaining completely functional).

But the advantages don’t end there, according to Zimmerman.

“People are trying to go to higher energy density anodes and cathodes,” he says. “And another major benefit

You can shoot bullets through a battery made with our material and it won’t explode, it won’t burn, and it still works afterwards. is that we’re enabling electrodes made of lithium metal, which has much higher energy density.” One of the major challenges with lithium metal electrodes comes in the form of dendrites, fingerlike projections of metal that build up from one electrode, harming performance and eventually creating a short circuit. Replacing liquid electrolytes with an affordable and functioning solid creates a physical barrier that will prevent dendrite formation.

A third benefit of Ionic Materials’ approach is that it has the potential to lower the cost of batteries. For one thing, there are some cost savings that can be attained by using plastics manufacturing and eliminating the liquid electrolyte. For another, the new polymer can enable certain alternatives to lithium-ion chemistries, such as rechargeable alkaline, which uses cheaper electrodes than lithium-based batteries do.

All of this has the potential to make a big impact in the world of EVs, as Zimmerman points out.

“What’s going on is the automobile industry is really in a push to turn cars from internal combustion to batteries,” he says. “And in order to do that, they’re working on several things: range, cost, and safety. And our polymer has a great chance to solve the range, the cost, and the safety issues with traditional lithium-ion.”

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THE TECH Photo courtesy of Ionic Materials

KEY PROPERTIES OF IONIC MATERIALS’ POLYMER Up to 1.3 mS/cm at room temperature Lithium transference number of 0.7 High voltage capability (5 volts) Can accommodate high loadings in the cathode High elastic modulus Low cost precursors Stable against lithium Conducts multiple ions

A ringing EV endorsement Despite the demonstrable success of Ionic Materials’ new solution, don’t expect to see the technology on the road just yet.

“I think shorter-term it will probably be in some consumer products - wearables or cell phones,” Zimmerman says. “But there’s a big need to shortly have the technology in prototype batteries for electric vehicles. It takes a long time to commercialize electric vehicles and new batteries. We’re working with battery companies to provide initial prototypes in 2018, but there’s a long qualification cycle before it actually gets into production.”

Ionic Materials does not plan to be a battery manufacturer itself, but rather to partner and license its technologies to the full-scale production experts. It’s currently connecting with cell manufacturers and end users that are interesting in using its technology.

The company recently got a boost in this endeavor

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Ionic Materials recently got a boost from a formidable source, it was the very first investment of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance's new corporate venture capital fund.

from a formidable source: the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance. Earlier this year, the automotive powerhouse and worldwide leader in EV sales launched a new corporate venture capital fund, Alliance Ventures, which is slated to invest up to $1 billion over five years. Its very first move? To invest in none other than Massachusettsbased Ionic Materials.

It seems that Zimmerman has got some big players in his corner, even if he and his company still have a lot of work to do. He explains that development for this type of battery material is never really done. The next steps include a lot of reliability testing and scaling-up efforts.

But as Zimmerman says, he isn’t one to back down from a challenge.

“The technical hurdles Ionic proposes to overcome are significant, but such challenges we choose to accept, as the world needs our solution.”

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PROP J ERPCORPTJ O RETJOCOEJTPCEITTCCOTSTPOTI CPO SIPCI SC S PROJECT TOPICS • High•voltage High • voltage High cathodes voltage cathodes cathodes • High•voltage High • voltage High electrolytes voltage electrolytes electrolytes • High voltage cathodes • High voltage electrolytes • High voltage cathodes • High voltage electr • High•nickel High • nickel High cathodes nickel cathodes cathodes • Reduced • Reduced •gas Reduced electrolytes gasgas electrolytes gas electrolytes • High nickel cathodes • Reduced electrolytes • High nickel cathodes • Reduced gas electr • Over-lithiated • Over-lithiated • Over-lithiated materials materials materials • Thermal • Thermal • Thermal stability electrolytes stability electrolytes electrolytes • Over-lithiated materials •stability Thermal stability electrolytes • Over-lithiated materials • Thermal stability ele • Olivines • Olivines • Olivines • Silicon • Silicon anodes • Silicon anodes anodes • Olivines • Silicon anodes • Olivines • Silicon anodes • Solid-state • Solid-state • Solid-state electrolyte electrolyte electrolyte • Alloy• anodes Alloy • Alloy anodes anodes • Solid-state electrolyte • Alloy anodes • Solid-state electrolyte • Alloy anodes • Conversion • Conversion • Conversion electrodes electrodes electrodes • Lithium • Lithium • Lithium metal metal • Conversion electrodes •metal Lithium metal • Conversion electrodes • Lithium metal • Electrode • Electrode •optimization Electrode optimization optimization • Primary • Primary • Primary battery materials battery materials materials • Electrode optimization •battery Primary battery materials • Electrode optimization • Primary battery ma 5 - 1 0

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W I L DWCI W AL TW DI ’LCISDLA C DTV AC ’ STLA ’UTVS’EASVL AUV LAEUL EU E WILDCAT’S VALUE • Faster • Faster time • Faster totime market to time market to new market forbattery new battery new materials battery materials and materials cells andand cells and cells • Faster time tofor market forfor new battery materials cells • Faster time to market for new battery materials and 100s 100s 100s 100s 1 experiment 1 at experiment at atat 1 experiment IDEA1 experiment 100sIDEA of experiments of experiments experimentsIDEA IDEA ofofexperiments • Reduced • Reduced • research Reduced research and research development and development and development costs costs costs 1 experiment at a time a time a time • Reduced research and development costs IDEA a time of experiments at a time at aattime ata time a time • Reduced research and development costs a time at a time • World-class • World-class • World-class scientific scientific team scientific team team • World-class scientific team • World-class scientific team SYNTHESIS SYNTHESIS SYNTHESIS SYNTHESIS SYNTHESIS • Bulk•synthesis Bulk • synthesis Bulk and synthesis testing andand testing and intesting actual testing in actual batteries in actual batteries batteries • Bulk synthesis in actual batteries • Bulk synthesis and testing in actual batteries • Immediate • Immediate • Immediate scale scale up scale capability scale up capability up for capability pilot forstudies pilot for studies pilot studies • Immediate up capability for pilot studies SLURRY SLURRY SLURRY SLURRY • Immediate scale up capability for pilot studies

AUTOMOTIVE AUTOMOTIVE AUTOMOTIVECONSUMER CONSUMER CONSUMER MILITARY MILITARY MILITARY AUTOMOTIVE CONSUMER MILITARY AUTOMOTIVE CONSUMER MILITARY ELECTRONICS ELECTRONICS ELECTRONICS ELECTRONICS ELECTRONICS

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Visit us at the 2018 Int’l Battery Seminar in Ft. Lauderdale, Booth #417

2017 plug-in sales up 26%, Tesla and Chevy on top Plug-in sales have failed…to reach the milestone of 200,000 units. Total US sales for 2017 were 199,826 (according to InsideEVs), a 26% increase compared to 2016’s 158,614. Worldwide sales were well over a million.

December saw the biggest US monthly sales in history, and was the 27th consecutive month that sales were greater than the previous year.

Tesla leads the pack by a large margin - Model S was the best-selling plug-in of the year (as it was in 2016 and 2015), with just over 27,000 sales (InsideEVs’ estimate), and Model X was in third place with just over 21,000.

The Chevrolet Bolt had a stellar first year on the market, coming in second in US sales with 23,297. So did the Toyota Prius Prime, which earned fourth place with 20,936 US sales.

Chevy’s plug-in hybrid Volt is still a contender, in fifth place with 20,349 sales, a modest reduction from 2016.

Long-time champion the Nissan LEAF eked out a sixthplace finish at 11,230 - monthly sales have dwindled to almost nothing as the company prepares to deliver the new, redesigned 2018 LEAF in January.

So much for the figures - now, what’s the story? There are several, and one of the happy ones is Tesla. You wouldn’t know it from reading the mainstream press, which is obsessed with the fact that Model 3 deliveries have fallen short of Tesla’s wildly overoptimistic forecasts, but Tesla set a new sales record in the fourth quarter of 2017.

Tesla reported in a press release: “In Q4, Tesla delivered 29,870 vehicles, of which 15,200 were Model S, 13,120 were Model X, and 1,550 were Model 3. This was once again our all-time best quarter for combined Model S and X deliveries, representing a 27% increase over Q4 2016, and a 9% increase over Q3 2017, our previous best quarter.

“In total, we exceeded our previously announced

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guidance by delivering 101,312 Model S and X vehicles in 2017. This was a 33% increase over 2016.”

These are global figures - according to InsideEVs’ estimates, US Model S and X sales grew by about 3% in 2017.

