A battery of reasons for Commodore EV

Australians are ready and waiting for an affordable car that will accommodate the family in comfort and cover short distances at low cost -- without significant damage to the environment. That's the rationale of Evan Thornley, CEO of Better Place Australia, and Ian McCleave, CEO of EV Engineering.

Last week, when EV Engineering revealed its proof of concept trial for seven electric vehicles (EVs) based on the VE Commodore, the Carsales Network was on hand to speak with both men -- and ask what it was about the Commodore that made it the best choice for this project.

There's unlimited potential in a battery-powered EV based on Holden's Commodore large car -- pardon the pun and the technical inaccuracy. Thornley says that the internal-combustion Commodore meets the needs of a very broad section of the market, and acceptance of the same basic car -- with a different drive system -- is half the battle won for companies committed to growing the market for EVs. And the impulse comes from fleet buyers (the Commodore-purchasing heartland) as much as it comes from private buyers who are greener in their thinking.

"They want full-size cars," Thornley remarked of the fleet buyers. "They want the same size vehicles, obviously, that they have in their fleet. These are 'tool of trade' vehicles; they have to meet the purpose that they have in the vehicle fleet -- whether it's mid-size cars, full-size cars, SUVs, etc... the type of cars they normally buy. But if those vehicles were available in a range-unlimited electric form, then the appetite for that is very large."

McCleave, a former Holden staff member, had his reasons too, although he was unable to offer much information about what form the experimental cars will take.

"We're well down the road, in terms of packaging and understanding the technical arrangement of the product, but it's too early to share [that information with the media]."

He did say that "packaging" was a consideration, however.

"We weighed up opportunities with different large cars -- and Commodore, being the number one model, was an obvious choice to look at. So we looked at the packaging of various vehicles, and Commodore was clearly a suitable candidate."

Based on the Commodore's weight distribution and the fuel tank being fitted ahead of the rear axle (to be ripped out for the EV conversion, one presumes), there would seem to be some considerable room for a compact electric motor and the battery pack for it to be mounted between the axles.

What also carried the Commodore across the line as the donor of choice was the car's consistently high sales volumes and its high-profile reputation in the domestic market, rather than any prospect it might be exported as a production EV into markets where the Commodore is already sold -- or may be sold in the future.

So the fact that the Commodore can be built in left-hand-drive as well as RHD was of no consequence in the decision to settle on the Holden?

"No, not at all," McCleave replied. "Obviously, at some point down the road, maybe it could be a possibility, but certainly at this stage [there are] no thoughts at all of exports."

The Commodore's high profile in the market provides a useful drawcard for the EV Engineering project -- is market acceptance of an EV like Mitsubishi's i-MiEV possibly consequent upon the alien nature of its design? -- but Holden's support behind the scenes was at least as important to this project, it seems.

"Holden's support was paramount to [the project]," McCleave confirmed.

On the subject of Holden and its local R&D team, what's to stop EV Engineering developing an EV version of the Cruze, which is due for launch in Australia early next month? Thornley argues that the engineering expertise in Australia has traditionally focused on large-car development, which is another reason for the Commodore providing the fundament for the EV trial. Affordable large cars have been a particular forte of Australian-based manufacturers and buyers have shown a preference for such cars in the past -- so an EV based on a locally-manufactured large car is a no-brainer.

"I won't speak on behalf of Holden," Thornley replied. "Obviously they're well down the path with the Cruze and the... Volt -- and I'm sure there's an exciting future for that -- but I do think in Australia we have a particular expertise in large cars, historically, and that turns out to be a particularly attractive market to go electric.

"I think the industry recognised that in the Vision 2020 statement that talked about being a leading producer of large, powerful electric vehicles. It makes financial sense, it makes sense in terms of the fit with our capabilities as an industry and it makes sense in terms of many of the needs of our customers. So, that seems to be a tremendous opportunity -- and this project is the beginning of capturing that opportunity."

