The brand new Ford Focus Electric, which is scheduled to debut in the US late next year and in Europe in 2012, will take its power from a lithium-ion battery pack that uses heated and cooled liquid to maximise battery life and range.

The thermal management system is essential to the success of lithium-ion batteries in electric cars because without it extreme temperatures could affect performance, reliability, safety and durability. With an advanced liquid cooling and heating system the temperature of the lithium-ion batteries is regulated which keeps them working well in a range of conditions.

So how does it work?

The active liquid system will heat or chill a coolant before it is pumped through the battery cooling system. On hot days, chilled water absorbs the heat from batteries and disperses it through a radiator before pumping it through the chiller again. Then on cold days, the heated water warms the batteries and gradually brings the system’s temperature to a level that allows it to accept charge energy and provides discharge power for optimised performance.

In addition, the system helps to charge the vehicle. When the all-electric Focus is plugged in to recharge the vehicle control system automatically preconditions the battery. Meanwhile, if the battery is already at the optimal temperature the system will automatically accept charge and maintain an optimal temperature.

The Ford Focus Electric will have a range in the region of 100miles and will be available in late 2011.

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It may have taken electric cars a long time to reach the point of breaking into the mainstream, but it now seems they are ready to sky rocket.

A new report from Pike Research suggests that worldwide adoption of plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles will grow quickly over the next five years. Sales are expected to total 3.2million vehicles between 2010 and 2015, meaning a compound annual growth rate of 107 per cent and 106 per cent respectively. Sales of plug-in electric vehicles will top one million units in five years with plug-in hybrid electric vehicles accounting for 44 per cent of the total.

Pike has also made a forecast about regular hybrid vehicles, suggesting they will remain important over the next few years as manufacturers look to meet increasingly tight fuel economy and emission regulation standards. It predicts growth of 12.7 per cent between 2010 and 2015.

According to senior analyst Dave Hurst, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and battery electric vehicles will complement rather than displace the present conventional hybrid electric vehicle market. Electric vehicles are expected to be launched in the small car segment initially with the small SUV market close behind. As they have low weight and good aerodynamics they are far more efficient and will better extend the electrically powered driving range.

Sales for the plug-in hybrid electric vehicle market are predicted to reach 472,612 units in 2015 with 204,110 to be sold in the US followed by Japan with 62,143 units. Meanwhile, battery electric vehicles are expected to take off in China and reach 262,203 vehicles sold in 2015.

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Nissan North America has formed an electric vehicle partnership with the state of Hawaii as it bids to introduce an electric vehicle charging network in the area.

The partnership was confirmed at the Asia Pacific Clean Energy Summit and Expo in Honolulu and is the first definitive agreement reached by the company in the United States.

As part of the agreement, the Nissan LEAF will be made available in the state in January 2011. Hawaii will provide a $4,500 state tax credit towards the purchase of an electric vehicle and a $500 state tax credit for the purchase and installation of a home charging system. When this is added to a $7,500 Federal tax credit, the price of the Nissan LEAF could be slashed from $32,780 to as little as $20,780 for customers in the state.

In addition, Nissan and Hawaii will develop plans to promote charging infrastructure for electric vehicles. They will co-ordinate the establishment of policies and help streamline the deployment of an electric vehicle infrastructure.

According to US Senator Daniel K Inouye the partnership personifies the state’s commitment to a future powered by clean and sustainable sources of energy.

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Just a week after we looked at China’s potential to be the new electric car super power (see article) another alliance has formed for the deployment of electric vehicles in the country.

The Eaton Corporation is teaming up with vehicle manufacturer Beigi Foton Motor Company; NESTIA the New Energy Sustainable Transportation International Alliance; AECOM; IBM; electric motor provider Broad Ocean; and lithium-ion battery manufacturer MGL; as announced at the third annual China Green Energy Auto Development Summit Forum.