There’s also good news on Model 3 deliveries, which tripled in December. “During Q4, we made major progress addressing Model 3 production bottlenecks, with our production rate increasing significantly towards the end of the quarter,” says Tesla. “As we continue to focus on quality and efficiency rather than simply pushing for the highest possible volume in the shortest period of time, we expect to have a slightly more gradual ramp through Q1, likely ending the quarter at a weekly rate of about 2,500 Model 3 vehicles. We intend to achieve the 5,000 per week milestone by the end of Q2.”

The importance of an automaker meeting its projected sales numbers is debatable - most of us who follow Tesla long ago accepted the fact that its forecasts are aspirational rather than realistic, and some even argue that that’s a good thing. What is not in dispute is that Tesla’s deliveries, of all three vehicles, are steadily growing.

Another heartwarming Christmas tale was represented by the Chevy Bolt. The sales numbers alone make it clear that this is no compliance car. Even more suggestive is the fact that GM has been running a few national, mass-media ads, a historic first for any plug-in model.

Reports in mid-2017 that the company planned a substantial increase in production seem to have been mere rumors, but there are several reasons to expect steadily growing Bolt sales in 2018.

Other interesting stories include BMW, which saw overall increases in November and December, even though sales of its groundbreaking i3 are stagnant; and Honda, whose Clarity BEV and PHEV each entered the market with very respectable sales.

THE VEHICLES

All New Flyer facilities now capable of manufacturing battery-electric buses

Photo courtesy of New Flyer

Québec issues final regulations for ZEV mandate

As transit agencies around the country are going electric, North America’s largest bus manufacturer is gearing up for the new market. New Flyer’s (TSX: NFI) Anniston, Alabama facility has successfully completed its first full build of an Xcelsior Charge battery-electric transit bus.

All New Flyer manufacturing locations, including Winnipeg, Manitoba, and Crookston and St. Cloud, Minnesota, are now capable of building the Xcelsior Charge. New Flyer’s Anniston facility is also home to the new Vehicle Innovation Center, which is dedicated to advancing bus and coach technology, specifically electric and autonomous powertrains.

“Over the past two years, we invested significantly to establish Anniston as a leader in American bus manufacturing and advanced vehicle innovation,” said Senior VP Kevin Wood. “We are proud to bring electrification into the fold, and look forward to growing our footprint of zero-emission, innovative transportation.”

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Québec Minister of Sustainable Development Isabelle Melançon has issued the final regulations in support of Bill 104, a new law designed to increase the number of zero-emission vehicles in the province.

Québec is the first Canadian province to adopt a ZEV mandate. As of today, close to half the Canadian ZEV fleet is located in Québec.

The National Assembly unanimously adopted the Act last October, and it came into force this month. The automakers subject to it must accumulate credits by selling zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) or low-emission vehicles (LEVs) on the Québec market. The credit target is calculated by applying a percentage to the total number of light-duty vehicles that each automaker sells in Québec.

The credit requirement thus varies from one automaker to the next. Each sale or lease of a ZEV earns credits, the number of which varies according to the vehicle’s electric range.

The government anticipates that by 2025, ZEV and LEVs will account for approximately 10% of the market.

Manufacturers which do not achieve their targets will be required to purchase credits from other automakers that have excess credits available, or pay a fee to the government.

While the Québec standard largely follows the existing ZEV standards in 10 US states, one difference is that Québec regulations also permit vehicles that have been upgraded by carmakers and licensed for the first time in Québec to qualify for credits. This measure was included in the standard to encourage low-income households to choose zero-emission vehicles.

“The whole world is advancing in the field of the electrification of transport, and Québec, which benefits from clean, renewable and abundant energy, needs to remain in the vanguard of this movement,” said Minister Melançon. “Several automakers have shown the will to electrify all their vehicle models. The ZEV standard means that they will of necessity take the Québec market into consideration in their marketing plans.”

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Shenzhen goes fully electric with over 16,000 electric buses

Electric buses are in service in many North American and European cities, notably London, which has committed to eliminating pure diesel (non-hybrid) buses, and Los Angeles, which plans to make its fleet emissions-free by 2030. 12 major cities have pledged to buy only all-electric buses starting in 2025.

However, these efforts pale in comparison to what’s going on in Shenzhen. The Chinese megacity of 12 million, which has been adding electric buses to its fleet for years, has now announced that it has completely electrified its fleet, with some 16,359 e-buses in operation.

The city has built 8,000 charge points at 510 bus charging stations, and can charge roughly half the fleet at any given time. The electric buses are saving an estimated 345,000 tons of fuel per year, and 1.35 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions.

Shenzhen also has a plan in place to update its taxi fleet to EVs. A reported 63 percent of the city’s 12,000 taxis already run on electricity.

“We will gradually replace the existing fuel-powered cabs with electricity-powered ones and complete the target by 2020, or even ahead of schedule,” said Zheng Jingyu, head of Shenzhen’s public transport department.

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Fuel cell truck maker Nikola gets investment from safety specialist WABCO

Photos courtesy of Nikola

Photo courtesy of BYD

THE VEHICLES

WABCO Holdings (NYSE: WBC), a global supplier of technologies and services for commercial vehicles, has made a $10-million strategic investment in Nikola Motor Company, developer of a Class 8 hydrogen fuel cell truck.

The two companies also agreed to work together to develop safety technologies specifically designed for electric commercial vehicles, including electronic braking systems and traction and stability control technologies.

“As vehicles become increasingly autonomous, electric and connected, WABCO continues to be at the forefront of breakthrough technology innovation,” said WABCO CEO Jacques Esculier. “WABCO’s technologies, notably industry-leading braking, traction and stability control systems, continue to advance the transportation industry.”

“WABCO is a vital business partner to enable autonomous driving, electronic braking, and stability control for trucks and trailers,” said Nikola founder and CEO Trevor Milton. “WABCO is recognized as a global leader in safety and efficiency technologies for next-generation commercial vehicles.”

Nikola plans to begin testing its trucks with commercial fleets in late 2018, and launch full production in 2021.

Electric container barges to sail from Europe this summer Dutch manufacturer Port Liner has developed what it says are the world’s first fully electric, and potentially crewless, container barges, which are to begin operating from the ports of Antwerp, Amsterdam, and Rotterdam this summer.

The vessels, designed to fit beneath bridges as they transport goods around the inland waterways of Belgium and the Netherlands, are expected to vastly reduce the use of diesel-powered trucks for moving freight.

of providing 35 hours of autonomous operation.

According to Eurostat, 75% of freight in the EU is transported by road, 18.4% by rail, and 6.7% along inland waterways, and the use of water routes is on the rise.

More Efficiency. More Range.

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Photos courtesy of The Loadstar

SiC MOSFETs and diodes are the only way to design power trains and on-board & off-board chargers efficient and powerful enough for tomorrow’s EVs. And only we have been singularly focused on driving SiC device technology forward for nearly 30 years.

The barges are designed to operate without any crew, although the vessels will be manned at first.

Their electric motors will be driven by 20-foot batteries, offering 15 hours of power, and will be charged on shore by the carbon-free energy provider Eneco.

In August, five 52-meter barges, each able to carry 24 20-foot containers, will begin operations.

According to Port Liner, the lack of an engine room results in up to 8% extra space.

Later, six 110-meter barges, each carrying 270 containers, will run on four battery boxes capable

wolfspeed.com/power

Los Angeles DOT orders 25 Proterra e-buses

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LA Metro) has committed to fully electrifying its fleet of 2,200 buses by 2030 - in August it agreed to buy 95 electric buses from New Flyer and BYD. Now the Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT), which operates a fleet of 359 buses, has made the same commitment, and has ordered 25 35-foot Proterra Catalyst electric buses, to be delivered in 2019.

The procurement will be funded in part by the Federal Transit Administration’s Low or No Emission Vehicle Deployment Grants.

The new buses will deliver anticipated cost savings of $11.2 million over their 12-year lifetime.

“Our goal is a 100 percent electric bus fleet - it’s a quiet ride for our customers and cleaner air for our city,” said Seleta Reynolds, LADOT’s General Manager. “We know we can’t achieve our vision without partners like Proterra, and we can’t wait to see these buses on the street!”

Southern California is served by a patchwork of transportation agencies, and most of these, including Foothill Transit and Antelope Valley Transit Authority, have announced plans to convert their vehicles to battery-electric buses.

“Los Angeles County is home to our manufacturing facility in the City of Industry, where we manufacture the Catalyst electric buses, so it is fitting that our buses will be deployed in nearby regions,” said Ryan Popple, CEO of Proterra.

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Harley-Davidson confirms it will bring electric motorcycle to market

Photo courtesy of Harley-Davidson

Photo courtesy of Proterra

THE VEHICLES

In 2014, Harley-Davidson took its LiveWire prototype electric motorcycle on a road trip to gauge consumer interest. During a recent earnings call, the company announced plans to bring an electric motorcycle to market.

