After Gutenberg

At a recent electric drive conference in Brussels, a display included a Toyota illustration of how a plug-in hybrid combines the advantages of BEV and HEV. A plug-in hybrid shares the advantage of a Battery-powered all-Electric Vehicles in that it has a more efficient, electric drive and, as a grid-able vehicle, it can use an infrastructure that exists throughout all developed countries, and increasing the power comes from renewable resources. But, it also is a hybrid vehicle. For greater range, like a Hybrid Electric Vehicle, a PHEV (Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle) makes use of an internal combustion engine.

From California, we move to Europe where tighter regulation on automobile emissions will have a varying impact upon European car companies. From the perspective of The Economist, “German car firms are particularly vulnerable.” French car makers, e.g., Nissan-Renault or PSA Peugeot-Citroen, seem better positioned in terms of low-carbon technologies and decreasing cost exposure.

While I would agree with the assessment that the European market needs biodiesel capable, plug-in hybrids capable of 65 all-electric kilometres, I question the assessment that puts German car makers in a less competitive position, perhaps because the first, plug-in hybrid that I saw for sale was a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van.

Mercedes-Benz began developing and testing alternative drive systems for commercial vehicles in 1996. In 1999 Deutsche Post tested their battery-powered delivery vans and began tests of plug-in hybrids in 2001.

Futhermore, my personal bias is that, despite VW recalcitrance on electric drive, Volkswagen-Audi could make a word class, range extender. Especially in Europe, “right-sized”, common rail, turbocharged, intercooled diesel engines from a variety of manufacturers certainly are good prospects for range extenders.

And, Volkswagen has demonstrated an appreciation for high mileage design. On the other hand, none of the major car makers seemed completely well positioned because of a reliance upon steel rather than lighter weight materials.

In January California announced that by 2020 it will require a 10% reduction in the carbon emissions that a fuel emits over its life cycle. That has implications for “unconventional oil”—petrol made from oil shale and tar sands. Although CO2 emissions from the resulting fuel are the same as those from conventional sources, producing it is a filthy business, so such rules will discourage its use. Europe is planning to follow California. That is not necessarily a coincidence. There is a lot of traffic between Brussels and Sacramento on green issues.

A recent report from EURELECTRIC envisions a potential PHEV market share in Europe of 8% to 20% by 2030. Jack Rosebro, writing for Green Car Congress, notes that a limited number of commercial PHEVs have been offered for sale in Europe since at least 2002.

Groupe Dassault has converted Fiat Doblo light-duty passenger vehicle/cargo van into what they call a Cleanova II Plus. The current version has a 20 kWh lithium-ion battery pack in series with a range-extending 54 hp flex-fuel engine from Weber Automotive.

Rosebro reported that Dassault is planning more plug-in hybrids for the future. These will be conversions of Renault’s popular Kangoo passenger vehicle/cargo van. Renault produced about 500 similarly configured plug-in hybrid versions of the Kangoo in 2003, using nickel-cadmium battery packs.

A Johnson Control Lithium Battery Pack. GCC reports that “Johnson Controls/SAFT was awarded a traction battery contract by a major auto manufacturer in 2006, and will open a lithium-ion production line at its production plant in Nersac, France next year.”

For plug-in hybrids to be more than expensive, proof-of-concept vehicles, a number of issues need resolution, to include weight, cost, performance, battery life predictability, life-cycle emissions, safety, and charging availability. Foremost is cost. Batteries, along with effective battery management systems, need to be high-power, abuse-tolerant, long lasting and cost effective.

“The only option for plug-in hybrids is lithium-ion. The reason is weight,” observed Uwe Koehler, who was at the conference representing Johnson Controls / SAFT. The lithium battery packs in recent announced, BEVs (Battery-powered, all-Electric Vehicles) like the Tesla Roadster or the Phoenix Sports Utility Truck, make them prohibitively expensive for most car shoppers.

On May 11 Masatami Takimoto, executive vice president in charge of powertrain development, announced that an advanced lithium-ion battery was technically ready. Then on May 29 Winding Road reported that Toyota had postponed use of lithium ion batteries in the next Prius, thought to be scheduled for a 2008 model year introduction.

Of course, everybody is trailing behind Toyota. A worrisome question is why Toyota has delayed placing in their HEVs (Hybrid Electric Vehicles) the PLI (Polymer Lithium Ion) batteries, developed by Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. and which Toyota has been testing for some time, mainly in Japan, but also in Europe? Is it only because of bad press with lithium ion battery problems in laptops?