No one is promising a flashy transition, but electric cars, at long last, are on the way to our local roads.
A national shift toward electric cars that has been eyed for years and contemplated for decades is scheduled for a kickstart in December in 16 metro areas in five states. Tennessee is one of those states, and Chattanooga, Nashville and Knoxville are the state’s metro areas designated for inclusion in the U.S. Department of Energy’s $230 million launch of the nation’s Electric Vehicle program.
The introductory ride will not be very conspicuous. Indeed, just 1,000 Tennesseans will get to buy into Nissan’s first production run of all-electric vehicles in December. Regardless, the opening of the electric-car era should elicit keen interest and strong support.
Cheaper fuel, lower oil use
Mass production of Nissan’s Leaf electric vehicles will bring their owners’ cost of driving down to a rate comparable to 75 cents a gallon, according to TVA fuel conversion calculations. It also promises to significantly reduce air-polluting tailpipe emissions. And if electric utilities can help consumers shift auto battery recharging to off-peak hours, and especially to nuclear base-load plants, electric utility emissions may stay low, as well.
In the near future, broad use of electric cars could begin to slash the nation’s burdensome trade deficit of some $600 billion or more annually, two-thirds of which goes for imported oil. Narrowing that dependency would save more than money: It also would serve our national security interests by diminishing America’s need to defend oil oligarchies in the Middle East whose policies and governments are inimical to American interests.
A charger infrastructure
There are, to be sure, a few technical details to work out before electric autos can go large scale. The initial problem is not how to make the cars; it’s how to build an infrastructure for charging them simultaneously with their introduction.
Tennessee’s first 1,000 buyers of Nissan’s new Leaf electric vehicle will receive a Level 1 charger for their home. That charger, which will plug into a 240-volt receptacle, can fully charge a Leaf in 12 hours and, with buyer permission, will transmit data on the car’s performance directly to Nissan.
Ecotality, a California company which won a Department of Energy bid to distribute electric vehicle chargers, is working with local governments in Tennessee to establish a charge-station infrastructure through a range of convenient businesses for Level 2 and Level 3 chargers, which are more expensive but much faster.
A Level 2 charger can recharge or top up a Leaf’s electric battery in one to three hours. More than 1,500 of these chargers will be put in charging stations in a variety of businesses and public facilities around the state and in nearby North Georgia. These will go in at restaurants, retail and grocery stores, hospitals and libraries, theaters, universities, malls, hotels and tourist destinations in and around the three designated cities. Chattanooga and Hamilton County expect to get 400 commercial-grade chargers.
For highway and interstate service, some charging stations, mostly at BP contract stations, will get a DC Fast Charger, which fully charges a Leaf in 30 minutes. Electric car owners will be able to use the public charging stations free of energy charges for a while, but they may have to pay a modest user fee under several types of member payment plans.
It’s not complicated
This may sound more complicated than it is. In reality, it’s no greater an infrastructure issue than that for other transportation innovations.
Nissan’s all-electric Leaf, moreover, gets about 100 miles on a full charge. A driver who drives the average 40 miles a day can easily keep a Leaf charged at home. The new Chevrolet Volt, which is not yet on the market, has a backup gasoline engine that offers even more flexibility. As the Leaf, Volt and other electric cars now in the works arrive at dealers, the fast chargers along interstate highways will become more common as more people choose to buy electric cars.
The introduction of a new fuel type shouldn’t be off-putting. Many countries, and a few fledgling American cities, now commonly provide natural gas as an alternative fuel. It is far more efficient and cleaner than gasoline. Different types of diesel fuel, especially cooking oils, are also making distribution inroads.
Pioneers’ benefits
The 1,000 early purchasers in Tennessee who have signed up for a Leaf – which is now built in Japan but is to be built in Tennessee beginning in 2012 in a huge new plant – are enjoying first-wave benefits, as well. The pioneers qualify for a $7,500 federal energy tax credit, a $2,500 cash rebate from the state of Tennessee, and they are receiving their home charging unit, a $2,000-to-$3,000 accessory, free of charge, courtesy of the Department of Energy.
These benefits significantly reduce the Leaf’s sticker price of $32,780. Later buyers won’t get all these advantages, but they will be able to whack their fuel costs. And as more buyers make the shift to electric cars, the prospects for reducing the current $15,000 cost for the lithium-ion battery pack may begin to drop through volume production and new technologies.
The Obama administration hopes to get 1 million drivers to convert to electric vehicles by 2015 to start reducing America’s dependency on foreign oil. Nissan expects to sell 500,000 of its Leaf model worldwide by 2013. For all the obvious reasons, these are laudatory goals. The sooner drivers can make the shift, the better off the nation will be.