The marketing plan will be based on research from the 12,000 people who rode the LiveWire.

“You’ve heard us talk about Project LiveWire,” said CEO Matt Levatich. “It’s an active project we’re preparing to bring to market within 18 months. The EV motorcycle market is in its infancy today, but we believe premium Harley-Davidson electric motorcycles will help drive excitement and participation in the sport globally.”

CFO John Olin said Harley aims to be the world leader in the electric motorcycle market, and will invest $25 million to $50 million per year in electrification technology over the next several years.

However, the company’s recent earnings report also brought bad news: Harley sales fell 11 percent in the fourth quarter and 8.5 percent for the year. The company plans job cuts and a plant closure.

US demand for motorcycles in general is falling industry retail sales were down 6.5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2017. Electric motorcycles represent a small but growing segment. In a 2016 report, market research firm TechNavio projected 45% growth in the e-cycle market by 2020.

“The universal appeal of [LiveWire]…gave us a lot of confidence that electric motorcycles have broad-based appeal,” said Levatich. “They are going to sit alongside existing Harleys in garages as much as they’re going to create new interest in the sport.”

Image courtesy of Nicolas Raymond

Colorado releases new plan to support EV infrastructure and accelerate EV adoption Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper has released the Colorado Electric Vehicle (EV) Plan, which details a series of actions supporting EV infrastructure, and lays out goals to accelerate adoption of EVs. Colorado currently ranks 8th in the US in EV market share, and 7th for number of EVs per capita. As of October 2017, there were almost 12,000 plug-in vehicles in Colorado - over the first eight months of the year, sales were up 73%.

Despite the recent growth, lack of public charging, particularly fast charging along major transportation corridors, remains a major barrier to greater adoption. In a survey of current and potential EV drivers, respondents indicated that there are numerous locations in Colorado they are less likely to travel to due to a lack of charging, and half the respondents cited lack of charging availability as a significant factor in the decision not to purchase an EV. The Colorado Electric Vehicle Plan has five key action areas: • Create strategies and partnerships to build out EV fast charging corridors.

• Coordinate with Regional Electric Vehicle West memorandum of understanding states on Intermountain electric corridor.

• Develop strategic partnerships with utilities, local governments, and other stakeholders.

• Update signage and wayfinding requirements to include EV fast charging.

• Ensure economic and tourism benefits and increase access for all Coloradans.

“The Colorado EV Plan serves as a roadmap to build out a fast charging network, giving Coloradans the ability to travel anywhere in the state in an EV,” said Governor John Hickenlooper. “The plan includes a set of goals and strategies that ensure Colorado continues leading in adoption of EVs and leverages the economic development and tourism benefits.”

Mercedes to build EVs in six plants on three continents

User survey shows buyers misunderstand the used EV market While new EVs remain on the pricey side for lower-income buyers, there are great values available on the used market. Sadly, few realize this, and myths and misinformation abound. A recent study from the buyer intelligence firm Autolist compared buyer perceptions of used EVs to market data, and found a major disconnect.

“Fact vs Fiction: Public Perception of Used EVs” is based on a survey of 1,249 vehicle owners and data on 17,738 used vehicles.

The survey found that, on average, buyers thought a used EV would cost $5,000 more than an equivalent legacy vehicle. In fact, the opposite is more likely to be true. For example, Autolist found that a typical used 2015 Nissan LEAF is less expensive than either a Honda Civic or a Toyota Corolla, and has lower mileage.

Autolist found that, after vehicle range, reliability is the biggest concern of prospective plug-in buyers, with 41% of respondents citing it as their top worry. In fact, according to user ratings, the 2015 Nissan LEAF and Chevrolet Volt both have better than average reliability, and the LEAF scores better than the famously reliable Civic and Corolla.

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Photo courtesy of Mercedes-Benz

THE VEHICLES

Mercedes-Benz is in the process of building out hubs for the production of EVs and batteries around the globe, and plans to build its EVs in six plants on three continents.

By 2022, Daimler plans to have at least one electrified option in every Mercedes model series. The company will offer more than 50 electrified vehicle variants in all segments, from smart cars to large SUVs, including at least 10 fully electric models.

The company plans to invest €10 billion ($12.5 billion) in the expansion of its electrified fleet and an additional €1 billion ($1.25 billion) in a global battery production network.

The smart fortwo coupe and cabrio are already being produced at the company’s plant in Hambach, France.

In 2018, Daimler will complete a second battery factory in Kamenz, Germany. The first EV of the new EQ sub-brand will be built at the Mercedes-Benz plant in Bremen. Production of the EQC, an all-electric SUV, will start in 2019. Shortly afterwards, the EQC will also be produced at BBAC, Daimler’s joint venture with BAIC in China. Further locations for EQ model production will be at Rastatt and Sindelfingen in Germany and Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

“As batteries are the heart of our electric vehicles, we put a great emphasis on building them in our own factories,” said Mercedes-Benz Board Member Markus Schäfer. “With our global battery network we are in an excellent position - as we are close to our vehicle plants we can ensure the optimal supply of production. In case of a short-term high demand in another part of the world our battery factories are also well prepared for export. The electric initiative of Mercedes-Benz Cars is right on track. Our global production network is ready for e-mobility.”

The California Energy Commission has awarded nearly $3 million in grants to car-sharing programs using EVs in disadvantaged communities.

Stratosfuel will demonstrate a fuel cell car-sharing platform using the hydrogen-refueling network in Riverside and Ontario.

Calstart will use battery EVs in a ride-hailing service targeting community college students who attend Fresno City College from surrounding rural areas.

Envoy Technologies will use EVs to develop car-sharing programs for the Bay Area and Central Valley serving people who live in affordable multi-unit housing developments.

The Energy Commission also established a new advisory group representing disadvantaged communities,

Photo courtesy of EverCar

California Energy Commission awards $3 million to EV ridesharing projects

which will provide advice on how state clean energy programs can effectively reach low-income households and hard-to-reach customers such as rural and tribal communities.

smart 2018 – COUPE AND CABRIO

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f ortwo The smart loses its top - and its gas engine

By Charles Morris

Photo courtesy of Mercedes-Benz USA

JAN/FEB 2018

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T

he smart isn’t for everyone, and it has never pretended to be. The media buzz these days centers around the trendy trio - Model 3, the Bolt and the new LEAF, each of which aspires to be “your affordable, every-day, one-and-only car,” as Motor Trend recently put it. The smart does not aspire to any such universal appeal. It’s a short-range city car designed for getting around dense urban areas, and its designers have given it many features intended to help it excel in that role.

Skeptics of EVs often dismiss them as “niche vehicles,” forgetting that many useful and popular vehicles fit that description. Neither a pickup truck nor a Corvette would be the optimal choice for an everyday family vehicle, and yet neither seems to have a problem finding buyers. In the US, where most affluent families own more than one car, it may make perfect sense to have a small, efficient runabout for urban errands, and something more spacious for big-box visits and road trips. And dwellers in dense cities around the world may find a nimble city car to be quite adequate as their only vehicle.

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The smart’s diminutive size gives it several advantages in the urban landscape.

Built for the city The smart’s diminutive size gives it several advantages in the urban landscape. At 106 inches in length, it’s half the length of a full-size pickup, and it can park nose-tocurb in a parallel parking space, or in many a space that wouldn’t be a space at all for any other car. The smart can turn around within the width of even a narrow city street (22.8 feet, the tightest turning circle of any car on the market). Short overhangs and a high steering angle are also designed to ensure that the smart “gets around every corner and into every parking space.”

Photos courtesy of Mercedes-Benz USA

THE VEHICLES

Your correspondent attended a Daimler media event at which we got to drive the new smart around the urban core of San Diego, and it turned out to be the perfect locale to demonstrate the smart’s advantages. Until I experienced it, I had never imagined how much easier it is to negotiate congested city traffic in such a petite car. One glides nimbly among the herds of trucks and SUVs, like a tiny mammal dodging the feet of dinosaurs.

There’s always a parking space available, and you almost never need to shift into reverse - just turn the wheel and zip off in your desired direction. Make a wrong turn?

No need to go around the block - just check the mirror and do a 180 right in the middle of the street.

The smart’s city-specific features don’t end there. Like a streetwise city kid, the smart is designed to take some

JAN/FEB 2018

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THE VEHICLES knocks. As Keith Edwards, Product Manager for smart USA, explained to Charged, most of the body panels are made of a special plastic composite that’s almost impossible to dent. “People are going to come by, bump against it, generally kind of bang it up, especially in tight parking situations, but you don’t have to worry about that, because all these panels...are this composite, so you can hit it all day long, and it’ll bounce right back into shape.”

With the exception of the metallic colors, the color is infused throughout the material, so even if a panel gets scratched, the damage should be all but invisible.

