The Trouble with Electrics: BMW Finds We have a lot to learn

The Trouble with Electrics

BMW recently released the early results of field tests of its electric Mini and says the findings indicate there is much to learn and even more to do before there can be widespread use of electric vehicles.

Rich Steinberg, BMW North America manager of electric vehicle operations and strategy, said the companys small-scale rollout of several hundred E-Mini tests in Los Angeles, New Jersey and New York was more difficult than expected and that the biggest problem is infrastructure.

BMW is leasing the cars to customers in what is a big R&D project and has found that installing the necessary battery chargers in homes and buildings was seldom easy and regularly took longer than the company expected. The majority of owners are thrilled to be involved in the program, BMW reported, but also noted that range anxiety is still a big factor in convincing people to buy the vehicle.

The Mini E has a 35-kilowatt-hour battery comprising 5,088 laptop-type lithium-ion cells, and it typically must be charged daily. It can take more than 24 hours to charge using the 12-amp cord plugged into a standard 110-volt wall socket. A 32-amp cord plugged into a 220 cuts that to 4.5 hours, but either way homeowners need permits and municipal approval to install the $5,000 charging stations required to keep the Mini E going. BMW noted that not many of the drivers in the field test were prepared for the infrastructure-related challenges that emerged.

Considering the results of its field test, BMW will almost certainly get more involved with plug-in hybrids that include hyper-efficient gas-powered generators, which are more efficient than a normal car engine, because theyre designed to run at only one or two speeds, and also charge from the grid like the Mini E. However, the companys stance is also that the electric car would have more potential to compete with plug-ins, hybrids and traditional cars, if a public charging infrastructure were in place.

BMW believes that based on its Mini E field test data, eight key factors would ease the acceptance of electric cars:

Standardized Plug design: No worldwide standard of connectors currently exists. The Society of Automotive Engineers is expected to adopt a universal charging plug ” known in the EV biz as SAE J1772 ” sometime next year, but for now manufacturers are going their own way.

Customer expectation management: Customers must know upfront, ALL the requirements of owning an electric vehicle in terms of construction, permit authorities and local municipalities.

A secondary electricity meter to avoid upgrading the existing panel. Secondary panels could be smart enough to charge the car during specific off-peak hours. (Off-peak electricity costs 50 percent less in California.)

Standardized inspection and permitting standards: BMW found that each municipalitys inspection and permit approval processes are unique and some can be extremely difficult.

Wall box installation should be done before the vehicle is delivered.

Post-installation servicing and troubleshooting is murky. When the car wont charge, several factors can be to blame (the car, charger, ground-fault indicator on the 110V cable or on the outlet, the circuit breaker, or the utility) which complicates the matter of which party should pay to send a technician to the home.

Public infrastructure: widespread electric-car public charging stations are a necessity and they must be cross-compatible between manufacturers, service providers and utilities.

Vehicle-to grid-communication is essential to efficient charging: If the car can talk to the charging grid via Smartphone reservation apps, then smart and less expensive charging can occur.