What shape will the plug for recharging your future electric vehicle take?
That question is becoming a pressing matter for automakers. The global auto industry has yet to agree on a standardized shape for the connectors that will replenish the batteries of electric cars, though the Society of Automotive Engineers has been working on standards for such a plug for more than two years.
Issues of this sort must be resolved before many of the electric powertrains displayed at the Detroit auto show this month will be able to take to the road in large numbers. While the breadth and diversity of electric car proposals seen in Detroit seemed to affirm their inevitability — despite obstacles like US$0.52 per liter gas at nearby pumps and a grim car market overall — the efforts at electrification of the vehicle fleet, to use the buzz phrase of the moment, also raised awareness of the challenges that automakers will face.
PHOTO: NY TIMES NEWS SERVICE
Making the electricity available to recharge batteries is just one of the hurdles carmakers must address. How far the cars will go on a charge, how long the recharging process will take, and even how drivers will be billed for electricity when they recharge away from home, are also matters that engineers are scrambling to sort out.
David Champion, director of auto testing at Consumer Reports, said that the promises being made for electric cars are sure to lead to some buyer disappointments. Commenting on vehicles he saw at the Detroit show like the Chevrolet Volt — a plug-in hybrid with a 64km all-electric range, which General Motors says will go on sale late next year — he noted that the ranges are mostly predicated on low speed and intermittent city driving, where an electric powertrain shines.
“You get that vehicle out on the highway and cruise along at 70 miles per hour [112kph], that range is going to plummet,” Champion said.
The Volt’s powertrain design, generally referred to as a series hybrid, incorporates a gasoline-driven generator that can keep the car going until it can plug in for a recharge.
Add the amenities that Americans expect in their cars — air-conditioning turned up high, audio systems set to deafening levels — and battery-powered vehicles may be spending as many of their kilowatt hours on comfort as they do on cruising.
The issue puts pressure on engineers to reduce charging time. In news conferences during the show’s press preview days, the hours-to-recharge figure seemed to be the newest bragging point for some automakers, replacing zero-to-60 times and fuel-efficiency ratings as the numbers that mattered.
The Mini E, for instance, can be recharged in just 2.5 hours using a special home charging station. The battery-powered Minis — 500 are being leased to individuals in the Los Angeles and New York metro areas for one-year terms — can also be recharged on household current. But if the current comes from a standard 110-volt wall socket, it will take 23 hours to restore the car’s 240km maximum range.
Public charging stations were announced for the Smart Electric Drive cars that are part of a 100-vehicle Berlin test fleet to be put on the road this year. The stations include a link to a computer chip in the car that allows charging with the lowest-cost electricity, choosing off-peak times, and possibly even selecting green energy sources by detecting when wind farms or solar panels are feeding to the energy grid.
BYD, a Chinese carmaker, may have trumped them all. It showed the F3DM plug-in hybrid, already on sale in China, and said that although normal battery-pack charging using home current would take nine hours, special “industrial” charging could snap the battery back to 80 percent of capacity in 15 minutes. BYD did not describe the industrial charging system.
Hybrids like the Toyota Prius are not limited by battery capacity, since they run on their gasoline engines for most driving. Toyota announced in Detroit that it would lease a plug-in version of the Prius to commercial customers later this year. The car will be equipped with lithium-ion batteries, which can provide a longer range than the nickel-metal hydride batteries in the regular Prius.
But at the Detroit show this year the momentum in plug-in hybrids seemed to be swinging toward series hybrids, in which the piston engine drives only a generator to charge the battery, with no mechanical connection to the wheels. General Motors calls this solution, used for the Volt and seen also in the Cadillac Converj design study, an extended-range electric vehicle, and the terminology seemed to be catching on with other automakers.
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
REGIONAL STABILITY: Taipei thanked the Biden administration for authorizing its 16th sale of military goods and services to uphold Taiwan’s defense and safety The US Department of State has approved the sale of US$228 million of military goods and services to Taiwan, the US Department of Defense said on Monday. The state department “made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale” to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US for “return, repair and reshipment of spare parts and related equipment,” the defense department’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a news release. Taiwan had requested the purchase of items and services which include the “return, repair and reshipment of classified and unclassified spare parts for aircraft and related equipment; US Government
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from
RSS