There’s no DC fast charging option available, but in a way, this lack of a feature is a feature. For road trips, you’ll be taking another car anyway - apart from the range, who wants to ride 500 miles in a two-seater? - so it makes no sense to spend the money (and weight) for fast charging circuitry.

Destined to be electric The smart fortwo was the brainchild of Nicolas Hayek,

the Swiss-Lebanese mastermind of the Swatch, who originally conceived of it as an electric vehicle. However, electric drive didn’t turn out to be feasible in 1998, so the first generation debuted with a gas engine. It was only in 2006 that battery technology had advanced to the point that Daimler began work on the smart electric drive, which came on the market in 2009 (with batteries from Tesla - see sidebar).

Traces of Tesla in the smart’s DNA In 2007, Elon Musk met with Daimler to discuss a deal to supply Tesla’s powertrain technology for the smart. However, with no working prototype vehicle to show, his presentation failed to convince. To win over the pragmatic Germans, the California cowboys decided to retrofit a smart car with an electric powertrain, and to present it to the Daimler execs as a surprise. This turned out to be a little tougher than they thought.

The first snag was that the smart wasn’t available in the US at the time. After a bit of research, JB Straubel learned that it was sold in Mexico, and found one for sale at a dealership in Tijuana. He dispatched a Spanish-speaking friend across the border with $20,000 cash in a bag, and he returned a couple of days later with a brand-new smart.

The Tesla team had only six weeks to figure out how to fit their battery, motor, power electronics and charger into the tiny smart. Straubel and his engineering team worked 24/7, grabbing naps on the factory floor, and finally got the job done at one o’clock one morning. When Straubel hopped in for a test drive, the tiny hot-rod popped a wheelie and peeled out of the parking lot.

The Daimler executives showed up at Tesla HQ ready to be disappointed, but when VP Herbert Kohler got behind the

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wheel and zipped out into the street, the skeptical look on his face was quickly replaced by a big smile. Shortly thereafter, Daimler signed a $70-million contract for Tesla to supply batteries for what became the smart electric drive. Daimler also acquired an equity stake in Tesla for a reported $50 million, a deal which, as Elon Musk later admitted, saved the young company from bankruptcy. Considering Tesla’s dominant role today, it might not be too much to say that Straubel’s hacked smart saved the entire EV industry as we know it.

Tesla learned a lot from its mentor over the course of the partnership, especially in fields such as noise and vibration reduction, safety and quality control, which it applied to the development of Model S. Daimler gained not only a boost to its battery tech, but some bad-boy internet-age mojo. A few years later, the companies expanded their partnership when Tesla provided the electric drivetrain for the Mercedes B-Class Electric Drive.

However, as Tesla grew, Daimler (and Toyota, with which it had a similar partnership) apparently began to see it as a competitor, and ended its cooperation. Daimler sold its ownership stake in Tesla in 2014 - at a profit of $780 million!

In 2016, having acquired its own battery subsidiary (Deutsche Accumotive), Daimler terminated its Tesla ties.

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THE VEHICLES

The smart electric drive (ED) reached US buyers in 2013, but never exceeded compliance-car sales volumes - its best year was 2014, when 2,594 were sold (according to InsideEVs), and annual US sales have since dwindled to the three figures. It’s been a different story in the rest of the world - 2016 global sales were over 144,000. The smart is one of the better-selling EVs in its home market of Germany, where some 2,000 were sold in 2017.

Last February, smart announced that it would stop selling gas models in the US and Canada, making it one of only two EV-only brands in North America. The brand plans to phase out gas models in Europe as well over the next year.

Smart and smarter The 2018 smart fortwo is superior to its predecessor in several ways. The charging rate has been increased from 3.3 kW to 7.2 kW, and charging time has been cut in half: a prompt 3 hours from flat to full. An 80 hp motor drives the rear axle using a single fixed gear ratio. The available torque of 118 lb-ft is a 23% increase over that of the previous generation.

The smart’s electric motor was jointly developed as a part of the Daimler-Renault partnership, and is produced at Renault’s plant in Cleon, France.

The vehicle comes together in Hambach, France, using largely German-sourced parts. This includes the battery pack, which is built by Deutsche Accumotive in Kamenz, Saxony. Deutsche Accumotive, which Daimler acquired in 2014, is now the sole battery supplier for Mercedes-

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The specs Drivetrain

rear-wheel drive

Motor

air-cooled 3-phase

Power

60 kW (80 hp)

Torque

118 lb-ft

Battery capacity

17.6 kWh

Range

58 miles (EPA estimate)

Acceleration 0-60 mph

under 12 seconds

Top speed

electronically limited to 81 mph

Charging

Level 2, 7.2 kW (3 hours to full charge)

Length/width/height

106.1/65.6/61.2 inches

Turning circle

22.8 feet

Curb weight

2,363-2,383 lbs

Base price

$23,900

Photos courtesy of Mercedes-Benz USA

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Last February, smart announced that it would stop selling gas models in the US and Canada, making it one of only two EV-only brands in North America.

Benz and smart, and is believed to be the only company currently assembling battery packs in Germany. Daimler recently announced plans to invest €500 million to construct a second battery factory in Kamenz, which will quadruple production space to 80,000 square meters.

The 2018 smart’s 17.6 kWh battery pack features a liquid thermal management system. Located under the front seats, it is supported by a crash-absorbing frame made of high-strength steel tubes.

The user-selectable Eco mode reduces the amount of energy drawn from the battery, and reduces the output of the climate control system.

Pre-conditioning allows the cabin to be heated or cooled while the smart is still plugged in.

The smart may be small, but it comes with most of the high-tech bells and whistles we’ve come to expect, including a color 3.5-inch touchscreen (optionally upgradable to a 7-inch); a rearview camera; driver assistance systems such as Crosswind Assist (standard) and Forward Collision Warning (optional).

A retro-looking analog power meter displays the state of charge as well as the current level of energy consumption or regeneration.

A sound generator broadcasts a warning sound to pedestrians, which

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Starting at $23,900 before federal or state incentives, the smart electric drive is by far the cheapest EV available in the US. is audible below about 18 mph - above this speed, the sound is automatically masked by rolling noise and wind noise.

There are three trim levels: the base pure trim line offers a choice of black cloth or man-made leather upholstery. The passion line adds more color combinations, a leather steering wheel, height-adjustable driver’s seat, electric and heated side-view mirrors, retractable cargo cover and 15-inch wheels. The prime line adds a sunroof (for the coupe variant), ambient interior lighting, heated seats, rain-sensing wipers and LED running lights and taillamps.

Starting at $23,900 before federal or state incentives, the smart electric drive is by far the cheapest EV available in the US. Of course, there are loads of options available, and a fully-loaded cabrio can easily top $30,000. But if you can qualify for the $7,500 federal tax credit, plus a fat state incentive like California’s $2,500 rebate, you could be driving electric for around 15 grand.

Take the top off By now, the smart probably sounds like a paragon of practicality, the attribute that every car buyer should prize... and that few really do. But smart has always included a healthy helping of fun in its vehicles (there were reasons that people bought the gas smart, despite its surprisingly poor fuel efficiency), and the new model has plenty built in. It’s as zippy as you’d expect an EV to be, and its unique dimensions make for a unique driving experience.

And if you really want fun, take a spin in the cabrio version - yes, it’s the world’s only convertible EV. At the touch of a button, the canvas roof rolls back, letting Mother Nature in. You can remove the roof bars and stash them in a handy rear compartment to open things up even more.

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Photos courtesy of Mercedes-Benz USA

THE VEHICLES

Be smart, be safe Keith Edwards explained how the new smart is designed for safety. “The Tridion safety cell is kind of the safety concept of the car, so on the two-toned ones, it’s usually the accent color, where it’s actually ultra-highstrength steel and a mix of other materials, and the idea behind it is that it acts like a wall bar or a roll cage or kind of the shell of a nut, where it’s designed to take an impact and dissipate those forces around the car.”

“It’s kind of the same idea as a honeycomb or a

hexagon, and so you actually see a design motif around the car that’s a nod to the strength of it, on the taillight, on the speaker covers, the grill, you get this honeycomb shape, which is a nod to that Tridion safety cell.”

Is the structure just as rigid when you remove the roof bars in order to open up the top? Absolutely, says Edwards. “The only function [the roof bars] serve is to provide the sliding rail for the soft top. The structure of the cabrio is reinforced with tubular reinforcements, the A-pillar has some reinforcement in the chassis on the underside, and then it has this basket handle, so this is not actually a structural part of the vehicle, and it keeps you just as safe as the coupe, even when you’re enjoying this completely top-down driving.”

Safety equipment includes eight airbags. According to Daimler, the focus in crash testing was on how the smart would perform in a collision with a substantially larger and heavier vehicle (which would of course almost certainly be the case in a real crash). The company says the smart fortwos “performed well in frontal collisions with the Mercedes S- and C-Class.”

