Stanford Electric and Fuel Cell Vehicle Showcase

April 7, 2010
Stanford University
12:15 - 5:45

Stanford hosted an Electric and Fuel Cell Vehicle Showcase on April 7, 2010, at Stanford University in conjunction with the Stanford Energy Seminar and a course offered this spring on Sustainable Mobility: Improving Energy Efficiency and Reducing CO₂ Emissions from Transport (Special Class Session).  Included in the showcase are light duty vehicles running on batteries, and hydrogen fuel cells, as well as plug-in hybrid vehicles that both charge batteries from the grid and carry a fuel tank to run an engine when batteries run down.

Sustainability Mobility Class: Improving Energy Efficiency and Reducing CO2 Emissions from Transport

Professor: Dr. Lee Schipper, Precourt Energy Efficiency Institute, Stanford

• Hybrid and PHEH
  • Hybrid engines offer 50% increased efficiency, HPEVs even more but we need a new way to measure efficiency when two sources are used rather than using MPG
  • EVs aren't really zero emissions, they just move emissions elsewhere
  • Charging an EV on a hot summer day at peak times could cost $0.80 per kWh
  • Hybrids currently cost about $3k more, but cost is coming down.
• Hydrogen
  • Nice thing about electricity is that it is all around and we know how to move it. Problem with hydrogen is that we have to make it and figure out how to move it.
  • Electric vehicles in the lead, but no-one wants to count out H2
  • You can store more energy in H2 than in electric batteries
  • Major new distribution infrastructure is needed
  • Energy storage is poor and fuel cell vehicles will likely be expensive
  • Resource base is very large
  • Uncertain environmental effects
  • Hydrogen likes to expand and burn with invisible flame. Not necessarily more dangerous, but will require new handling requirements. H2 similar to CNG as far as handling and closed garages needing ventilation
  • We know how to make H2, but we have a long way to make fuel cells competitive
  • H2 fuel cells are highest efficiency technology
  • To be competitive fuel cells systems must have costs several orders of magnitude lower than today
  • How do we make H2?
• Comparison
  • (He showed a bizarre chart of $/km that put electric vehicles the most expensive, not sure what data he used)

 

Surprise! - The Remarkable Rise of Electric Bikes in China and What it Means

by Jonathan Weinert, Planning Engineer, Chevron

• (This research conducted during his PhD thesis at UCD)
• (Terminology: E2W = electric two wheelers)
• 20M electric bikes and scooters sold per year in China
• FAQ
  • Cost: $200 to $450
  • Speed: 16-25 MPH
  • Poser: 350-750W
  • Range 20-40 miles
  • Efficiency 35-45 Wh per mile
• Bikes are cheaper than buses, second only to a bicycle
• Well to Wheel energy use 2MJ/km versus 4.8 for gasoline moped
• Emissions much lower than motorbikes and similar to buses.. But e-bike emissions are being emitted at a power plant far from urban center
• Expansion of e-bikes in China
  • Disposable income in China doubled from 1998 to 2004
  • Gasoline scooters banned in several cities in late 90s
  • In 2004, e-bikes granted right to use bike lanes as long as they had pedals
  • In 2006, Bejing repealed the ban on e-bikes and Guangzhow banned all motorized two-wheelers
  • Between 1995 and 2000, switched to brushless motors that increased efficiency from 50% to 80%
  • Switched to valve regulated lead-acid (VRLA)
  • In 2003 SARs caused people to avoid public transportation
  • Between 2002 and 2006, e-bikes increase from 1 million to 17 million per year
• Survey showed that most people would bike or bus to work if they didn't have an e-bike. One reason is that in congested cities e-bikes were faster than bus or car
• Success factors
  • Motorcycle bans
  • Local government e-bikes support, turning a blind eye to e-bikes that are faster or heavier than they should be
  • Tech improvements
  • Poor bus and public transit
• Resisting forces
  • Strong motorcycle demand
  • e-bike bans
  • increased support for public transit
• What does this mean for transition to EVs?
  • E-cars are an order of magnitude more in weight, power and energy needed than e-bikes
  • Now 8% to 10% of e-bikes using Li-ion.
  • 1000s of e-bike makers in China and competition makes margins small. So lots of innovation going on to differentiate themselves.
  • Now about 50k per year of low-speed EVs

