Volkswagen of America to invest $10M in EV charging infrastructure by 2016; calls for more legislative support to spur EV adoption
10 February 2015
Volkswagen of America will invest $10 million by 2016 to support the build-out of electric vehicle charging infrastructure in the US, said Jörg Sommer, vice president, product marketing and strategy. At the same time, Sommer said in his presentation at the 2015 Electric Drive Congress in Washington DC, continued legislative support is needed to reach the next level of electric vehicle adoption.
In January, Volkswagen of America and BMW of North America, together with ChargePoint, announced an initiative to create more express charging corridors along heavily-traveled routes on the East and West Coasts; specifically to install nearly 100 DC Fast Chargers across both coasts aiming to have charging sites no more than 50 miles apart. (Earlier post.) This program is one component of the $10-million commitment Volkswagen is making to support the build-out of the electric vehicle charging infrastructure.
Volkswagen will also invest to support installation of charging stations in certain dealer locations. To facilitate local, state and regional infrastructure deployment, Sommer suggested that the regulators will also need to support programs that reinforce these efforts to support mass electric vehicle adoption including the Department of Energy’s Clean Cities program and the Department of Transportation’s MAP-21 program.
As Volkswagen and as an industry, we are doing our part to show the EV is a perfectly viable daily driver and as I have mentioned, we have done a lot on our side to bring this confidence to the consumer and drive further adoption of electric vehicles.
Automakers have responded to the challenging regulations and standards put before us. We have done our part to bring very competitive and viable vehicles to market but we have to have a market that encourages their sale. As a market, we are not where some predicted we would be. We know that Secretary of Energy Moniz recently admitted that the Obama administration’s ambitious and encouraging goal of one million EVs on American roads by 2015 is unattainable. In the best case scenarios, with a strong market, we’ll see closer to 400,000 by the end of this year.
How do we get to mass acceptance of EVs here? How do we move beyond these early adopters and passionate enthusiasts? We cannot do so alone. We can offer the best vehicles, invest in infrastructure, support the needs and wants of these special consumers, but in order to move into the mainstream, we need continued support.
Our push for EV growth is evident around the world and here in the US but the absence of a well-established charging infrastructure, gas prices at a national average of $2.06/gallon, and the higher sticker price of electric vehicles, have resulted in a dramatic shortfall of the President’s aspirational goal of 1 million electric vehicles in the US market by 2015.
—Jörg Sommer
Sommer’s list of needed measures at the Federal, state, regional and local levels included:
Congressional support for a consistent and predictable tax policy for electric drive vehicles and infrastructure. Examples in this category include protecting and expanding existing tax credits in the Energy Independence and Security Act. Sommer also suggested Congress should enact a multi-year extension of the incentives for commercial and private investment in small and large-scale alternative-fuel vehicle infrastructure.
Congressional support with the mid-term review of the EPA’s greenhouse gas regulation to extend the multiplier credits for plug-in vehicles beyond MY21 and to extend the number of plug-in vehicles exempt from upstream emissions under the regulation.
Federal and state commitment to cleaner fleets by purchasing EVs and PHEVs. “This should be a U.S. Government priority, and purchases should not be restricted by domestic content provisions. As the Greenhouse Gas regulations are not limited to domestic automakers, neither should the purchase of EVs and PHEVs be limited to domestic brands for government fleets.”
Programs are needed for state, regional and local infrastructure development, such as the Department of Energy’s Clean Cities program and the Department of Transportation’s MAP-21 program. Volkswagen would like to see federal financing support for establishing fast charging networks in urban areas and interstate corridors.
Sommer also noted that because EV consumer are buying into a new way of driving, even a lifestyle, not just a car, Volkswagen believes in a holistic approach to e-mobility. In addition to the Volkswagen Group’s global commitment to become more environmentally conscious from sourcing, to manufacturing, to the cars on the road and beyond, this includes strategic collaborations to address the forward thinking lifestyle and preferences of the EV customer.
Volkswagen of America teamed with 3Degrees, a renewable energy and carbon offset services provider. Under a carbon reduction/offset program, there will be offset of the e-Golf’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions resulting from its production, distribution and from the estimated emissions produced from keeping the vehicle charged through the initial 36,000 miles of the vehicle’s life.
Other initiatives supporting VWoA’s holistic approach include an arrangement with SunPower that offers e-Golf customers the opportunity to install a high performance solar system to help provide the power to charge their electric vehicle using clean solar energy. In addition, e-Golf customers will have the opportunity to purchase home charging installation and hardware packages from Bosch.