Photos courtesy of Fortum

THE INFRASTRUCTURE

GM wants Congress to fund EVSE, Toyota wants hydrogen fueling infrastructure At the recent Washington Auto Show, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee held a field hearing to solicit input from stakeholders on public policy that affects the auto industry.

GM spokesperson Britta Gross thanked the committee for helping to retain the $7,500 EV tax credit, which was on the chopping block in the recent budget negotiations.

She also said that the nation needs more public charging stations, which need to be “highly visible to consumers and...drive consumer confidence in the ability to drive EVs anywhere at any time.”

Gross called for federal funding for charging infrastructure, saying that the market requires “continued partnership between electric utilities, station operators, vehicle manufacturers, and support by federal, state and municipal government to establish charging stations at the same scale as the 168,000+ gas stations across the country.”

She did not mention any contribution from GM to fund infrastructure. Unlike BMW, Nissan, and Volkswagen, GM has never shown any interest in investing in public charging.

As reported by the Washington Examiner, Toyota encouraged lawmakers to fund hydrogen fueling infrastructure for its fuel cell vehicles. “To ensure the US remains competitive in this space,” said Toyota spokesman Robert Wimmer, “the federal government needs to take a much more proactive role supporting hydrogen infrastructure growth. Without robust federal support for hydrogen infrastructure...the numbers of fuel cell vehicles on our roads will remain modest.”

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Allego and Fortum collaborate on an interoperable charging network to span 20 European countries Charging network operators Allego and Fortum Charge & Drive will collaborate to build an interoperable charging network in metropolitan areas and along highways in more than 20 European countries.

The MEGA-E project will include 322 “ultra-fast” chargers and 27 “smart charging hubs.” The roll-out is planned to begin in the first half of 2018, beginning in Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden and the UK. “Around 70% of traffic in Europe takes place in urban areas, where the CO2 impact is the highest,” says Anja van Niersen, CEO of Allego. “With the MEGA-E charging network, we facilitate several forms of e-mobility and support emission-free traveling not only within, but also from one metropolitan area to another.”

At e-charging hubs, the network will combine multiple charging solutions at the same location.

“We believe in an open infrastructure approach,” says Fortum Charge & Drive VP Rami Syväri. “This means that it is intended to welcome every citizen and different car models at our chargers. The idea is therefore also to combine multiple charging solutions to meet different needs and speeds.”

AeroVironment (NASDAQ:AVAV) has introduced TurboDX, the company’s next-generation Level 2 charging station for commercial, workplace, utility and residential customers.

TurboDX has been certified by Underwriters Laboratory to North American UL Standards for safety and reliability. European variants are certified to IEC standards, and Chinese configurations meet the CQC certification.

TurboDX is offered in 16- and 32-amp versions, with 15-foot or 25-foot cords. It accommodates a dual, triple or quad installation, and its modular design makes it easy to expand the number of chargers as needed.

TurboDX, which builds on AeroVironment’s popular TurboCord charging system, is an open networked solu-

Photos courtesy of AeroVironment

AeroVironment’s new TurboDX charging solution

tion that allows customers to choose from a variety of Open Charge Point Protocol (OCPP) compliant network providers. It also offers a Bluetooth-enabled non-networked mobile access control option.

TurboDX features a proprietary thermal management algorithm that allows a connected vehicle to charge during high ambient temperature conditions while continuously monitoring the charging session to ensure safe operation.

AeroVironment has begun shipping TurboDX for OEM and commercial customers. It will be available for retail purchase online beginning in the first quarter at an MSRP of $469 for the 16-amp version.

“TurboDX is loaded with advanced, user-friendly features to ensure a hassle-free, smart-charging experience,” said AeroVironment VP Ken Karklin. “TurboDX can be easily configured to address the specific needs of employers, landlords, individual homeowners and property managers who need a flexible solution.”

Photo courtesy of Mack

THE INFRASTRUCTURE

South Korea to officially adopt CCS fast charging standard The war is winding down. After years of conflict between the CHAdeMO and CCS DC fast charging standards, it’s beginning to look as if CCS is destined to be the ultimate victor, at least outside of Japan. Business Korea (via Green Car Reports) reports that the South Korean Agency for Technology and Standards plans to revise the country’s charging standard to recommend the use of the Combined Charging System (CCS) for future EVs. CCS is used by all American automakers except Tesla, and by most of the Europeans. CHAdeMO is the standard of the Japanese automakers and, until recently, was used by the Koreans as well. The first Korean automaker to switch sides was Hyundai, which chose CCS for its 2018 Ioniq Electric.

CCS seems to be catching on quickly in Korea - according to the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers, 67 percent of Korean EVs used the CCS standard in 2017. In North America, CHAdeMO is used only by the Nissan LEAF and the Kia Soul EV compliance car.

At the same time, the conflict has lost some of its relevance - most of the DC fast chargers being installed today support both standards.

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Mack demonstrates catenary-powered PHEV at port of Los Angeles

Volvo subsidiary Mack Trucks has demonstrated a PHEV truck that can recharge by means of an overhead catenary. The prototype Mack Pinnacle DayCab recently participated in a one-mile, zero-emission eHighway demonstration in Carson, California, near the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

The goal of the project, which is sponsored by the South Coast Air Quality Management District, is to reduce air pollution at freight-intensive locations, such as the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, the two largest ports in the US. Siemens installed the eHighway infrastructure, which covers one mile of highway lanes with a catenary system similar to those used to power trolleys or streetcars.

The Mack truck can connect to the overhead contact lines and transfer energy to the truck’s electric driveline thanks to a current collector supplied by Siemens, allowing it to operate with zero tailpipe emissions on the eHighway corridor.

“Mack continuously investigates alternative solutions to diesel, and the catenary system is just one of a number of projects in which we are currently involved,” said Jonathan Randall, Mack’s Senior VP of North American Sales.

New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo has announced the availability of up to $3.5 million for R&D proposals to accelerate the use of EVs, reduce the cost of installing and operating charging stations, and provide recommendations on how they can be used for grid resiliency.

The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) will administer the solicitation of proposals. The agency is particularly interested in proposals for business models and technologies to manage the relationship between EVs and the electric grid, for example: how to reduce the impact of charging vehicles on the grid; how vehicles can be integrated into buildings to provide backup power; and how to remotely manage charging at peak times.

Earlier this year, Governor Cuomo announced the Drive Clean Rebate, a $70-million rebate initiative that has already provided more than $3 million in rebates to New Yorkers for the purchase or lease of plug-in vehicles.

In the first three months of the program, New York’s EV sales increased 61 percent over the same time period last year.

“The Drive Clean Rebate and other state initiatives have made electric cars and charging stations more affordable and accessible to consumers across the state - but we have more work to do,” said NYSERDA CEO Alicia Barton. “At NYSERDA we are expanding our focus to research efforts that will help New York better integrate electric vehicles into the grid.”

175 kW charging station opens in Germany, 350 kW coming soon

Photo courtesy of Allego

Image courtesy of Nicolas Raymond

New York Governor announces $3.5 million in R&D funding for EV-grid integration

Charging network operator Allego has deployed what it calls Europe’s first “ultra-fast” charging station, at Kleinostheim near Frankfurt, Germany. The station includes four charging points, each with a capacity of 175 kW, using the CCS standard. The company told Charged that the CCS chargers are backwards-compatible, and there’s also a charger available that is suitable for every fast charging standard up to a maximum of 50 kW. In the spring of 2018, two of the charging points will be upgraded to enable up to 350 kW of power.

The new chargers are part of the Ultra-E project, which is coordinated by Allego and supported by an alliance of utilities, OEMs and automotive suppliers. The project will eventually include a charging corridor with 21 fast charging stations at intervals of 150 to 200 kilometers on motorways from the Dutch coast to the Austrian border.

“The ultra-fast charging stations are designed to accommodate many current and future types of e-car,” says Allego COO Ulf Schulte. “They are particularly suited to the new long range e-cars that will be available from 2018. Interoperability comes as standard at Allego.

We support all the current charging cards and access apps, enabling anyone to charge their e-car at Allego and quickly be on their way.”

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BP invests in mobile charging company FreeWire

Photo courtesy of BP

BP’s venture capital arm has invested $5 million in FreeWire Technologies, a San Francisco-based manufacturer of mobile rapid charging systems, and plans to roll out FreeWire’s Mobi Charger units at selected BP retail sites in the UK and Europe during 2018.

“Mobility is changing, and BP is committed to remaining the fuel retailer of choice into the future,” said Tufan Erginbilgic, Chief Executive of BP Downstream. “EV charging will undoubtedly become an important part of our business, but customer demand and the technologies available are still evolving. Using FreeWire’s mobile system we can respond very quickly and provide charging facilities at forecourts where we see the greatest demand without needing to make significant investments in today’s fixed technologies and infrastructure.”