NESTIA is expected to play a lead role in the alliance placing special focus on the deployment of green vehicles in taxi, bus, refuse and sanitation fleets as well as introducing the accompanying charging infrastructure. It is also part of a broader global alliance with Eaton, AECOM and IBM to advance the adoption of green cars from plug-ins to full electric.

The new alliances will combine expertise helping the preparation of a master plan for public and private electric vehicle battery swapping and charging station networks; the design and development of plug-in and electric vehicles; the implementation of public electric vehicle charging station network infrastructure; a review of a utility company’s grid infrastructure to support new load requirements; and assistance for utility companies in preparing a portfolio of business applications for electric vehicle specific systems.

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Electric cars are widely excepted as a ‘green’ alternative to fossil fuelled vehicles as they emit no tailpipe emissions and because their carbon footprint can be largely determined by the electricity mix from which they recharge.

However what has not been fully analysed and understood is just how green the manufacture, operation and disposal of the rechargeable batteries are. It is well known that modern electric cars are reliant largely on lithium ion batteries which require the extraction of rare lithium to produce.  Critics of electric cars have claimed that this much undermines the environmental argument for electric cars, but now, new analysis from Swiss scientists has shown that electric cars perform better than expected after the ecological footprint of their batteries is accounted for.

Research institute, Empa has for the first time calculated the environmental impact of lithium-ion batteries and concluded that, with this taken into account, a conventional car with a petrol engine would need to achieve around 70mpg in order to be as environmentally friendly as an electric car.

That’s a tall order, average mpg for a petrol car is around 40mpg, while even the greenest petrol car currently available on the market-the Toyota iQ achieves just 65.7mpg on a combined cycle.

The investigation shows that the environmental impact of producing the batteries is only a fraction of an electric car’s impact. Using a standard European electricity mix, an electric car the size on a VW Golf was compared to a new petrol-engine car meeting Euro 5 emissions regulations.

The research concluded that, at mos,t only 15 per cent of the electric car’s total burden could be ascribed to the battery (including its manufacture, maintenance and disposal). Half of this figure, that is about 7.5 per cent of the total environmental burden, occurs during the refining and manufacture of the battery’s raw materials, copper and aluminium. The production of the lithium, in the other hand, is responsible for only 2.3 per cent of the total.

“Lithium-ion rechargeable batteries are not as bad as previously assumed,” Dominic Notter, co-author of the ‘Contribution of Li-Ion Batteries to the Environmental Impact of Electric Vehicles’ study said.

In fact, the refuelling of an electric car over a 150,000 mile lifetime, by far accounted for the greatest share of the car’s environmental impact. “Refueling” with electricity sourced from a mixture of atomic, coal-fired and hydroelectric power stations, as is usual in Europe, results in three times as much pollution as from the Li-ion battery alone.

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The world of greener motoring and alternative fuels can be a complex and confusing place. As such you may often be left with the feeling that you could do with a handy guide when making that all-important vehicle choice or when you are looking for maintenance tips to help your current car run cleaner.

Well, at last the RAC has come to the rescue, publishing a new guide, entitled; ‘The Efficient Driver’s Handbook’ which provides ‘everything today’s driver needs to know about choosing and using a car in an economical and eco-efficient way’.

Covering everything from electric, hybrids, LPG ‘dual fuel’ and other alternatively fuelled vehicles to the most fuel-efficient diesel and petrol cars, author Dave Moss provides a complete overview of the market for ‘greener’ vehicles while also providng handy driving tips to get the most to the mile from your car.

To celebrate the release of this new comprehensive guide, priced at £9.99 RRP, we have blagged five copies to give away absolutely free.

All you have to do to be in with a chance to win is signed up to receive our newsletter during September (see left hand side of the web page, click on the Subscribe now button) and you will automatically be entered into the competition. The competition will close on midnight, September 30, 2010 and is open to UK residents only. We’ll email the lucky winners, selected at random, to ask for addresses to send the books out after the competition closes. Winners need to respond within 10 days to claim their prize, otherwise another winner will be selected.

So get signing to win!

