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Powering the Electric Car

George

0.

Murray

Administralor

New Technology Marketing

Gregory

J.

Ostrowski

Senior Market D e v e l o p m e n t Engineer

The

Detroit Edison

Company

Detroit

Michigan

ABSTRACT

The electric car may represent major new opportunities for America

and its electric utilities. W idespread us e of electric

cars

can reduce

consumption of both imported nd domestic

oil,

substituting abundant

American fuels such

as

coal and nuclear power.Air and n oise pollution

can

be

reduced since emissions from single power plant are easier to

control than those from thousands

of

cars

This

year-round, largely off-peak load could

be

supplied with little

additional investment in utility plant. But powering the electric pas-

senger car means bringing into play an energy distribution system not

normally identified with transportation. In

this

paper, the essential

components of

this

sytem, which today produces electric pow er and

delivers it to virtually every consumer in America, are identified.

Furth er, each f these elements, from the coal mine to the electrical

transmission and distribution sys tem, is examined to determine its

capacility toaccom mod ate he additionaldemand that would be

created by electric transportation.

Predictions of

U .S .

coal production for he next decade are

examined and potential constraints on supply

are

discussed. The in-

creasingly important role that coal and nuclear power

will

assume in

generating electricity re emph asized and planned U.S . electric utility

capacity additions a re summarized.

Finally, the role of the electric utility in powering the electric pas-

senger car is discussed. The Detroit Edison electric

car

program is

described and used as a point of departure.

INTRODUCTION

Electric transportation, particularly the electric passenger

ar,

epre-

sents a major opportunity for the electric utility industry. T o illustrate

this, we estimate that there arepproximately 4 million passenger

cars

in the D etroit Edison service are a, representing approxim ately 40

billion

miles

driven per year. If just

10

percent of these

c a r s

were

powered with electricity the resulting revenues to Detroit Edison at

current rates would be over 100 million per year. Raise that to

25

percent and the revenue becom es 250 million, an increase

of

12

percent ov er our current electric revenues.

This positive effect on Detroit Edison revenues would also have a

positive effect for the compa nys customers. More efficient use of

base-load power plantsby charging EC s at ight would help lessen the

need for rate ncrease s, keeping customer electric bills as low

as

possible.

Since the charging of electric cars can be accomplished to a large

extent during utility off-peak hours, electric

cars

can contribute to

improved utility load factors, thereby reducing the average c ost of

generation. From a national perspective, he use of electric

c a r s

would

effectively substitute coal and nuclear power for importedil and help

to reduce pollution in urban areas.

One of the purposes of this

paper

s to demo nstrate tha t this new load

largely

can be

accommodated without any serious impacts on coal

supply

or

electric power generation and distribution sy stem s. More

importantly, w e wiU identify and d iscuss the m a n y activities required

of electric utilities today if we are to

be

prepared

for

powering electric

cars in the late 1980s.

First, it is important to put this potential new load into perspective.

We can b egin by looking at the load profile of a typical electric pass-

enger car. Assume for the time being that such

a

car has the perfor-

mancecharacteristicsshown in Table

I .

Assume further that he

charging characteristics are such that the batteries receive

a

tapering

charge as shown in Figure 1. From

this

data it

is

now possible to

calculate the likely impact of thousands or perhaps d o n s

f

electric

cars

in terms

of

the energy consumption and the potential impact on

peak-loads of electric utilities.

Table

I

Electric

Car

characteristics

Range

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Mile s

Energy . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.5 kWh/Mile

charger vottage

. .

. . . . . .

.

.

.

.

. . .

.

.

. .

. 240

volts

charger

current

(max.) . . . . . . . . . . . .

. .

.

=Amps

Power Requirement(max.) .

. .

.

.

.

. .

.

. .

.

7 2

kW

To do this, we must also make some assumption as to the likely

numb er of electric cars which will

be

produced and sold

as

a func tion of

time. The most recent studiesavailable indicate tha t significant num-

bers of electric vehicles

will

not exist ntil a large dome stic corporation

begins production.