“The Mobi Charger can be quickly and cost-effectively scaled across vast transportation networks - flexibility that delivers benefits all along the EV charging value chain,” said Arcady Sosinov, CEO of FreeWire.

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VW subsidiary Electrify America to install 2,800 charging stations at workplaces and multi-unit dwellings

Photo courtesy of VW

THE INFRASTRUCTURE

Electrify America has announced it will install more than 2,800 workplace and residential charging stations

by June 2019 in 17 of the biggest US metropolitan areas, part of a $2-billion investment in EV infrastructure and education in the US over the next 10 years.

Electrify America is the Volkswagen subsidiary established to fulfill Volkswagen’s commitments under the Consent Decree that sets out measures the company will take to atone for its cheating on diesel emissions.

The 2,800 Level 2 charging stations will be located at approximately 500 sites, each with more than one station.

Approximately 75% of the new chargers will be located at workplaces, with the remainder at apartment buildings, condominiums and other multi-family properties.

Joining Electrify America in this initiative are SemaConnect, EV Connect and Greenlots. These companies will work with property developers, office facility managers and other real estate site hosts to install, operate and maintain the stations.

The companies have agreed to install 35% of all multi-family and workplace sites in California in designated low-income or disadvantaged community areas.

PG&E’s EV Charge Network to install 7,500 new charging stations Under its new EV Charge Network program, Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) will install 7,500 new Level 2 charging stations at condominiums, apartment buildings and workplaces across Northern and Central California.

The focus is on increasing access to charging in locations where it has traditionally been limited and where cars often sit for longer periods of time, such as workplaces and apartment buildings.

The three-year program will continue through 2020, with a budget of $130 million. PG&E will pay for and build the infrastructure from the electric grid to the charger, and will also offset a portion of the hardware cost for all participating customers. Site hosts can choose to own their charging equipment, and can choose chargers from a list of pre-qualified vendors.

At least 15 percent of the chargers will be installed in disadvantaged communities.

“California continues to lead the nation in the fight against climate change, and clean transportation is critical to building our sustainable energy future,” said PG&E CEO Geisha Williams. “One in five EVs in the US plugs into PG&E’s clean energy grid.”

Photo courtesy of ChargePoint Services

GeniePoint Network rolls out fast chargers at UK petrol stations

UK charging solution provider ChargePoint Services (no relation to the US company ChargePoint) has partnered with gas station operator the Motor Fuel Group (MFG) to roll out a network of rapid chargers that it says will be the biggest non-motorway rapid charging network in the UK. Over 14 new tri-connector rapid chargers have already been installed at MFG retail fuel stations (“forecourts” to our British friends). A total of 60 more are to be installed by the end of the first quarter. The new chargers provide 50 kW charging, and are connected to ChargePoint Services’ GeniePoint Network, which monitors them to provide maximum uptime.

“Our GeniePoint Network is the fastest growing reliable Rapid Charger network in the UK,” said Alex Bamberg, Managing Director of ChargePoint Services. “From commuters to taxi drivers and fleet operators, at key forecourt locations ChargePoint Services and MFG are providing a new critical service supporting the change to electric transport.”

“Our forecourt development programme includes the installation of some 200 EV charging points by the end of 2018,” said MFG COO Jeremy Clarke. “The programme is now building up momentum and we look forward to giving our customers increased access to this important new fuel.”

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HOW EV CHARGING STATIONS

EARN ENERGY STAR

CERTIFICATION

By Peter Banwell, Senior Manager, EPA

he ENERGY STAR label is one of the most widely known consumer symbols in the country - more than 90% of American households recognize it. ENERGY STARcertified products helped consumers save $23 billion in energy costs just in 2015, contributing to cumulative energy cost savings of $246 billion since 1992, when the program began. Now, the EPA’s trusted mark of energy efficiency and cost savings is finding a place in the EV industry, as the EPA recently added EV charging stations (EVSE) to the ENERGY STAR family.

T

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THE INFRASTRUCTURE

ENERGY STAR-certified charging stations use 40% less energy in standby mode, on average, than standard stations.

Two types of charging stations are currently eligible for the ENERGY STAR label - Level 1 and Level 2 AC. ENERGY STAR-certified charging stations reduce energy waste in several modes of operation: when the vehicle is not present (No Vehicle Mode) and when the vehicle is connected but is not receiving energy (Partial On Mode and Idle Mode). These three modes encompass the times when the EVSE is not actively charging a vehicle. The Idaho National Laboratory (INL) estimated that a Level 1 charging station is in one of these three modes for about 85% of the time. For Level 2 stations, INL estimated that a typical model is in one of

these three modes for an even greater amount of time.

As a result, ENERGY STAR-certified charging stations use 40% less energy in standby mode, on average, than standard stations.

Some ENERGY STAR-certified EVSE offer connected functionality. The models that contain this feature are capable of supporting demand response (via software updates or integration with external services) through open communication protocols, providing opportunities such as load dispatching, ancillary services, price notification, and price response for utilities, and potentially additional monetary savings for purchasers.

JAN/FEB 2018

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THE INFRASTRUCTURE

All ENERGY STAR models must also meet electrical safety requirements.

To earn the ENERGY STAR label, EVSE performance must be independently certified based on testing in an EPA-recognized laboratory. For the EVSE purchaser, ENERGY STAR certification identifies the models that save energy and money over the lifetime of the product. Future savings from ENERGY STAR-certified charging stations are expected to grow to more than $17 million by 2026.

The EPA maintains a web site where potential purchasers and industry professionals can learn more about certified products. For example, all ENERGY STAR-certified products and their features can be viewed using the Product Finder. This tool allows users to compare the characteristics and features of different products to determine which energy-saving product is best for their needs. The list includes a mix of residential and commercial EVSE models that have qualified for the ENERGY STAR label. EPA expects the list of certified products to grow in the coming months, especially since the California Energy Commission,

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The EPA is now beginning the process for adding DC fast charging stations to the list of possible qualified products. through its California Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Project, just announced that all equipment qualifying for funding must be ENERGY STAR-certified.

The EPA has plans to expand the scope of the ENERGY STAR program in the future - it is now beginning the process of adding DC fast charging stations to the list of qualified products. Doing so will require the development of a new procedure for testing and measuring the power consumption of DC fast chargers.

The agency would appreciate any stakeholder feedback and data relevant to the development of ENERGY STAR efficiency requirements for DC fast chargers.

Please contact us at evse@energystar.gov to receive updates on this effort.

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THE CHARGING MARKET

IN EUROPE AND THE US:

EVBOX

EXPLAINS THE DIFFERENCE

By Paul Beck ince EV charging company EVBox was founded in the Netherlands in 2010, it has grown to see its charging stations in over 30 countries around the world, powering nearly 1,000 cities. “On a global level, we have more than 50,000 connected smart charging stations. We have the largest installed base worldwide,” EVBox CEO Kristof Vereenooghe told Charged.

The company is continuing to expand its electric charging empire, and the US is next on its list. EVBox has been in the US since 2017, selling a commercial EV charger called the BusinessLine, and has recently

S

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announced a new charger tailored specifically for the American market.

The new Level 2 charger was designed based on EVBox research in California, the hotspot of EV technology in the States. Speaking with EV drivers, charger installers, facility managers, and other EV stakeholders, EVBox thinks it has nailed down a few key differences between Americans and Europeans when it comes to EVs. “This Level 2 charger is a new product that we have developed, but it takes into account the needs of the American market in mind,” says Vereenooghe.

THE INFRASTRUCTURE

Image courtesy of EVBox

JAN/FEB 2018

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Chargers from Amsterdam “I always say we had the unfair advantage that we started EVBox in the Netherlands, which is still one of the most developed EV and EV charging countries,” says Vereenooghe.

The Netherlands is ahead of the curve when it comes to EV charging because of a decision made by the Dutch government at the turn of the decade. Recognizing the chicken-and-egg problem - no EV infrastructure means no EV drivers, and vice versa - the government decided to support the building of public EV infrastructure. It began this project by testing four different charger vendors - EVBox among them - with the stipulation that these manufacturers work with open standards from day one.

“And so from the early days, in 2010-2011, the government, together with EVBox and relevant partners, had already put charging infrastructure in place in cities like Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and others,” Vereenooghe explains. “And they measured the heartbeat of the stations every fifteen minutes, on uptime, on total cost of ownership, etc. After a couple of years they figured out that we were very happily over-performing compared to the other vendors. More than twice as good as the number two.”

The two sides of the pond With its advantageous origin on the far side of the Atlantic, EVBox has a good handle on what Europeans expect in their EV chargers. But what about Americans?

Let’s start with the technical differences. “In the US it’s one phase or split phase, and in Europe it’s either one or three phase,” explains Vereenooghe. “So we go from 3 to 7 to 11 to 22 kilowatts in Europe. In the US most vehicles charge at 7.4 kW or less.”

