More roadside chargers needed for electric cars
Jul 25 - Associated Press/AP Online
By JOEL SCHECTMAN
The auto industry calls it range anxiety: Drivers want electric cars but
worry they won't have enough juice to make long trips. After all, what
good is going green if you get stranded with a dead battery?
It's a fear that automakers must overcome as they push to sell more
battery-powered cars. So government and business are taking steps to
reassure drivers by building up the nation's network of electric
charging stations.
The hope is Americans will become more comfortable buying cars such as
Nissan's all-electric Leaf, due out late this year, which can travel
just 100 miles on a single charge. That's fine for a commute but
potentially stressful for longer road trips.
"I think the Leaf is a beautifully designed vehicle, but 50
miles in one direction is just not enough," says Bob Shafron, a former
electric car owner in California. "I think they are going to run into
problems in markets like LA, where things are spread out."
Only a few hundred public chargers exist now, but several government
grants totaling more than $115 million will help add thousands more,
including in San Diego, Detroit, Washington, D.C., and Bellevue, Wash.
Electric vehicle advocates hope more will be built by private retailers
and restaurants, using the charging stations to draw in customers the
same way coffee shops offer Wi-Fi.
Public and privately funded chargers are going up in places like rest
stops, hotels and McDonald's and Starbucks. Still, even the most
optimistic estimates put the number of charging stations at 16,000 by
2012, tiny compared with the 117,000 gas stations on American roads.
President Barack Obama wants 1 million electric cars on American roads
by 2015, but experts say a chicken-and-egg problem is standing in the
way. Before enough cars hit the road, private vendors may be reluctant
to build many charging stations. And without many charging stations on
the road, people may be reluctant to buy the cars.
Most public stations will take eight hours to juice up a car all the
way, about the same as chargers in individual homes. These plugs could
work for people who have chargers near their offices, but wouldn't work
for quick refueling. Even a partial charge will take awhile -
two-and-a-half hours to get 30 miles. A limited number of the chargers
will be fast-chargers. If you can find one, it will still take 30
minutes for a full powerup.
In 1999, Shafron ran out of power as he was driving his EV1, the
all-electric car that General Motors launched in the 1990s and later
stopped making, from his beach home to Northridge, Calif. His range
meter told him he had 20 miles left, but it quickly ran down to zero.
Difficulty in gauging remaining battery charge was a common issue with
the EV1. Varying road conditions like hills and bad weather, which can
take a toll on battery life, made the range of early electric cars tough
to predict.
Carmakers say that new range meters in today's electric cars are much
more accurate.
Whether or not the infrastructure is ready, many automakers will be
putting out electric cars, with an estimated 146,000 on the road by the
end of 2012.
Tesla, which just took itself public, has sold a little more than 1,000
high-end electric sports cars and plans to offer a lower-priced sedan in
the next few years. Nissan has its Leaf, and Ford aims to enter the
market with an all-electric Focus in 2012. General Motors Co. will soon
sell its part-electric Volt.
The Volt is scheduled for limited release this fall and allows the
driver to drive on battery alone for 40 miles before switching on a
small gas engine that can take the vehicle up to 300 miles.
As one of the creators of General Motors' failed EV1, Andrew Farah knows
the limits of the electric charging network.
"Show me an EV1 owner and I will show you someone who has broken down,"
said Farah, who cited a lack of a widespread charging network as one
reason for the car's failure. Farah is the lead engineer on GM's Volt.
GM's Volt is partly a reaction to the lack of public chargers and the
limited range that were factors in the EV1's demise.
As for the Leaf, Nissan said it fills a certain niche but isn't for
everyone.
"I would not recommend this car for road trips," said Nissan spokeswoman
Katherine Zachary. "We see this as a city car, a commuter car."
Nissan points out that most people drive well within the 100-mile range
in a given day and that the Leaf will primarily serve those with regular
driving routines. Government data backs that up, with about 78 percent
of Americans driving 40 miles or fewer to and from work, according to
the Department of Transportation.
But many Americans drive longer distances for family trips and
vacations. Over Memorial Day weekend, vacationers had planned to travel
an average of 626 miles both ways, with the vast majority of trips by
car, AAA said.
Tom Moloughney, a 43-year-old New Jersey restaurant owner, is part of a
test lease program for BMW's all-electric Mini-E. He said that electrics
work well for two-car households, with the electric as the primary
commuting vehicle and a gas car for longer trips and vacations.
Moloughney said that range anxiety is manageable - you just have to plan
your trips carefully and know how far you're going.
"You are not gripping the steering wheel with white knuckles. You plan
your trips and plan for how far you are going."
(c) 2010,
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