Competition as featured on ThePrizeFinder – UK Competitions.

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Tuesday 31 August 2010: The Green Piece Column.

It’s one of the most common concerns about the electrification of the automobile – no, not how long the range of these vehicles will last or how regularly batteries will need to be replaced; but just how safe are electric cars?

Electrical fires are notoriously dangerous, particularly for fire-fighters using water or other conductive agents. Over the years, electrical shocks have caused many deaths and though solutions have been found – fire-fighters generally use dry chemical powder extinguishers and carbon dioxide to put out electrical fires – there are fears that a surge in electrical vehicle numbers could exacerbate the problem.

However, General Motors attempted to address this issue with a nationwide electric vehicle training tour in the US.

Inspired by the Volt

A pre-production version of the Chevrolet Volt (to be known in the UK as the Vauxhall Ampera) was used as a teaching tool on the tour which included classroom training and a live extrication exercise in which fire-fighters practised door and roof removal.

As part of the exercise, fire-fighters inspected the instrument panel to ensure that the crashed Chevrolet Volt had been turned off. They were then able to stabilise the vehicle with a “chock and block” procedure before deflating the Volt’s tyres to ensure it remained stable during cutting and extrication. The 12V electrical system is then disabled by cutting the battery cables at designated cut points behind a trim panel towards the rear of the car.

The Volt does come with a removable high voltage service plug in the rear centre console which can be used to disable high voltage components. However, this is mainly designed for automotive technicians and could be difficult to access at the scene of an accident.

Steps towards safety

The good news for fire-fighters and the emergency services in general is that the issue of safety is being looked at very carefully by General Motors and other car manufacturers.

The Volt, for example, comes with an on-board safety system. This automatically unlocks its doors and activates emergency flashes while disabling the fuel pump when an airbag signal is detected.

The lithium-ion battery pack meanwhile is bolted to the underside of the vehicle floor from underneath. It has been subjected to an array of abuse tests including overcharge, discharge, vibration, excess heat and cold, short circuit, humidity, fire and more. GM actually recommends that a Volt battery fire can be fought with water rather than dry chemicals as the Volt battery has no explosion or electrocution hazard as the result of a collision. The high voltage system shuts down automatically as soon as airbags are deployed.

In the US, the Volt is also supported by OnStar safety. This means that first responders will be informed that the Volt features an electric powertrain before they arrive on the scene.

Thanks to the OnStar application, the vehicle’s position can be triangulated to determine if it has left the roadway and the advisers can sound the vehicle’s horn to help personnel locate the vehicle. OnStar has also developed an Impact Severity Predictor that evaluates the intensity and angle of impact and predicts the likelihood of injuries in the vehicle.

Potential problems

One area that did cause some issues for the fire-fighters during the challenge was the inability to cut through ultra high strength steel such as boron or martensite.

This structural steel was first used in Volvo vehicles in the late 1990s and has since become commonplace throughout the industry. It is seen as an important safety feature because it can enhance side impact protection and roof strength integrity.

Indeed more than 70 per cent of the Volt’s structural steel uses ultra high strength steel, including the floor which supports the battery pack. The problem of course is that cutting through this sort of material with an electric battery close by can be dangerous due to the sparking from the high-speed rotary cut-off saws, which present a fire hazard. Indeed the jaws of older hydraulic cutting tools can spread from excessive side loads when a cut is attempted. However, most extrication tools have been upgraded to deal with the new steels.

Our verdict on the safety of electric cars

It’s understandable that new car buyers would have their doubts about the safety of electric cars and the ability of first responders to deal with a crash scene and fire involving an electric powertrain.

However, as with any new technology it’s safe to assume that as electric cars become more commonplace, fire-fighters will be better equipped to deal with emergencies. Most importantly for early electric car buyers, manufacturers are taking the safety issue very seriously, and, just as General Motors is doing with the Volt, are implementing unique safety features that should make drivers just as comfortable in an electric powered car as they are in a regular vehicle.