From there, the differences begin to take on a more cultural tone. In the US, bigger is typically better, and EV chargers are no exception. “In Europe people like to have smaller types of products, traditionally they prefer a smaller physical design that blends with the environment,” says Vereenooghe. “In the US we find that customers desire robust chargers that stand out and give visibility to the location.”

“In America there’s more space in general, and people are used to it,” he says. “American drivers enjoy driving big pickups, trucks, SUVs - in general you see more big vehicles on US roads than in Europe. And this perception of bigger size also influences design and the perception of how a charging station should look.”

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I always say we had the unfair advantage that we started EVBox in the Netherlands, which is still one of the most developed EV and EV charging countries.

Images courtesy of EVBox

THE INFRASTRUCTURE

In the US we find that customer desire robust chargers that stand out and give visibility to the location.

The biggest difference between American and European EV drivers has to do with the reasons people choose to drive EVs in the first place. In the US, EVBox believes the primary motivation that will trigger massive adoption will be cost. In Europe, it will be concern for the environment. This difference manifests itself in the different models of EV charging between the two continents.

These days in the US, EV charging is seen more as a business opportunity. Tesla continues to aggressively install its proprietary chargers as a competitive advantage, charging networks are expanding their reach with various automotive partnerships, utility companies are getting into the game for obvious reasons, and commercial property owners are installing EVSE in their parking lots for employees and customers.

“In contrast, countries like The Netherlands have extensive public charging infrastructure available,” Vereenooghe explains. “If you walk the streets of Amsterdam and some other cities in Europe, in every street you’re going to find charging infrastructure where people who are parking in the street can actually charge their car,” says Vereenooghe. “That’s something that does not exist as much in the US. In the US, people don’t park their cars that much on the street, so you’re not going to find

charging stations on the street, it’s more about home charging, workplace, and retail charging.”

Smart charging before it was cool One explanation for these differences is a market segment that’s quite popular in Europe: leased company cars. “Most of the people that drove EVs at the beginning, they were driving company lease cars,” explains Vereenooghe. “In Europe, people very often get a little bit less salary, but they get a company car.”

For this reason, EV chargers in Europe had to be smart from the very beginning.

“Because we use smart charging infrastructure, we know exactly how much energy you consumed to charge your specific car. Our software platform will automatically pay the private individual at the end of the month for his home consumption to charge his company car.

Then we bill the employer or leasing company not only for that consumption at home, but also for all the other charging sessions that he did across Europe. At a supermarket, at a restaurant, I mean wherever. It’s all combined into one bill,” says Vereenooghe.

“So the whole infrastructure is in place, and it’s fully automated through a cloud software platform,” he continues. “And we’ve done it already for six years. Same with smart charging. I mean today, smart charging is becoming a hot topic here in the US, but let me tell you, we did it before the definition of smart charging existed.

I mean since 2010, 2011, we’ve already taken care of load balancing and peak shaving and all those kinds of things. So it’s already embedded in our systems and in the software platforms for many years.”

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Images courtesy of EVBox

If a corporation needs one player to take care of its charging infrastructure, we can do it from Sydney to Singapore to Alaska to Chile.

The new Level 2 EVBox’s new Level 2 charger builds on the company’s considerable EV experience, but is optimized for use in the US. The new charger’s modular design is made for easy installation and scalability, allowing facility managers to add and upgrade as they see fit. The charger is also highly customizable, so businesses can personalize it with their own branding. Each charger can charge two vehicles at once at 7.4 kW; by installing two chargers back-to-back, as Vereenooghe notes is often done, you can double the capacity of a station to four cars. And the rugged design of the new charger is sure to appeal to American tastes.

Though the new charger was announced this January at CES, it won’t be commercially available until early next year. According to Vereenooghe, the company is working on scalable production of the charger, which is still in the midst of the certification process. In the meantime, Americans can purchase the EVBox BusinessLine charger.

“Our BusinessLine is a product that EVBox is well known for, and we manufacture that in our assembly facility in the US as well,” says Vereenooghe. “And in

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the future, we will continue to do that for products for the US market - made by Americans for Americans.”’

For home charging, EVBox’s recently launched Elvi - a CES Innovation Award Honoree - which will be available within the first half of this year.

A true international player EVBox’s interest in expanding its American presence is subsumed by its interest in bringing its formidable EV chargers to the global market. According to Vereenooghe, the company has been very successful in this regard.

“If a corporation needs one player to take care of its charging infrastructure, we can do it from Sydney to Singapore to Alaska to Chile, wherever in the world they need it,” he says. “The engineering and R&D development is centralized in Amsterdam, which the industry calls the ‘eMobility Valley’ of the world. Only our manufacturing is done on the continent where we sell and service the product. So our European products are manufactured in the Netherlands, and the ones for the US are manufactured in the US. We think it’s very important to act as a local company in each country where we have presence. We’re a true international player.”

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VEHICLE-TO-GRID PROJECT REVEALS

CHALLENGES OF THE EARLY DAYS

By Tom Ewing

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ehicle-to-grid (V2G) is a technical and policy-based effort to optimize the way EVs interact with the electrical grid. V2G developers view EVs as “resources” within an electrical network. In V2G literature, the word resource is often used instead of cars or vehicles.

The notion of a resource is based on the idea that a vehicle linked to a charger can (and should) do more than just take on fuel. At night or during the work day, the car’s battery can store power when overall electrical demand is low but wind and solar facilities are generating inexpensive power. When demand and generation shift, the battery can send power to the grid, offsetting the need for additional generation.

EVs can also provide ancillary services, helping to regulate the stability of the grid.

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Los Angeles Air Force Base became the first federal facility to replace its entire general-purpose fleet with plug-in vehicles in a two-year V2G research project Photos courtesy of Los Angeles Air Force Base

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Obviously, such benefits will not be delivered by just one EV, perhaps not even by 1,000 or 10,000. But eventually, it’s expected that a grid/EV dynamic will develop that is dependable and mutually beneficial for vehicles and the network.

Also obviously: this ain’t easy. Right now, V2G is still pretty theoretical. It could happen, if…

California, as in all things EV, leads in V2G research.

For state policymakers, V2G is a must, not a want, required by Governor Brown’s Executive Order B-162012, which directs that “electric vehicle charging will

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be integrated into the electricity grid” by 2020, less than two years away. Policymakers need this working sooner, not later.

In December, a major V2G research project concluded in California, closely watched because of its scope and its utility market interaction. The project, which ran from October 2015 to December 2017, was a partnership between Southern California Edison (SCE) and the Department of Defense (DOD), specifically Los Angeles Air Force Base, part of a $20-million DOD research investment. The base became the first federal facility to

THE INFRASTRUCTURE Photos courtesy of Los Angeles Air Force Base

SCE and Air Force engineers started almost from scratch, expending a lot of effort just to get to the work at hand. replace its entire general-purpose fleet with 41 plug-in vehicles, including automobiles, pickup trucks and a passenger van.

In December, SCE filed its V2G report with the California Public Utilities Commission. SCE calls the project successful because the work supported “a pioneering customer in the direct participation space.” SCE writes that “the greatest accomplishment of the V2G Pilot is that it has paved the path for smaller resources to participate in the ancillary services market going forward.” On its web site, SCE writes that a successful pilot could be the “proof of concept” that helps establish the viability and scalability of V2G technology.

From SCE’s December report, viability and scalability seem to advance somewhat, but unevenly - the phrase “bits and pieces” comes to mind. SCE’s report makes it hard to assess how much this project (pardon the sports metaphor) moved the ball - 3 yards, 30 yards, or perhaps even close to the goal line.

One thing is certain: the project required a lot of remedial work. SCE and Air Force engineers started almost from scratch, expending a lot of effort just to get to the work at hand. SCE and the Air Force repeatedly confronted challenges which, taken together, belie any notions that V2G is at the almost-ready stage. SCE writes of shepherding “the pilot through myriad testing, qualification and participation wickets.”

For example, engineers hoped to take advantage of V2G work from the University of Delaware (UD), work that was favorably referenced among V2G proponents.

It turned out, though, that UD’s components were proprietary, and couldn’t be used for the new project.

Furthermore, UD communications protocols did not comply with SAE standards. Surprisingly, UD’s inverter was not utility-certified, something which is required throughout the US. In sum, UD’s work didn’t provide any advantage for SCE/Air Force. This is more than disappointing, and it’s not only about technology. V2G’s success depends on an open, common body of knowledge - secrets are a setback.

Another unexpected problem: even in California, there were no commercially available vehicles and electrical supply hardware, other than for the Nissan LEAF, capable of meeting all of the tasks and functions required by the project.

The project started with the Nissan LEAF, a bus from Phoenix, and trucks from EVAOS, EVI and VIA Motors.

