The B2B platform for full-electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles: Industry News

The 2nd Li-ion Battery Forum organised by Dufresne on 25-26 August in Beijing brought together more than 150 experts to discuss current problems and latest trends related to EVs, batteries and charging infrastructure. cars21.com summarises the standpoints of international car manufacturers on these subjects and highlights some interesting positions.

Just recently, China has overtaken Japan as second biggest economy in the world. In the EV market, the country clearly intends to play in the top league as well and maybe even take the lead. Indeed, the Chinese automotive sector and market are growing fast and EVs have a real chance of securing an important share.

Mr. Xiao Chengwei (肖成伟) from the Tianjin Institute of Power Sources underlined in his presentation titled “Overview on power batteries for electric vehicles in China” that China is taking the move to electric vehicles very seriously and that the country's approach is holistic: they look at policies, standards and evaluation technologies for fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV), hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) and battery electric vehicles (BEV) while fervently persuing the development of key components such as electric control systems, motor drive systems and control units, as well as battery and management systems at the same time.

A demonstration of the political will to push electric mobility is the planned “20 cities-1000 Vehicles” project. Over three years, a thousand electric vehicles shall be rolled out in 20 selected cities. The new energy vehicles shall first be applied in public transportation system, subsidies from government helping local authorities to offset the price difference between new energy vehicles and traditional vehicles. The aims of this project are:

• to examine key components of electric vehicle technology
• to popularize independent research in the field of electric mobility
• to promote the concept and the already achieved quality of electric mobility
• to form a virtuous cycle of “policy support ←→lower price ←→market spread”
• to overcome the market cultivation phase and enter the fast growth phase

A project already in place is the two year pilot programme subsidising the purchase of electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) in five major cities. Since June 2010, residents of Shanghai, Hangzhou, Changchun, Shenzhen and Hefei receive up to 60,000 yuan ($8,800) when buying an EV and as much as 50,000 yuan ($7,320) when buying a PHEV. The battery requirements are 15kWh plus for the EVs, 10kWh plus for the PHEVs and a warranty for power battery systems of 5 years or 100,000km.

REVA: fearing lithium shortage

REVA has its 2 door hatchback since 2001 on the market. 3,300 of these cars are rolling on the streets of 21 countries (over 1000 cars in the UK alone) with a range of 80 kms and a top speed of 80km/h on lead acid batteries and an AC drivetrain. No major breakdowns or recalls have been recorded, and the roll-out and use of the little electric car have been smooth.

Though the successful first generation ran on lead acid batteries, REVA is looking to li-ion battery technology for the next generation of its EVs. However, Mr. Prakash Ramaraju, Head of New Technologies and IP at REVA India, says that his company is worried about a shortage in lithium supply as lithium iron phosphate is not easy to extract from the lithium reserves of this world.

Mr. Ramaraju sees the only solution to this and other problems related to electric mobility in having strong industry partnerships, i.e. EV manufacturers and battery manufacturers working closely together.

In terms of infrastructure, REVA is testing fast charge technology: off board DC charging (mode 4) with 90% charge complete in 45 minutes. A user interface gives the driver a choice of options via communication between car and station. REVA's tests so far show no difference in capacity after 100,000 km of fast charging versus regular charging.

Luxgen EV by Haitec (Taiwan)  

Mr. Francis Jen, General Manager of the Electric Vehicle Division at Haitec, talked about his company’s efforts in electric vehicle development and explained why Taiwan is a perfect place for early EV adoption:

• there are plenty resources of electricity and networks
• charging infrastructure can be established fast
• short distances: the length of Taiwan is 377 kilometer, width is 142 kilometer, the average distance between cities in western Taiwan is 45 kilometer
• easy implementation of EVs in Taiwan due to good education level and the high awareness of environmental protection

Taiwan has high reaching objectives: a domestic sales volume of 45,000 EVs and 100,000 charging stations by 2015. Luxgen fully intends to be part of this market development.

“Nobody is saying that EVs are going to replace conventional cars by 100%. But EVs very soon will be able to replace ICEs for about 70-90% of their typical usage.” Meaning EVs have the potential to dominate the market.

The broad uptake of electric vehicles, however, will transform the industrial landscape and not only impact on the automotive sector but as well on the component industry, the carbon industry, the energy storage industry and last but certainly not least the energy industry.

Jaguar: 4% market penetration for EVS by 2015 - globally!

Paul Bostock, Technical Specialist for Hybrid Strategy and Integration at Jaguar/Land Rover UK, surprised the audience with projections of 4% market HEVs/PHEVs/EV penetration globally by 2015. This is considered to be an optimistic view, but in line with what more and more market surveys are suggesting, namely that market penetration will be deeper and faster than what was projected even just a year ago.

The Jaguar/Land Rover group is under more pressure to advance quickly in optimising fuel and emission efficiency of their cars, as their fleet mainly comprises powerful and big vehicles. In contrast to most European and Japanese vehicle manufacturers that are able to level out their fleet average with smaller and more economic models, they have a real problem in living up to the strict emission standards imposed by the European Union.

Volkswagen: the modular way

Volkswagen, the biggest car manufacturer in Europe and an important player in the international arena, has been looking at electric vehicles for a long time, only in the prototype stage though. New market demands, however, force the group now to adapt and to react quickly to the call for cleaner cars.

Volkswagen’s response to this pressure: MQB - the alternative drivetrain concept. The idea behind this concept is to develop optimised ICE, micro-mild hybrids, full hybrid, plug-in hybrid, battery electric cars and fuel cell cars in parallel and to put a modular block system in place.

“The thinking in the Volkswagen group was that we could develop these different vehicle groups one after the other, step by step” said Tobias Giebel, Head from the Volkswagen Research Lab in China. “The market has changed, however, and the pressure is such that we have to develop all these vehicles types in parallel.”

The MQB concept will allow Volkswagen to reduce costs by using the same components and concepts in different car types as to satisfy the fast moving market demand for new drive technologies.

The next EV Battery Forum will take place in Europe 12-14 April 2011 and in China 6-8 September 2011.