But they're a mixed bunch of people buying Commodores. At the basic level there are fleets and private buyers, then there are the active families who need to cart around dogs (Sportwagon for them), young tradies in snazzy utes and hire-car SMEs preferring Caprice for its affordable value. So a substantial part of the appeal of the Commodore lies in its diversity of variants. There are two wheelbases, two sedans, a wagon and light commercial vehicle derivatives. McCleave remained tight-lipped about the seven vehicles taking part in the proof of concept, but it seems quite likely that there won't be just one level of trim and one body style involved in the trial.

"That's more the intention of having that quantity of cars," he admitted. "We'll probably explore different body styles, but quite frankly... one of the nice features of Commodore is [everything] under the skin is identical. Ute's got a longer wheelbase, Caprice has a longer wheelbase, but fundamentally it's the same car underneath. From a packaging point of view, our objective will be to try and live within the constraints of the car as much as we possibly can -- and yet still deliver the same performance and safety, comfort and so on that the standard car offers.

"The main intention is to really get the vehicle out there, for people to evaluate -- other than us -- who are closer to the real customers if you like, to let them feel it and see what they think."

What they think might touch on how they will have to change their driving styles -- and even their lifestyles -- to accommodate a car with a much shorter range than the petrol-engined cars they've been driving. While it's well and good to wrap an unfamiliar concept in familiar packaging, at the core of the proof of concept trial is the still limited range of the new EV. With the added weight of the Commodore, that range will be severely constrained, although EV Engineering and Better Place submit the car should be good for a range of up to around 180km. But what about drivers travelling further than that distance in a day?

"The battery switch is the answer to that one," McCleave replied, but it seems the EV Engineering CEO expects a hypothetical production model would not necessarily suit "people that are going to do 200 to 300 kilometres a day…" and explained that "it's more [for] the people that are going to do a hundred kilometres per day or less... so the people who are going to plug in for part of the day or certainly plug in overnight are going to be the obvious targets."

However, for those occasions when the target buyers for a production model need to drive beyond the range of the battery, there's the Better Place battery switch option.

"For people who do want to use their cars more, then the battery-switch arrangement -- where you can drive into a battery switch station and get a freshly-charged battery in less than three minutes, is a good option," he added.

McCleave mentioned Better Place's Tokyo taxi trial as a demonstration of how that would work with the electric Commodore and other electric vehicles configured for battery swaps. To provide the necessary range (for a car with a hefty kerb mass in this case), the batteries are not light, but there's no manhandling involved in switching a discharged battery out and a fully charged battery back into the car.

"It's in the range of 250, 300kg -- something like that," said McCleave, in respect of the battery's weight. "It's all done robotically, it's just basically a pallet that comes up underneath the car [after receiving] the electronic signal, unlatches to release the existing battery and it gets shuttled away -- [and] the fresh battery gets shuttled in.

"That's your 160 to 180 kilometres of range," McCleave concluded. The Better Place video of the Tokyo Taxi trial is on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qh0mDhCGkkA

"We're two and a half years into a five-year project," he said. "We are in the late stages of network planning, we're beginning the site acquisition process for both charge spots and swap stations. And we'll be rolling out the network in time for the mass arrival of electric vehicles. There's obviously no point in building a network until those vehicles are here.

"There are a few vehicles here at the moment... things like the Mitsubishi i-MiEV. We're serving those customers with charge spots. By the second half of next year -- we're hearing from the manufacturers around the world -- that significant volumes of affordable electric cars will be hitting the Australian market and we'll want to make sure we're there, ready to serve them with charge network infrastructure."

During his earlier presentation to the press Thornley offered his view that by 2020, running an EV of the same general size and packaging as the VE Commodore would cost owners half the amount that the same car -- petrol-powered -- would cost. But EVs cost less to run now as is. In fact, EVs cost considerably less than half the running costs of a petrol-engined vehicle. Thornley explained that his figure of 'half' the running costs included the cost of battery replacement and recharging from renewable energy.

