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Published in the winter 2011 of MyLIFE magazine
Fittingly, ECOtality North America, the epicenter of the largest electric vehicle (EV) experiment in history, sits adjacent to the sprawling electrical power lines that feed power to all of downtown Phoenix.
A subsidiary of San Francisco-based ECOtality, ECOtality North America (formerly eTec) is the home of The EV Project, the high-profile Department of Energy (DOE) initiative that is synonymous with President Obama’s 2010 stimulus package.
When discussing the Recovery Act in his 2010 State of the Union address, President Obama singled out ECOtality North America: “Economists on the left and the right say that this bill has helped save jobs and avert disaster. But you don’t have to take their word for it. Talk to the small business in Phoenix that will triple its work force because of the Recovery Act.”
In a little more than a year and as a direct result of its leadership role in The EV Project, ECOtality North America has grown from having fewer than 20 employees to well more than 100. The firm’s ever-expanding, inconspicuous red brick building is bulging at the seams.
ECOtality North America has a long history in electric transportation. Dating back to 1989, it has been intricately involved in the research, development and testing of advanced transportation and energy systems, including every EV initiative in North America since the 1990s.
It is estimated that this latest initiative, The EV Project, will add an additional 1,200 jobs nationwide by 2012 and 5,500 jobs by 2017, ranging across a variety of sectors and industries.
The largest-ever deployment of electric vehicles and charge infrastructure, launched on Oct. 1, 2009, and is scheduled to last approximately 36 months. ECOtality North America was initially chosen to oversee the project in August 2009.
A DOE grant of $99.8 million provided initial funding. Subsequently, the DOE granted the project an additional $15 million. Additional private and public-sector investments have since brought the total project cost to approximately $230 million.
The EV Project is tasked with establishing and studying a comprehensive network of EV charging stations. That EV infrastructure includes the eventual installation of 15,085 such charging systems in 16 strategic markets in six states—Arizona, California, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas and Washington—as well as the District of Columbia.
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The Chevrolet Volt (chassis, battery-pack shown here) has a driving range of up to 379 miles, based on EPA estimates. For the first 35 miles, it can drive emissions-free using a full charge of electricity stored in its 16-kilowatt lithium-ion battery.
While many automakers worldwide are rushing to get a piece of the incentivized EV market, to date, the leading plug-in cars on the market are the zero-emission Nissan Leaf and the Chevrolet Volt. Initially, The EV Project will support the introduction of 5,700 Nissan Leafs and 2,600 Chevy Volts. With federal tax credits, consumers will pay approximately $25,000 for a Leaf and $33,000 for a Volt. Vice President Joe Biden has touted the Recovery Act’s quick results with regard to EVs. “Already, electric vehicles are becoming more affordable and accessible. In 2009, the only available electric-drive vehicle cost more than $100,000.” By 2012, and with the U.S government firmly behind the initiative, every major automaker is expected to offer some sort of electric or plug-in hybrid vehicle.
Mike Tinskey, Ford’s plug-in hybrid and EV manager, said Ford plans to introduce a portfolio of electric and plug-in hybrid cars—including the Ford Focus EV—in the next three years, with the lofty goal of having 25 percent of its fleet available as hybrid or electric cars in the next decade.
“In addition to virtually all established vehicle makers in the U.S., Europe and Asia, there will be many new companies introducing all-electric or plug-in hybrid vehicles,” said Jim Vogt, who has responsibility for global original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) at ECOtality. “These new OEMs include Fisker, Think, Coda, Wheego and many others,” Vogt added.
To date, The EV Project has lined up an impressive group of 40 diverse partners, including Nissan, Chevrolet, Cracker Barrel, BP, Best Buy, Qualcomm and Eaton Corp.
ECOtality North America President Donald Karner, who was the guest of first lady Michelle Obama at the 2010 State of the Union address, clearly has his eyes on the big picture “After the initial infrastructure is installed, that’s when our work with our EV Project partners really kicks in, collecting data and analyzing that data. The goal is to use that data to develop a sustainable, viable business model for future charger deployment,” he said.
According to The EV Project website, “The EV Project will be collecting and analyzing data to characterize vehicle use in diverse topographic and climatic conditions, while evaluating the effectiveness of charge infrastructure, and conducting trials of various revenue systems for commercial and public charge infrastructure.”
Karner, a nuclear engineer, says “evaluating” is the key word when discussing the long-term objectives of The EV Project. “The EV Project is about infrastructure development and evaluation, with a real emphasis on evaluation. We’re working closely with our partners, the utilities and listening to local municipalities. We’re deploying infrastructure in several cities and states to learn how to best deploy infrastructure in the next 500 cities.”
Britta Gross, head of Chevrolet’s infrastructure commercialization for the Volt, agreed with Karner’s assessment. “We’ve got to get this technology right. It’s a first-generation technology—never been done before,” she noted.
“We want to understand infrastructure, where the grid is going, what’s the smart grid and where it’s evolving—so that we can evolve the vehicle as well,” Gross added.
After repeated false starts, the stars seem aligned for EVs, yet the question remains, will The EV Project really pave the way for the successful long-term rollout of electric transportation across America?
Karner addressed that issue in a recent article in The Arizona Republic. “I was confident in 1989 it would be just a few years and there would be lots of electric vehicles out there,” he said. “I believe this time it is much more of a market pull. You’ve got climate-change concerns, energy independence and straight economics with the cost of gasoline continually being on the rise.”