The commercial development and use of electric and hybrid vehicles is discussed with respect to its application as a possible alternative transportation system. A market demonstration is described that seeks to place 10,000 electric hybrid vehicles into public and private sector demonstrations

Schwartz, H. J.

English

NASA Technical Reports Server

The Federal Electric and Hybrid Vehicle Program
Harvey J. Schwartz
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Lewis Research Center
Cleveland, Ohio
On September 17, 1976, the Congress passed Public Law 94-413, which created a Federal program
of research, development, and demonstrations to promote the commercial development and use of
electric and hybrid vehicles. The law placed the responsibility for the program with the Department
of Energy (DOE).
As illustrated in figure 1, electric and hybrid vehicles are of importance today because they
represent one way in which we can move our Nation's transportation system off a petroleum energy
base and onto an energy base that would consist of whatever form of energy the local electric power
company was using. Obviously, that could mean the use of coal, nucler power, or any of the other
sources shown in the figure to fuel our automobiles. Within the DOE program, an electric vehicle is
defined as one that is fueled solely by wall-plug electricity. A hybrid vehicle is one that uses a combi-
ELECTRIC AND HYBRID VEHICLES
ELECTRICVEHICLE- A VEHICLEFUELEDSOLELYBYELECTRICITY
HYBRIDVEHICLE- A VEHICLEFUELEDBYA COMBINATIONOF ELECTRICITY
ANDPETROLEUMFUEL CS_B0_2068
Figure l
105
https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=19810004475 2020-03-21T14:41:13+00:00Z
nation of wall-plug electricity and a petroleum fuel. The organization of the DOE Electric and
Hybrid Vehicle program is shown in figure 2. The program is divided into five separate projects. The
Vehicle Evaluation and Improvement project has as its goals the development of a 50-mile-range de-
livery van and the general upgrading of existing vehicle technology by 1986. The goal of the Electric
Vehicle Commercialization project is to have in place in private industry the manufacturing
capability to produce a 100-mile-range electric passenger car, also by 1986. The Hybrid Vehicle
Commercialization project has established a goal of producing a commercially viable hybrid vehicle
with a range comparable to that of a conventional automobile by 1988. The Advanced Vehicle
Development project is targeted for 1990. Its goal is to develop a vehicle that has all the performance
and range capability of present-day vehicles but is independent of petroleum as a fuel. This could
mean either electric vehicles running on electricity generated from other fuels or hybrid vehicles thal
use synthetic fuels derived from nonpetroleum sources. In support of these four projects there is an
on-going Market Demonstration project that seeks to place 10 000 electric and hybrid vehicles into
public and private sector demonstrations within the next 4 years.
FEDERALELECTRICAND HYBRID VEHICLE PROGRAM
VEHICLEEVALUATION I • VEHICLEUPGRADE1986 AND IMPROVEMENTPROJECT • 50-MILE VAN
ELECTRICVEHICLE I1986 '_COMM RCIALIZATIONPROJECT • IO0-MILEPASSENGERCAR
'_ HYBRIDVEHICLE I
1988 _,.COMMERCIALIZATIONPROJECT]• RANGE_CONVENTIONALCAR
:_ ADVANCEDVEHICLE • COMPLETELYCOMPETITIVEVEHICLE1990+ • INDEPENDENCo,+++,t+, ct+v,,++,+,,,
t oe,',,o,,,+,t,o,,,I.PROJECT cs-ao-2261
Figure 2
Problems with Electric Vehicles
The major inhibitor to the growth of electric vehicles at the present time is that they lack the range
and performance that the consumer expects from an automobile. Studies of automobile use patterns
(fig. 3) show that a range of about 100 miles per day would be optimum for maximum market pene-
tration of an electric vehicle. The market potential increases until a range of 100 miles is reached and
decreases beyond that point because the cost and weight penalties associated with the extra batteries
required to produce the incremental range increase cannot be justified by the small additional
segment of the market that would be served by such a vehicle. If we compare that 100-mile
requirement with the capability of existing electric vehicles at the start of the DOE program, as shown
on the lower right in figure 3, we see that only a small fraction of existing vehicles even approach this
range. The envelope shown in the figure encompasses the range at various speeds of all vehicles
reported in the literature at that time. The two lines shown on the figure represent actual test results
of approximately 23 different vehicles tested by NASA as part of an overall electric and hybrid
vehicle state-of-the-art assessment. The four best vehicles as represented by the upper line only exceed
the 100-mile-range goal at very low speeds, approaching 25 miles per hour; the average for all the
other vehicles tested, shown by the lower line, does not come close to the goal.
Because the market for electric and hybrid vehicles is presently so limited, we find that today's
industry consists primarily of small entreprenurial manufacturers. These companies are generally
handicapped by a lack of production facilities, limited engineering staffs, and, because of the small
106
PRESENTTECHNOLOGYINSUFFICIENTTO STIMULATE LARGE MARKET
MARKET MARKET
POTENTIAL DROPSDUE
TO VOLUMEAND
COSTOF EXTRA
I SHORTRANGE i--- BATTERIES
RANGE--_
r ENVELOPEFOR
150 -- _ 240 -- _C VEHICLES
RANGEAT 1(30-- 160
,_" TRACK TESTS
CONSTANT SPEED, _ _ __u.lo- IMILES .50-- o _ 80
;_ ER TRACK TESTSIO--
O 20 40 60 80 100 120
SPEED,km/h
I I I I
0 25 50 75
c_-Ro-;2_7 SPEED, mph
Figure 3
market they represent, insufficient leverage on the suppliers. In addition, these companies are facing
a market that is going to grow at a rate that can only be described as uncertain at present, as well as a
shortage of capital with which they might expand production facilities or improve their products.
Therefore the challenge faced by DOE in the Electric and Hybrid Vehicle program is to find ways to