"I'm including in those numbers the amortised capital cost of the battery," replied to our question. "The cost of the energy itself is already a quarter that of petrol. The cost of running a full-size car on renewable electricity is less than three cents a kilometre. The cost of running it on petrol is 10 to 12 [cents a kilometre].

"The difference between the two [five or six cents being 'half' the petrol running costs] is the amortised capital cost of the battery. As the cost of batteries plummets -- which everybody can see is happening -- then the total cost of both battery and renewable electricity, will be less than half the cost of running petrol in a similar vehicle."

But we're told by that there's a downside to EV technology rolled out on a larger scale to the mass market. Thornley refutes those claims: that demand for EV batteries will outstrip global supply faster than production can be increased; that there will be environmental and commercial costs to dispose of used batteries; and that recycling of rechargeable EV batteries will be an insurmountable cost society will be forced to pay.

"Those are important questions, but those suppositions are false in every case," he replied. "The volume of capital that's going into battery manufacturing capacity around the world has increased by an order of magnitude in the last three years.

"This is the biggest new manufacturing industry in the world -- electric vehicle batteries. The current battery chemistry of lithium-ion phosphate... has no toxic elements, is a hundred per cent recyclable and [there's] an abundance of all the elements required. So we don't see that as a constraint at all, we don't see any issues around disposal or recycling.

"Earlier generations of batteries had some of those issues -- the NiCads [Nickel Cadmium] and other things -- the toxic elements and an inability to recycle. The latest generation of batteries no longer has those problems."

As for production meeting demand, at least one important element of supplying the production plants can be overcome in this very country, Thornley explained.

"People talk about whether there's enough lithium in the world... the largest supply of lithium  in the world is that great quarry known as Western Australia. This is a great opportunity for Australia."

"We had talked with them," explained Ian McCleave, "but we elected not to be part of it, because they were a little bit too early for us -- but certainly if other initiatives become available, we'll be interested in talking to them."

So the company has missed the boat for the Victorian trial, but has it conversely jumped the gun announcing the trial? Perhaps building an EV in large-car format is an answer to a question nobody has asked -- because the rest of the world isn't ready for such a vehicle. The problem with being a pioneer is it often takes years for everyone else to catch up with your thinking -- and in the meantime you get attacked by the wild bears of 'bleeding edge' technology.

"You've seen hybrid technology in large [cars]," McCleave answered, "but I don't see other people focusing on large cars for their EV projects. They're either coming from two directions; one is either very small cars -- city cars, which as Evan [Thornley] pointed out, is okay, but not really where the problem is, because of petrol consumption -- or they're coming at it from sports cars or something like that. Tesla, of course... coming at it from the high-performance end downwards.

"I guess what we saw was coming at it from the consumer side -- and saying: 'Where do consumers get the greatest benefit? Where do Australians get the greatest benefit?' Clearly, if we target the people who do the high kilometres -- 25,000-kilometres-per-year-type of people -- [and] take advantage of the fact that Australia's population centres are fairly constrained in a sense; up and down the eastern seaboard and quite easy to service from an EV infrastructure point of view, all the research that we've looked at says that well over 90 per cent of people can be very satisfied with the range of an EV."

Currently, the company is looking forward to just the next step -- the successful trial of the Commodore-based EVs. But McCleave foresees the prospect of the intellectual property being commercialised, even if the cars themselves don't end up in production.

"At this point, everything's wrapped very tightly around the proof of concept vehicles. That's what we have funding to deliver... that's got to be our number one target of course. But clearly there are opportunities -- not only our company but our member companies -- to spread the knowledge they glean from this project onto other opportunities.

"What we've learned already from this, of course -- it's not rocket science -- is there's a desperate shortage of EV skills around the world. The companies that have [those skills] are very highly sought after, so one of my objectives was to get in there while it's still relatively new technology to be able to develop it here before other people get to it."

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