This

event is ecpected to take place about 1986

when

GM

ntroduces tselectr iccommute rcar.O nepossible

scenario, w hich would result in over 11 million23electric cars by the

year 2000, is shown in Table

11.

Figure 1

Electric Car

Charging

Characteristics

e o L

Table

I1

HaKs

~ c a r F o r e c a s t s *

Mi l l i i )

oecbic

cars

T U

cars

oecbic

1985.4 124

0.3

1988 1

.o

128 0.8

W

20 131 1.5

1995 4.2 136

3.1

2ooo

11.1

141 7.9

45 CH1638-6/81/0000-0045 600.7 51981

IEEE

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It is now possible to calculate the impact of such a load on the

electric utility industry as a whole. The results shownn Table III serve

to illustrate that evenf a substantial portion f the electric ar charging

load coincided with utility peak-loads, (30 percent),the resulting load

from 1 million electric cars in 1988 represents only 0.2 percent of the

planned generating capacity for the nations electric utilities. Further-

more, if the 11.1 million electric car s forecast fo r the year 2000 were

charged on utility peak to the same extent, this would represent less

than

2

percent of the planned generating capacity of the nations

electric utilities in that year.

Table 111

Total

Electric

Demand

Electric N a t i o n a l

MW)

Car ng

Demand

c p b i l i t y

YO

1 9 8 5 86

71 o o o 2

0.1 o

1988

2 160

8 0 8 o o 0 3

0.2

1990

4,320 W o o o 2

0.5%

1995

9 072

1 o o o o o o 2

0.9?/0

2Ooo

23 976

1 2 o o o o o 2

2.00/0

Assume

7.2

kW

peak

demand, 0.3

diversity

fador

lFrom Future coal

ptoieds

1980) p. 440

1980 Amual Electric

Power Survey, EEI

However, because of the electric cars inherent ability to be charged

during the off-peak hours of electric utilities, it is anticipated that the

impact on utility peak-loads would be substantially less than the rela-

tively low numbers shown here. In f act, more detailed analyses have

concluded that

as

many as 13 million electric cars could

be

a c c o m m e

dated without any significant impact on generating plant requirements.

Effects

on National Oil Consumption

It has been argued that the use of electric cars in some areas of the

country willonly serve to replace oil consumption by autom obiles with

increased oil consump tion by utilities. In this regard , it is impo rtanto

balance projected sales of electric cars, which will not app ear in great

numbers until the 1990s or later, with the generation expansion and

pow er plant conversion plans of the nations electric utilities. A lthough

oil will accoun t for pproxim ately 14.9percent of electric generation n

1980, this percentage is expected t o decrease

to

9.4 percen t by 1989 nd

continue to decrease thereafter. In the sam e time period nuclear and

coal based generation will increase from 63 percent in 1980 to 68.3

percen t in 1989 (Figure 11).

Figure I1

ElecbicGenerationbyFrindpd

Energy

sources*

conlipuars

U.S.)

13.6

10.5U

1Wl m 1 N

- - Md p l t l . r d l O O C .R .C I I I . h n l l . . c te O W -

~ r w ? u

s a r a a n E * a R a r C a s r r

This increasingly important role for coal and nuclear pow er in the

generation of electricity is illustrated even more graphically in Figure

111.

The major

shifts

will occ ur in those

areas

of the coun try, notably the

North east and South west, here oil consump tion by electric utilities is

the greatest. As illustrated in Figure IV 67.2 percent of the nations

electric generating capacity willbe coal ornuclear powe r by 1988. The

midwestern, north central and southeastern states will be predomin-

antly coal and nuclear by that time. Detroit Edison already p roduces

more than

90

percent of its pow er from coal.

mnmmulcwwh8 parr

v

a a n - - e aCR l a q cM a d

- rCMd

tlpoDl

- qrm Md

Dnd

I I

- brpod

- -

vsmb dno

Since the electric ar can be charged primarily during off-peak hour s

when typically base loaded nuclear and oal fued plants are used, total

U.S. oil consumption will be further reduced.

