Federal researchers rolling in hybrid at 100 mpg
GOLDEN, Colo. (Associated Press online/Yellowbrix) - Jun 13 - By JUDITH KOHLER Associated Press Writer
Tony Markel glides his car to a quiet stop and checks the mileage racked up during a brief spin around his suburban Denver office complex. It reads 99.9 miles per gallon. Other researchers have reached that threshold. But the 2006 Toyota Prius hybrid Markel drives isn't exactly standard issue. Its 9 kilowatt-hour, lithium-ion battery pack puts out six times power of a standard Prius battery. It has solar panels inlaid on the roof that can generate about 165 watts of electricity. Markel is exploring other ways to fuel cars with as much clean energy as possible from such sources as wind and solar. With oil at more than $130 a barrel, the auto industry is pressing to get fuel-efficient hybrids that recharge from an electric outlet, electric cars and fuel cell hybrids to market. General Motors hopes to have a plug-in Chevy Volt on the market in 2010. Ford Motor Co. is working with Southern California Edison to develop a small fleet of plug-in hybrids. And Toyota Motor Corp. plans a plug-in hybrid with lithium-ion batteries by 2010 aimed at fleet vehicles. Markel hopes the data he and others at NREL have been collecting will help the auto industry produce affordable vehicles with dramatically higher fuel mileage. After driving the car daily for a while, much of the work has shifted to the lab, where NREL scientists are looking at the performance of battery packs. That's the area the industry is most interested in, Markel said. "It's a challenge to make battery packs that essentially last the life of the vehicle," Markel said. "Those are kind of the big barriers: how to put the smallest (battery) pack you can in there, get the most value out of it and make it last the life of the vehicle. "But we certainly have confidence in the progress that's been made. We will get there," Markel said. He likened the car to the hardware that supports NREL's research in energy storage, power electronics, vehicle systems and renewable generation technology. The work at NREL and other national labs, including the Argonne National Laboratory in suburban Chicago, is critical to improving the technology, said Luke Tonachel, a vehicles analyst with the Natural Resources Defense Council. "We need to get these vehicles on the road," Tonachel said. "A 100 mile-per-gallon car is great," said Aaron Bragman, an auto analyst with Global Insight in Detroit. "It sounds like (NREL) is using a lot of off-the-shelf technology, which is no small feat. But you also have to look at affordability." At $70,000, Markel's Prius isn't exactly showroom-ready for people spending more and more money just to keep their conventional vehicles going. Auto companies are simultaneously developing the technology and gearing up for production to meet ambitious schedules, Bragman said. Government can help by pumping more money into research, he added. "It seems like the real work that needs to be done from a governmental standpoint is basic science," said Bruce Belzowski, assistant research scientist at the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute. Belzowski said that kind of research can help manufacturers overcome such challenges as increasing a battery's longevity and its ability to handle heat and cold. Reducing emissions from diesel engines is another task. The research car at NREL, retrofitted with a $40,000 conversion package, uses mostly electricity the first 50 miles, no matter the speed. That helps boost fuel efficiency to 100 mpg. "The whole idea being that most people drive on the order of 30 miles a day," Markel said, "and therefore you can cover almost all the typical commuting with a reasonable-sized battery pack and still have gasoline as your backup source." Solar panels on top of the car produce enough of a charge to give the driver about five more gas-free miles. Researchers routed the wires through the car's antenna to carry the electricity generated from the panels to the battery. "If you're parked out in a lot and don't have a plug-in available, you can get some midday charging," Markel said. Saving oil by using a plug-in hybrid is one goal. "We'd also like to make sure that the electricity we're putting in is clean and greener," Markel said. "By tying it somehow to renewables, we can reduce the (carbon dioxide emissions) in addition to the petroleum." He's interested in linking plug-in cars to a "smart grid," which utilities are starting to use to give customers immediate information on prices and the best times to use electricity to avoid big loads on the system. ___ On the Net: National Renewable Energy Laboratory: http://www.nrel.gov/
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