Dealing With Realities of an Electric-Car Fleet

WHAT shape will the plug for recharging your future electric vehicle take?
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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 $2-a-gallon gas at nearby pumps and a grim car market over all — 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.

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 40-mile 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, that range is going to plummet,” Mr. 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.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/25/automobiles/25ELECTRIC.html

:shrug: I would expect they'll have to 'standardize' a few things.

I hadn't even thought of it until now.

To recharge one of these batteries I wonder if they have some kind of scheme like parallel versus series. Because they have to be an array.

The problem may very well be that no matter what, the current involved will be very high. It could be hundreds of amps. So this isn't just a simple connector, but one with large surface areas.

didn't think of this either.

finding a place to plug in the charger....

Seems like a no brainer, yet still I wait.

Keep them on the golf course

thing in developments designed for seniors. A few cities, too, have allowed them on city streets. Frankly, I wish they'd allow such vehicles on all surface streets with a speed limit of 35mph or lower. It'd be great for local shopping trips, etc.

http://www.gemcar.com/models/

Then they should also determine the size suitcase I'll need to use.

I remember a shopping center in San Luis Obispo, CA, that had several charging stations in its parking lot. I imagine they were forced to install them by the local city council. As far as I know, nobody ever used them, but I did have a look. The connector used in that was probably standardized on some basis, but I don't know.