Effec ts

on

Coal Supply

It is generally assumed that the constraints on nuclear power, from

now until the year 2000, are primarily concerned with the ability to

build and license plants and not with the fuel supply itself. So we will

turn to the ffect of the electric ar on the needor coal fiom now until

the year 2000. Rather than attem pt topredict the actual use of coal in

the year 000, it might be more instructive to use accepted estimatesf

other s a nd etermine what p ercentage increase overhe predicted use

would be required by a projected 11 million lectric cars n that year.

Predictions of total coal requirements are shown in Table IV by

m arket ~ e c t o r . ~pproximately 1,170 of the 1,900 million ons are for

the electric utility industry.

As

shown in the calculation (Figure V , 11

million electric

cars

each travelmg 9,000 miles

per

year and

using

0.5

kilowatthours

per

mile would use approximately 49.5 X ICP kilowatt-

hours per year. Eleven million electric

c a r s

would increase the coal

requirements of electric utilities by no more than 20 million tons, or

less than .0p ercen t, in the year 2000,

if

all electric car charging is done

through coal generated electricity.

Table

IV

Total U.S. Coal

Requirements

2OOO

A.D.l

mtce)

arket sector

kquirwnent

Metallurgical . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

110

Electric . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1170

Industry/Retail . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220

Synthetic

Fuels . . . . . . . . . . . .

200

Total Requirements . . . . . 1900

Export . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Source: Future oal Prospects, M.I.T.,

1980

l l

Tons

of

Coal

Equivalent

=

27 78

X 10

BtU

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Figure V

Cacuaton:

Coal

Use

By

Electric Cars

Assumptions

N = N o . of Electriccars = 1 1 Million

M = M i D r i v e n P e r Y ~ P ~ C a r = 9 0 0 0

K

= kwh

Per

Mile = 0.5

Total Electric Energy

Use

by Elecbic ars

T = N x M x K

= 1 1 x 1 0 8 ) x

9

x 101) x

(0.5)

Yr.

=

49.5

x 10ekwJ

convetting to

coal Equivalent

f = Conversion Factor =

3414 Btu

k w h

e=Coal toElectncl tyConversionEff iaency=0.3

rntce = 27.78 x 101*BturnHono n coal equivalent)

Total

C o a l

Usage

By

Electric Cars Million Tons)

C = T x f x e

rntce

=

49.5

X 1V) 3413) 4)

27.78

x

10lz

= 20.3

Mi l l o n Tons

Cons equen tly, without evaluating the credibility of forecasts of coal

production in the year 2000 we can assume hat the impact of electric

cars on coal requirements will

be

insignifcant. These same conclu-

sions can be drawn w ith regards to the transportation of coal by the

nations railroads, shippers and, in the fu ture, coal slurry lines.

Impacts

on

Transm ission and Distribution Systems

As a result of electric car loads ,distribution systems in some residen-

tial are as where electric car penetration s signifcant (i.e., near-in

suburbs) may require upgrading. How ever, this will most probably be

manifested through some reduction in component life (due to thermal

effects) and the upgrading can probably be carried ou t over an ex-

tended p eriod of time

as

electric utility unders tanding of the electric ar

market increases.

As a general rule, distribution system capacity will not be a limita-

tion on electriccar use if charging occurs during utility off-peak hours

as

expected.