Based on its modular toolkits, Volkswagen Group engineers around the world are currently working on electrifying up to 40 different models: from pure electric drives to plug-in hybrids, and even the fuel cell, Sommer said.
Tesla does not ask for the tax payers money to build their charging infrastructure. Compared to VW Tesla is just a small startup so it is unworthy of VW to ask for more subsidies and Toyota to ask for government paid hydrogen stations. VW and Toyota should build these charging/fueling stations with their own money and stop weeping. VW should find a way that make electric cars good business without subsidies just like Tesla has done. Luxury long-range BEVs are good business today and paring an autonomous driving system with a small long-lasting lithium titanate battery can make BEVs for any transportation opportunity a much better business than possible by any gasser.
It is not super straightforward to see why luxury cars and autonomous cars is the way forward for BEVs without subsidies so a little computations are necessary to make the argument.
First compare Leaf and Prius
Nissan Leaf life cost: 34,870 USD = (29,000 USD for Leaf + 4,320 USD for life electricity + 2,550 USD for life maintenance - 1000 USD scrap value of battery)*
Life cost per mile: 0.27 USD = $34,870/127,500 miles service life*
Toyota Prius life cost: 41,000 USD = (24,000 USD for Prius + 12,000 USD for life gasoline + 5,000 USD for life maintenance)**
Life cost per mile: 0.21 USD = $41,000/200,000 miles service life**
Now compare Tesla and Audi
Tesla S P85D life cost: 118,256 USD = (106,000 USD for P85D + 8,160 USD for life electricity + 8,096 USD for life maintenance - 4000 USD scrap value of battery)***
Life cost per mile: 0.58 USD = $118,256 /202,400 miles service life***
Audi RS7 life cost: 140,263 USD = (107,000 USD for RS7 + 25,263 USD for life gasoline + 8,000 USD for life maintenance)****
Life cost per mile: 0.88 USD = $140,263/160,000 miles service life****
Now consider a fully autonomous taxi with an ultra durable 24kwh lithium titanate battery (10,000 cycles) giving it about 85 miles of range and a service life of 850,000 miles. With autonomous driving the range issue and charging time issue no longer exists as you can change the vehicle in seconds to go an additional 85 miles and keep doing it until you reach your destination. This is the BEV conception that will wipe out any gasser on the market because its total cost per mile is unbeatable by any gasser.
Autonomous taxi life cost: 76,800 USD = (35,000 USD for taxi + 28,800 USD for life electricity + 17,000 USD for life maintenance - 4000 USD scrap value of battery)*****
Life cost per mile: 0.09 USD = $76,800/850,000 miles service life*****
Elon Musk estimates that Tesla will be ready with fully autonomous vehicles by 2020 and that the authorities will need 2 to 3 years more to make the necessary changes in the legislation to make it legal on all public roads. See http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/11154037/Teslas-Elon-Musk-autonomous-driving-is-five-years-away.html
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* Leaf assumptions: 1) Service life is 127,500 miles (= 85 miles battery range*1,500 deep cycles) which corresponds favorably to warranty for Nissan Leaf (100,000 miles in USD and 60,000 miles in Europe). 2) 0.28kwh is used to drive one mile (=24kwh battery/85miles range), 3) electricity cost is 4320 USD = (12 cents per kwh * 0.28kwh* 127,500 miles), 4) maintenance cost for tires, brakes, coolant, etc is 200 USD per 10,000 miles so 2550 USD = (127,500/10,000)*200 USD, 5) scrap value of battery after 127,500 miles is 1000 USD.
** Prius assumptions: 1) Service life is 200,000 miles, 2) long-term price of gasoline is 3 USD, 3) it gets 50mpg so 12,000 USD spend on gasoline = (200,000/50)*$3, 4) maintenance cost for oil change, tires, brakes, coolant, etc is 250 USD per 10,000 miles so 5000 USD = (200,000/10,000)*250 USD.
*** Tesla P85D assumptions: 1) Service life is 202,400 miles (= 253 miles battery range*800 deep cycles) which is much less that the unlimited mileage warranty for Tesla. 2) 0.34kwh is used to drive one mile (=85kwh battery/253miles range), 3) electricity cost is 8,160 USD = (12 cents per kwh * 0.34kwh* 202,400 miles), 4) maintenance cost for tires, brakes, coolant, etc is 400 USD per 10,000 miles so 8,096 USD = (202,400/10,000)*400 USD, 5) scrap value of battery after 202,400 miles is 4000 USD.
