Future of electricity for automobiles: advanced electric vehicle concepts

Conference · Wed Jul 29 04:00:00 EDT 1981

OSTI ID:6200092

O'Connell, L G

A large and growing effort involving both the federal government and industry is underway to develop and commercialize highway vehicles that utilize electricity. The electricity they use can be generated from nonpetroleum fuels. The Department of Energy, through its Electric and Hybrid Vehicle Program, is the principal federal agency involved in this work. The goal is to replace petroleum-consuming vehicles now operating on our roadway system with ones that utilize electricity as a primary fuel. However, commercially available electric vehicles (EV) do not compete on a performance (acceleration and range) or cost basis with comparably sized internal combustion engine vehicles. Although today's electric vehicles will certainly find some commerical acceptance, we need an automobile with general-purpose capability if we are to appeal to the larger market. I have labeled such an automobile the Advanced Electric Vehicle. Thus by definition, the Advanced Electric Vehicle is an automobile capable of filling the general-purpose role of today's gasoline-powered car and uses electricity as its principle fuel. It is either an EV, hybrid vehicle (HV), or some other nonpetroleum electricity-based system, such as a fuel cell vehicle (FCV). Is this Advanced Electric Vehicle in our future. To determine this we need to have an understanding of what may be possible. Performance criteria for such a vehicle are presented and, in addition, various concepts that may be suitable for this vehicle are identified--their likely capabilities are discussed as well as the difficulties that must be overcome prior to commercialization in each case.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-48
• OSTI ID: 6200092
• Report Number(s): UCRL-85526; CONF-811010-3; ON: DE81028235
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
291000 -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Conservation
33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS
330300* -- Advanced Propulsion Systems-- Electric-Powered Systems
330400 -- Advanced Propulsion Systems-- Hybrid Systems
DIRECT ENERGY CONVERTERS
ECONOMICS
ELECTRIC BATTERIES
ELECTRIC-POWERED VEHICLES
ELECTROCHEMICAL CELLS
FORECASTING
FUEL CELLS
HYBRID ELECTRIC-POWERED VEHICLES
MARKET
PERFORMANCE
ROADWAY-POWERED ELECTRIC VEHICLES
SPECIFICATIONS
TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT
VEHICLES