Other imp acts on the distribution sytem eed further study and are

currently being addressed by Electric Power Research Institute and

others . These include:

Harmonics introduced by battery charger power inverters

Radio and TV interference from battery chargers

Voltage drops due to increased conductor loadings

Developing Market Acceptance for the Electric Car

To

this point we have illustrated that the electrictility industry is n an

excellent position to become the fuel supplier or a large portion of

the ransportationneeds of theUnitedStates. This can be ac-

complished w ith little or no increase in planned electric generating

capability and will result in a reduction in U.S. dependence on im-

ported oil. Now w e must look at what electric utilities have to do to

prepare for this load, andf possible, to accelerate both the necessary

improvements in theprodu ct itself and he market acceptanc e of

electric cars by the general public.

Perhaps the best approach is to describe Detroit Edisons electric

car program. Our objectives are:

1. To develop local and national markets for electric passenger

a r s

and other electric vehicles.

2 . To encourage continued improvement in electric car technology

including improved batteries and propulsion sy stem s.

3 . To address the so-called infrastructu re needs of electric c a r s

including mechanics training co urses , rate s tructure s for charging

electric cars , standardized wiring arrangements for car charging

stations, etc.

4. To prom ote Detroit as the ce nter for electric car development.

5 . To dem onstrate Detroit Edisons leadership in the m arket de-

velopment

of

electric cars .

Detroit Edison purchased itsirst electric car, a convertedAmerican

Motors Pacer, in 1977. Since then we have purchased two additional

electric cars - small electric van and a converted Omni two-door

coupe. Using these vehicles on mail runs and other short hauls has

enabled us to acquire some basic familiarity with electric vehicle

technology.

Recent improvements n electric vehicle technology, plus the results

of market research studies we conducted, convinced us that electric

utilities should begin now to prepare themselves and their customers

for the electric ar of the late

1980s. For

instance, we concluded from

several focus group s that the public remains unaware of electric

cars. They a re, how ever, interested in electric

cars

when they are

exposed to information abo ut their potential advantages.

We learned that the positioning of the electric automobile as an

intermediate angepassengercar

rather hana commuteror

short-range car, is critical to its acceptance. Our research also

taught us that the electriccar should not be m arketed

as

an alternative

to gasoline cars. It s acom panio n to he long-range vehicle and, since

most current vehicle use is for elatively shor t trips, it is quite o ssible

that the electric passengerar will become

theprimary

vehicle for most

families.

These findings encouraged us to apply for participation in the U.S.

Department of Energy Electric and Hyb rid Vehicle Demonstation

Program. Beginning in June 1981, we

will

be operating 24 electric cars ,

converted Volkwagen Rabbits, in several missions including:

1. An employe lease program - 16 cars

2. Motor pool - 6 xs

3 .

Securityatrol

-

2

cars

The employe leaserogram is themost significant. Operating even a

small fleet of car s in a lease program requires that many of the issues

involved in powering the electric car be addressed.

First, standardized power stations were esigned for the drivers

homes (Figure VI). After obtaining several estimates in the range of

700.00 per installation,we are now working to simplify the design. W e

believe our goal of 300- 400 s achievable. Also our contractors have

indicated thatatimeandmaterialsarrangement, which would

eliminate the need for n estimate on ach job , ill serve to reduce the

cost of the installations.

Figure VI

I

rl

Second, power stations ere designed to accommodate electric ars

at Detroit Ed isons downtow n Detroit oBice. Th ese will be installed in

May of this year.

Third, an ElectricCar Service Center s under construction andwill

open June,

1981

in Downtow n D etroit. In the beginning it will be used

to service D etroit Edisons electric ca r fleet. We also hope, within a

short period of time to offer service to oth er leet operators in Detroit

who a re contemplating buying electric cars for evaluation purposes.

We also are ooking at issues related o rate esigns for the electric car

in order to minimize its effect on system peak-loads.

Aside from the technical considerations, theDetroit Edison program

is designed to inform and educate the public about electric cars by

demonstrating that they can satisfy many individual transportation

needs. This is probably the most importan t ingredient in powering the

electric car into a prominent place in our countrys transportation

system.

The electricutility industry must take a n active role in comm unicat-

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