 

How Do Consumers Make Choices?

by Robert Bienenfeld,Senior Manger, Environment & Energy Strategy, American Honda
responsible for reviewing regulatory environment and policy on greenhouse gases

• Vehicles are our "avatars"; our representations of ourselves in the community
• Consumers buying hybrids are more differentatied by political values than by tradition auto values like: quality, value, styling, performance,
• Prius buyers self-describe as "very liberal". Gasoline owners describe as "middle-of-the-road"
• Hybrid owners:
  • Global warming real
  • Oil dependence a problem
  • Risks to env rfrom oil drilling
• Gas owners:
  • Drilling is necesary
• Civic: Global warming and access to carpool lane, 39% fuel efficiency
• Prius: fuel effiency 32%, total env 51%
• Gas owners: no large diference
• 2006 group discussion (middle of war)
  • Prius is recognizable and a statement of values, "middle finger" to Exxon
  • People want to be part of Prius brand: distinctive look, sets itself apart from other cars, it is not even that it is Toyota. People base identity on environmental, political and social issues. In a price bracket that anyone can partake in it. "I have enough"
  • Sick and tired of people driving me and my country to the brink of war over oil
  • Mileage is great but it is really behind the mileage and statement
  • Every gallon of gas you buy Cheney and Bush increase money in their product
  • Got on bandwagon early and make emotional connection to other hybrid owners
• Hybrid sales perfectly correlate (0.86) between sales and price of gas

 

Panel

Bob Bienenfeld: Honda
Zak Edson: Tesla
Justin Ward: Toyota.
John Tillman: Volkswagen, fuel cell
Marcus Hays: Founder of PI Mobility, manufacturer of ebikes, member Calstart
Brett Williams: UCB Transportation Sustainability Research Center

• Marcus:
  • Policies needed are to incorporate e-bikes into bike and pedestrian policy
  • Some customers moving laterally from cars
• Zak
  • Policy: Helpful Fed tax credit $7,500. Really need meaningful gas tax. This would create pull for products rather than things like raising the CAFE which forces the product on consumers.
• Justin
  • Believe strongly in the power-split design
  • Plug-ins only one product in a sustainable transportation solution, we want to be careful that policy doesn't choose a winner
• Justin
  • Fuel cell vehicles: 400 mile range, 5 minute refueling
  • Challenge is where the H2 infrastructure be places.
  • Will need government policy to incentivize vehicles and infrastructure but will then need to phase out and stand on its own
• Bob
  • Lot of hard work that will be needed to get cost down and reliability up of fuel cells
• Bret
  • Placing with households a Prius (control), PHEV and FCEV for a month.
  • Main concern is high upfront costs
  • Want vehicles because of geopolitical reasons
  • Preference instability: when they learn a little about a product, their preferences changed
  • Just getting them into a Prius is the biggest step
  • They enjoyed driving the FCEV the most, which was an SUV
  • It is hard to use discrete car behaviour to predict vehicle choice when it is radically different from what they are used to driving
  • Looking into how to buffer consumer from high up-front costs
  • Infrastructure important. Amount is not as important as consumer confidence that it is increasing
• Questions
  • CNG? Justin: CNG is 25% reduction in CO2 over gasoline. Problem is that regulatory goal is 80% in tons and 90% in intensity (since population will double)
  • Ancillarly services? Brett: Auto makers aren't comfortable yet with V2G since they don't have a lot of data on battery life. They are looking at retiring battery early for ancillarly services use.
  • Externalities: Brett: Will need to keep track of electrons in cars because of carbon credits and road tax
  • Repair and service? Zak: Don't need as much infrastructure as we might think as long as it is intelligently placed. Tesla offers home service, partly because EVs are more reliable. Marcus: Don't have service problems with e-bikes. They have a thumbdrive that will gather debugging information and can be uploaded remotely and then defective parts can be shipped