**** Audi RS7 assumptions: 1) Service life is 160,000 miles, 2) long-term price of gasoline is 3 USD, 3) it gets 19mpg so 25,263 USD spend on gasoline = (160,000/19)*$3, 4) maintenance cost for oil change, tires, brakes, coolant, etc is 500 USD per 10,000 miles so 8000 USD = (160,000/10,000)*500 USD.
***** Fully autonomous taxi assumptions: 1) Service life is 850,000 miles (= 85 miles battery range*10,000 deep cycles) which corresponds favorably to warranty for Toshibas lithium titanate batteries (see http://www.scib.jp/en/product/detail.htm). 2) 0.28kwh is used to drive one mile (=24kwh battery/85miles range), 3) electricity cost is 28,800 USD = (12 cents per kwh * 0.28kwh* 850,000 miles), 4) maintenance cost for tires, brakes, coolant, etc is 200 USD per 10,000 miles so 17,000 USD = (850,000/10,000)*200 USD, 5) scrap value of battery after 850,000 miles is 4000 USD. 6) The Leaf sized vehicle costs 35,000 USD with a 24kwh battery. It is assumed 12000 USD (=24*$500) can be attributed to the battery, 6,000 USD for autonomous technology (computers, sensors and redundancy of critical systems) and 17,000 USD for other car expenses all items including gross margins.
Posted by: Account Deleted | 10 February 2015 at 09:59 AM
Henrik, curious to repost this without acknowledging that in most jurisdictions, the zero emission Nissan Leaf gets a substantial incentive. In the US, that is $7,500 Federal, and between $500 - $5,000 in many states. In some counties in California, add another $500 - $3,000 rebate.
So in California for example, where half of EVs are sold, knock $10,000 to $13,000 of the cost of the Leaf (and the Tesla Model S). That totally changes the real world economics for most prospective Leaf buyers. In jurisdictions that care about clean air, it pays to drive zero emission cars.
Electric utility rates also vary widely. You use the national average of $0.12 kWh, although most EV drivers charge overnight at substantial discounts. In Sacramento for example, it's $0.06kWh overnight. Homeowners who install solar and net metering can fuel for very close to free (incremental $2k solar investment divided by 25 years).
Posted by: electric-car-insider.com | 10 February 2015 at 04:40 PM
ECI absolutely true. Electricity cost could be half of the 12 cents per kwh that I assumed as battery electric vehicles (BEVs) could charge at off peak hours at much reduced rates. This will only strengthen my key argument that luxury long-range BEVs and more importantly autonomous BEVs with an ultra durable lithium titanate battery is the holy grail of making BEVs that can outcompete any vehicle with a polluting gasser engine.
In fact of the five mentioned vehicles types the one that will have its "Cost to drive one mile" relatively most reduced by a drop in electricity rates from the assumed 12 cents is the autonomous taxi that spend nearly half of its total life cost on electricity. The Tesla and the Leaf only spend about 8% on electricity.
Autonomous cars are coming and they are necessary to end our addiction to fossil fuels because they can 100% solve the problem with short range and long charging times for BEVs and enable us to use battery chemistries like the lithium titanate that excel in long-life and therefore have very low cost per kwh cycled.
Posted by: Account Deleted | 11 February 2015 at 12:25 AM
Henrik, I am just curious. What makes it more likely in your estimation that we will see cars operating without drivers before we see a durable 200 mile battery at a competitive cost?
What's the basis of that evaluation?
Posted by: electric-car-insider.com | 11 February 2015 at 07:42 AM
"Officials say fully driverless cars are unlikely to be used on British roads until 2030."
http://m.phys.org/news/2015-02-britain-trial-driverless-cars.html
Posted by: electric-car-insider.com | 11 February 2015 at 08:41 PM
Good question ECI
If you could get to 100 USD per kwh including gross profits with a Tesla type battery we could make a Prius C sized car with a 70kwh battery and about 250 miles range selling for about 22,000 USD. As shown below the economics of this car would be good enough to compete with gassers in the lowest price spectrum and we know this is the most difficult, so problem solved. Unfortunately, we are far from close to 100 USD per kwh and not even Tesla's 50Gwh factory will get us there. I think Tesla/Panasonic could get to about 175 USD per kwh by 2021 and from there on further reduction in costs will depend not on scaling production which will be maxed out at 50Gwh but on slowly improving material research for batteries and R&D for battery production equipment. I think we need to go beyond 2030 before 100 USD can be achieved. Elon Musk is IMO the number one authority on this planet to predict the arrival of fully autonomous cars and he says year 2020 plus 2 to 3 year for legal adjustments. I have no illusions being better at predicting this than Musk so this is my answer. If Musk's prediction should slip by a few years it would not change the conclusion that autonomous cars are the fastest way to get affordable BEV transportation on the market.
