Connectivity Week discussion of Electric Vehicles

Speaker: Doug Houseman of Enernex

Title: The Electric Vehicle and its Place in Society

Mr. Houseman began his speech with a comment that "Adopting Electric Vehicles may represent one of the largest and controversial changes that we could make as a society... Comparable with eliminating marriage..."

Electric vehicles are becoming real and available from traditional car manufacturers. In rolling out these vehicles there is a need to understand the market for cars, the impact they will have on everything from rest stops on interstate highways to crash test standards.... This panel will look at market projections, changes to Federal infrastructure, real world testing, nascent standards for interoperability, and emerging issues for electric vehicles.


It was well worth my time to attend this session.


An example of a major change in behavior will be driven by the recharge time requirements. Presently the dwell time at a service station is 6.5 minutes. In contrast to refuel an EV will require between 30 minutes (fast charge to 80% capacity) to 8 hours for a full charge.

There are additional impacts and changes including: center of gravity changes, firefighting tactics and maintenance processes. Crash standards, safety equipment etc will also require changes.

A comparison was made between the Nissan Versa and the Nissan Leaf, the Versa being the current Nissan platform that will be adapted for the Leaf.

                Versa                      Leaf
List Price  $10K                      $30K
Range       340 Miles               100 Miles

For $5/gallon gasoline the difference in purchase price represents 120K miles of additional range available from the Versa.

A relevant quote: "To accelerate adoption will obviously require subsidies and incentives. The question remains, how large?"

Other features of interest:

The Leaf will require 7.6 KW for an overnight charge. A homeowner will be required to install an additional 220V/40A circuit as part of the purchase (installed by Nissan). Parking garages will also be required to install charging stations...

George's thoughts:

With an on-road recharge time of 30 minutes to 80% and the range limit of 100 miles to first recharge, the average speed to travel the first 100 miles is ~50mph. This makes the vehicle unacceptable as an option for long distance inter-city travel. The travel experience might be characterized as "leisurely."

I expect that the profile of the main consumer will be:

Urban or near urban dweller with daily travel requirements less than 100 miles; 200 miles if we assume an eight hour at work charging cycle.

Well off, status seeking and able to afford a second vehicle devoted to a specialized use.

Socially conscious and concerned with the environment.

There are a large population from this segment residing in or around large cities near the coasts. I'm envisioning a Leaf for daily driving with a Defoliator 10K sitting in the driveway for weekends in Tahoe with the family. Take atmospheric carbon concerns off the table as a motivator and the value proposition becomes much less compelling...