maintain the viability of the present industry, to accelerate the development of the market, and to
stimulate investment by those companies that have the potential for mass production, which is
required in order for electric and hybrid vehicles to have a significant effect on the Nation's
petroleum consumption.
Solving the Problems
These challenges are being met in several ways: Some companies have received direct support from
DOE to improve the vehicles that they produce. Funds are being provided to purchase vehicles for the
Market Demonstration project. Planning grants have been made available to assist small manufac-
turers in preparing proposals, and a loan guarantee program to help manufacturers expand their
production plants in getting under way. The Market Demonstration project and its associated public
awareness activities are intended to stimulate market development. The DOE is also supporting
technology development that will lead to better vehicles. And, although investment risk is still high,
ways are being sought to stimulate private investment in electric and hybrid vehicle production,
perhaps by joint cost-shared commercialization projects. The next figures illustrate how this is being
done.
Market demonstrations are an important part of the DOE program at present. As shown in
figure 4, DOE has established performance standards for electric and hybrid vehicles that can be
purchased for demonstration projects and has selected a sizeable number of site operators, each of
whom is willing to participate on a cost-sharing basis with the Government and has agreed to operate
a fleet of the minimum acceptable size. The site operators purchase vehicles from the manufacturers,
thus providing an important source of capital to the manufacturers. In addition, DOE has
established a loan guarantee program to help manufacturers expand their production capabilities.
The money comes from a revolving fund that can guarantee loans of up to $3 million for this
107
Figure 4
purpose. It is anticipated that within the next 4 years approximately 10 000 electric vehicles will be
placed in service through the Market Demonstration project. Although hybrids can also be purchased
for the project, at present none are commercially available.
The locations of the various demonstration sites around the country are shown in figure 5. There
are four types of sites: public sector demonstrations, Federal agencies, State and local governments,
and universities. In addition to showing the suitability of electric and hybrid vehicles for "real
world" applications, another important function of the demonstration project is to identify the
infrastructure required to support electric vehicles in day-to-day service, much as the existence of gas
stations, garages, and spare-parts warehouses supports the operation of conventional vehicles on the
road today. To provide better vehicles for the demonstration program, DOE has financed product
improvement projects with four manufacturers. The vehicles produced under this program have
operating ranges of 40 to 50 miles per day in city traffic, which is roughly twice the range of similar
vehicles built in 1976. They also have greater acceleration rates and higher top speeds.
Technology development is clearly going to be required in order to produce a commercially
successful vehicle. The Department of Energy is using the resources of other Government agencies in
order to produce this technology. The responsibility for battery research and development is vested in
the Argonne National Laboratory. Major technical thrusts at present include the improvement of the
lead-acid battery and the development of nickel-zinc, nickel-iron, and zinc-chlorine batteries for
near-term vehicle use. Mechanical storage technology is the responsibility of the Lawrence Livermore
Laboratory. They are working on flywheels and other mechanical devices for storing regenerative
braking energy, as a means for extending the range of an electric vehicle. The NASA has the
responsibility for the rest of the technology development associated with electric and hybrid vehicles.
This responsibility is divided between two NASA centers: The Lewis Research Center in Cleveland,
Ohio, is responsible for propulsion subsystems development. This includes the development of
motors, motor controllers, transmissions, and controls; the identification of battery-propulsion
108
DEMONSTRATIONSITESIN EHVPROGRAM
Richlend University of Missouri
J ,_ookllml Ft. Collins L?r_oln if Florlsslnt Potsdam
i-_ | _ Idlho Falls I - _ KanSasCity I W. Lehlyette
V ...... u ..... Colu,mbls "_ J C.... i//ll..,,_i, Onondeg8 County
,.,_, /-_/ / 9._,..dCo°.,y/.( ../.Po,,,end
White Pleinl
_HobOken
Ro(;klind County
_.. Mlneolo
Hempsteed Townehip
_:_ Hew "fork City
.s,,......to,L I I _ t_ I I If/ ,---P..... k.,I / I _ _.il_t"/i',,,-- _philidelphil
O°_:_d4;" \ I I .tl I "_rl-"#l/ I if L #F "li_l( llfllii_L_ColleQePirk I
"'....:.t--.\,.f---_L," IChilli Le Washington, D.C.
L_A.,_l.%*. M II I / I I _ I L_ Mo,i,nl_.
LYn'_°_--'Jrt// I I / I I / I /'-- i,e
cl.<c_.,y><..,,I I / I /
i'_,,>..i.j"-J_J.,--7c_ / I\ /
Tucson _ _ / Orlando
I ._._ _,.A.,o.__ ,_;,; ..........
i_i_ulu, Hunisv#leNo HI
• Private sector
• Federal Agency
_. State and Iocel governments
• University
CS-80-2263
Figure 5
system interactions; and the development of complete propulsion systems. The Jet Propulsion
Laboratory in Pasadena, California, is responsible for vehicle system technology. JPL's activities
include mission analysis, aerodynamic drag reduction, rolling resistance reduction, mass reduction,
and the integration of the battery and propulsion system into a complete vehicle.
Much has been accomplished in the 3 1/2 years since the passage of Public Law 94-413, but much
still remains to be done in order to make the electric vehicle a viable transportation option for our
country.
109


The Federal electric and hybrid vehicle program

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

NASA Technical Reports Server