Comparing current Toyota Yaris with future Toyota Prius c and future BEV Prius c (Future is 2030 or beyond)
1) Current Toyota Yaris life cost: 33,514 USD = (15,000 USD for Yaris + 13,714 USD for life gasoline + 4,800 USD for life maintenance).
Life cost per mile: 0.21 USD = $33,514 /160,000 miles service life.
2) Future Toyota Prius c life cost: 32,231 USD = (18,000 USD for future Prius c + 9,231 USD for life gasoline + 5,000 USD for life maintenance).
Life cost per mile: 0.16 USD = $32,231 /200,000 miles service life.
3) Future BEV Prius c life cost: 31,720 USD = (22,000 USD for BEV Prius c + 6,720 USD for life electricity + 4,000 USD for life maintenance - 1000 USD scrap value of battery).
Life cost per mile: 0.16 USD = $31,720/200,000 miles service life.
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Add 1) Current Yaris assumptions: 1) Service life is 160,000 miles, 2) long-term price of gasoline is 3 USD, 3) it gets 35mpg so 13,714 USD spend on gasoline = (160,000/35)*$3, 4) maintenance cost for oil change, tires, brakes, coolant, etc is 300 USD per 10,000 miles so 4,800 USD = (160,000/10,000)*300 USD.
Add 2) Future Prius c assumptions: 1) Service life is 200,000 miles, 2) long-term price of gasoline is 3 USD, 3) it gets 65mpg so 9,231 USD spend on gasoline = (200,000/65)*$3, 4) maintenance cost for oil change, tires, brakes, coolant, etc is 250 USD per 10,000 miles so 5000 USD = (200,000/10,000)*250 USD.
Add 3) Future BEV Prius c assumptions: 1) Service life is 200,000 miles (= 250 miles battery range*800 deep cycles) which is much less that the unlimited mileage warranty for Tesla. 2) 0.28kwh is used to drive one mile (=70kwh battery/250miles range), 3) electricity cost is 6,720 USD = (12 cents per kwh * 0.28kwh* 200,000 miles), 4) maintenance cost for tires, brakes, coolant, etc is 200 USD per 10,000 miles so 4,000 USD = (200,000/10,000)*200 USD, 5) scrap value of battery after 200,000 miles is 1000 USD.
Posted by: Account Deleted | 12 February 2015 at 04:21 AM
Interesting speculation Henrick. For myself, I'm not interested in speculating about what pricing might be on anything 15 years in the future. Especially not anything whose price depends on oil, which we have seen swing from $20bbl up to $130bbl back down to $40bbl within the past 15 years.
A glance at the price chart for solar PV is even more astonishing - the price line is an almost vertical drop over 15 years. It's fairly astonishing even in an era of microprocessors and Moore's law.
It appears that your estimation for the declining price of batteries does not take into account the effect of increasing energy density. If a battery packs in twice the kWh in the same amount of material, excluding expensive exotic materials, the battery could be half the cost. Do that again and you're now at 1/4 cost. So you could go from $400 to $100 in just two generations.
There are cheap materials that could get us there, including silicon and sulfur. CNT could be cheap too, it's just nano structured carbon. A whole lot of work is focused on nano structuring instead of exotic, expensive materials or dopants.
So there's a clear pathway to get to $100kWh or even less, it's not pie in the sky.
If that seems unlikely, take a look at this "Welcome to the Terrordome" chart. It may seem unlikely too, but it's actually recent history:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-10-29/while-you-were-getting-worked-up-over-oil-prices-this-just-happened-to-solar
Posted by: electric-car-insider.com | 12 February 2015 at 08:14 AM
Preventive medicine, such as Government subsidies (up to $500 B) to build quick charge e-stations and H2 stations could become and excellent long term investment.
More and more ten (10) year old children, living in large polluted cities (largely from fossil and bio-fuel burning), will die from early incurable Cancers, Alzheimer's and other brain related diseases.
The total cost, to try to cure non-productive people rendered sick with fossil and bio-fuel burning pollution, could pay for all large quick charge H2 and e-stations. A large subsidy becomes a very good investment.
Posted by: HarveyD | 12 February 2015 at 01:42 PM