With time it may even be the case that electric cars are safer than their petrol and diesel counterparts because the implementation of Smart Grid technology should increase vehicle communications making responses to accidents faster and more efficient. Yes there may be teething problems, but electric cars have come a long way and so has their commitment to safety.

Faye Sunderland

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Foton Motor, of China, and Freescale Semiconductor have joined forces to create the Foton-Freescale Automotive Joint Lab with the aim of exploring joint development efforts in areas including electric and hybrid vehicles and relevant electronic control technology.

The Foton-Freescale Automotive Joint Lab is committed to co-developing silicon, software and system-level solutions for use in the next generation of Foton vehicles with future collaborations to look at powertrains, chassis and safety technologies.

Part of the collaboration will involve a wide range of microcontroller platforms, which will include Freescale’s 32bit Power Architecture MCUs, 16bit S12X and 8bit S08 devices along with analogue power management ICs and sensors.

According to Wu Xuebin, the Foton motor vice president and director of the Engineering Research Institute, automotive electronics technology has greatly enhanced the safety, emissions and economic performance of vehicles. Now Foton is committed to promoting energy and environmental technology in the industry and has provided continuous breakthroughs in new energy driven vehicles over recent years.

Reza Kazerounian, the senior vice president and general manager of Freescale’s Microcontroller Solutions Group, commented that through close collaboration the companies hope to drive breakthroughs in cost effective electronics, powertrains and hybrid electric vehicle solutions. It hopes to help Foton maintain its leadership in the area of commercial vehicles while also enhancing research and development in green cars.

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The switchable battery electric vehicle taxi pilot in Tokyo, Japan, has been extended by Better Place and will now be in operation through to the end of the year.

The company hopes that by extending the trial it will be able further evaluate and optimise the design and integration of the components of the system, which include the battery switch station, battery performance and charging as well as the electric vehicle taxis themselves.

Run by the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy of Japan’s Ministry of Economy, the existing trial began on April 26 and focuses on the feasibility of battery switch as a means for taxis to have an instant zero emission range extension.

Now the programme extension has been approved by the Ministry’s Agency for Resources and Energy with operations to be temporarily suspended until September 1 so the onboard vehicle data can be analysed.

According to Kiyotaka Fujii, the president of Better Place Japan, at this point there has been little information about how the electric vehicle battery will perform in real world taxi conditions. However, the trial has provided critical insights into battery performance in a switch model and switch station performance for the toughest customers.

Some of the initial data revealed by the trial showed that the taxis have driven an average of 40,311km; drivers have been through the switch station 2,122 times; and average switch time is 59.1 seconds. 

It is still hoped that the switch station itself will be launched next year in Israel and Denmark.

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The US Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is on the lookout for computer aided design tools that could help boost electric vehicle batteries.

The NREL has made $2.5million available over a 12month period for a total of $7.5million over 36 months in an effort to find design tools that would shorten the prototyping and manufacturing cycles and optimise batteries to assist with performance, safety, longevity and costs. It plans to award up to five cost-sharing sub-contracts.

Noting that one of the major barriers to mass adoption of electric vehicles is their affordability, the NREL has pinpointed the high cost and limited performance and life of batteries, particularly those using lithium-ion. It believes the battery industry is currently dependent on expensive and time consuming processes and a cycle of “design, build, test, break” with sophisticated design tools not widely available.

That has prompted an activity called Computer Aided Engineering for Electric Drive Vehicle Batteries that aims to introduce battery simulation and modelling design tools to the development of batteries during their early stages and help reduce the steps in the design, build, test, break process.

Any firm awarded a sub contract will be asked to develop multi-physics simulation models that can capture realistic three-dimensional geometries and configurations of cell level and pack level of batteries or other energy storage devices. It will also need to address the electrochemical, mechanical, chemical, electrical, thermal and/or structural physics in cells and battery packs. The hope is that suites of software tools will be developed to enable car and battery manufacturers and other end users to simulate battery packs and accelerate development of energy storage systems that meet electric vehicle requirements.

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