None of the equipment could pass initial testing in its

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Photo courtesy of Los Angeles Air Force Base

The Pilot was successful in providing frequency regulation to the CAISO market for a total of 243 MWh of Regulation Up and 102 MWh of Regulation Down from May 2016 to September 2017.

manufactured configuration. Issues included, but were not limited to: limited charger functionality; standby load that was higher than SCE’s recommendations for charging infrastructure; heavy parasitic loads that reduced the reliability of the vehicles; and inverter issues. Each vehicle had to be recalibrated and all compliance and functionality issues readdressed. Interestingly, the manufacturers couldn’t perform the requisite tests, which eventually took over two years. SCE expected testing to take six months.

In fact, the trucks were never used - they were shipped to Texas. That left 29 vehicles - a somewhat puny fleet, in retrospect, considering this was supposed to be the largest V2G project in the world. Among the vehicles, quality and performance issues were troubling. Some vehicles that passed the certification test in October 2015 were no longer reliably operational just one year later.

One important project goal was to show that EVs could participate in CAISO’s wholesale market. (The California Independent System Operator is the entity that organizes and oversees generation and transmission within multiple utility service areas.) SCE calls this a success: “The Pilot was successful in providing frequency regulation to the CAISO market for a total of 243 MWh of Regulation Up and 102 MWh of Regulation Down from May 2016 to September 2017.” (Up/Down refers to receiving or sending power from or to the grid.)

However, market interaction had problems. The

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vehicle fleet could not provide accurate information to CAISO. This impacted day-ahead market awards, and it impacted vehicle performance because it’s related to battery issues. New tools are needed, SCE writes, to automate energy bidding but still track power. Consequently, the Air Force had to reduce the number of hours its vehicles were in the market, a move completely contrary to V2G’s potential benefits.

It’s important to note that a fleet presents different V2G characteristics than do individual EVs. The Air Force’s fleet needed to be ready on demand, which conflicts somewhat with the idea of using an EV as a grid resource. An individual EV owner would likely take advantage of a more predictable V2G schedule, staying connected at night, for example, or during the workday when the vehicle is parked.

There were other challenges. Communication software didn’t work, which meant the vehicles’ market performance wasn’t stabilized until early 2017. Problems compounded: CAISO had to decertify some of the EV resources from certain activities because of inaccurate and insufficient data. Again, a big hit when thinking of EVs as assets.

The project used two communications standards: Open Charge Point Protocol 1.5 (OCPP) and the SAE Smart Energy Profile 2.0 (SEP2). They didn’t work. It took months for engineers to make corrections and build new operating features. Some engineers questioned why two standards were used, when one was likely sufficient.

OCPP was chosen very early in the project’s development by the DOE’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; it was retained, even though engineers knew early on that its performance was questionable.

The re-tooled software got the job done. But again, to what end? SCE’s report does not say whether these fixes just kept this particular project going or whether they are the kind of advances that could lead to standard-

THE INFRASTRUCTURE Photo by Sarah Corrice

Revenue per vehicle ranged from $25 to $72 per month, with an average of $41 per vehicle-month. Aggregated gross revenue was $7,639. ized applications. When asked about a metric for progress, an SCE spokesperson said (via email) that “the V2G pilot moved knowledge forward towards COTS (commercially available off the shelf) products. Additional insight would need to come from the customer, the Department of Defense.”

One reason that every electron needs to be accounted for within a V2G system is because money is involved - for the resource owner, the utility, ratepayers, taxpayers, grid operators and new entrepreneurs who want to provide services in “this direct participation space.”

Importantly, the Air Force did realize income from its energy trades, despite the extensive communication-software problems. Revenue per vehicle ranged from $25 to $72 per month, with an average of $41 per vehicle-month.

Aggregated gross revenue was $7,639. Unforeseen, however, were high monthly participation fees. SCE had to charge a manual billing fee of $118 and a meter data feed

fee of $216. The biggest hit was a $1,000 monthly fee for a CAISO scheduling coordinator, a person certified to participate in trades. In total, the project lost about $17,000.

SCE’s report suggests that the fees could possibly be reduced by “utilizing a significantly larger resource,” i.e., more EVs linked together, lowering the cost per vehicle.

How many vehicles would that be? SCE’s answer is a bit of a riddle: “By ‘larger resource’ we mean more vehicles included in an aggregation. The order of magnitude question depends on the desires of the EV owners.”

CAISO’s $1,000/month charge took project planners by surprise. When asked about the coordinator’s role, SCE explained that “Scheduling coordinators deal directly with the CAISO for bidding, self-scheduling and financially settling participatory resources. In short, it would be costly for each EV owner to be his or her own scheduling coordinator. Scheduling coordinator services can be purchased that would support aggregation of many EV owners’ vehicles into a resource through aggregation and thus share fees.” Obviously an issue needing further attention.

DOD’s V2G work will continue, including testing vehicle-to-building technologies. DOD will present its own final report in early 2018.

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How significant are so-called ICE bans?

By Charles Morris

he mainstream press doesn’t always cover the EV-related stories that those of us in the industry would consider the most significant, but the recent spate of announcements by various governments concerning an eventual phase-out of ICE vehicles has really caught the imagination of the world’s newspapers and mass-market magazines.

Officials in Norway, the Netherlands, France, India, the UK and China, as well as a growing number of cities, have all made statements to the effect that fossil-burners may someday be phased out. The popular press has covered these stories extensively, in many cases reporting that a “ban” is imminent. What does all this really mean, and how newsworthy is it?

The first country to make headlines was (of course) Norway, where some government officials announced in 2016 that they were seeking to ban ICE vehicles by 2025.

In February 2017, long after the press had run away with the story, the government clarified its intentions in an online post: “The Norwegian Parliament have decided on a goal that all new cars sold by 2025 should be zero (electric or hydrogen) or low (plug-in hybrids) emission. The Parliament will reach this goal with a strengthened green tax system based on the polluter pays principle, not a ban.”

Last July, the UK government announced a multifaceted plan to reduce air pollution, which included a deadline of 2050 for the end of ICE vehicle sales. Also in July, French Ecology Minister Nicolas Hulot said that his country aims to end the sale of gas and diesel vehicles by 2040, and become carbon-neutral 10 years later. India’s government announced the “ambition that by 2030, all vehicles sold in India may be electric-powered.” “This is an aspirational target,” said government energy adviser Anil Kumar Jain. “Ultimately the logic of markets will prevail.”

A careful reading of these announcements reveals that most of them refer to aspirational goals, not actual legislative proposals, much less imminent bans of ICE vehicles.

It’s also worth keeping in mind that it’s often a long road from a politician’s sweeping statement to a permanent policy. If and when any of the democracies do propose actual bans, these will be challenged in legislatures and courts, and bitterly resisted by the politically powerful auto and oil industries. In most cases, the dates for these transitions have been set so far in the future that the politicians who proposed them will be long retired by the time any final decision is made.

And then there is China. The world’s largest auto market has not set a firm date for a complete ICE phase-out, but officials have said they are studying the issue, and an

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announcement of a timeline is expected soon. Whether they call it a “ban” or not, China’s aggressive EV quotas, which will begin to take effect in 2019, are putting real pressure on global automakers to electrify, and they are the main reason for the major EV investments we’ve been reading about recently. As the Financial Times put it, “China has huge leverage over the industry and is not afraid to use it.”

The quota system is a settled policy, and China’s policymakers have far fewer worries about pesky details such as industry profits or consumer tastes than Western leaders do.

Whether governments choose to promote electrification through cooperation or coercion, an actual ban on ICE vehicles is unlikely to be needed, and may not even be wise. Governments did not find it necessary to ban horse-drawn travel or sailing ships in the 20th century, any more than they bothered to ban typewriters, cathoderay-tube TVs or polyester suits. Governments have a legitimate role in giving new technologies a helping hand, but they usually have no need to ban old ones that are due to fade away on their own. And, just as there are those who love horses and sailboats, some people adore the roar of a well-tuned Mustang, and if they’re willing to pay for it, there’s no reason they shouldn’t have one.

From a practical standpoint, aside from China, many of these national bans, or goals, or whatever you want to call them, don’t seem to mean much. Does that mean they are pointless? Far from it. Aspirational goals of this kind can be useful frameworks within which governments will implement practical measures, such as EV purchase incentives, infrastructure investment, battery research, etc.

- just as greenhouse-gas emissions targets are used today.

Another positive effect of national ICE phase-outs, even if (or especially if) they are exaggerated by the press, is that they raise awareness of EVs among the general public. The Average Joe or Jane’s awareness of EVs is still very low - many people have no idea that they are a viable option (“I’d love to have a Tesla - how do they do on gas?” an acquaintance of your author recently said). So, while implementing a ban on ICEs may be an impractical idea, if talking about a ban is what it takes to get people’s attention, then let the media go to town.

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