EV Project collects more than 24 million miles of EV operating data since inception
25 April 2012
ECOtality, Inc. has collected more than 24 million miles of electric vehicle operating data since the inception of The EV Project in 2010. (Earlier post.)
The EV Project is currently gathering data at a rate of 100,000 miles per day. The 24 million miles recorded so far is the equivalent to 963 trips around the world. The electric fuel equivalent utilized by EV Project participants represents almost 1 million gallons of gasoline conserved by the use of electric vehicles. Finally, cars in The EV Project have eliminated approximately 8,700 metric tons of CO2 emissions. This information comes from an analysis of approximately 675,000 charge events in key EV Project markets to date.
As part of The EV Project, ECOtality will be releasing more than 40 white papers on various topics ranging from a study of the needs of commercial charging to regulatory issues. These white papers will be available to the public at www.theevproject.com.
ECOtality is the project manager of The EV Project, a public-private partnership funded in part by the US Department of Energy (DOE) through a federal stimulus grant and made possible by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).
For the media who claim EVs will NEVER work:
http://www.theevproject.com/
24 million miles of EV operating(that means already driven EV miles) data - and just those EVs participating in THIS survey since 2010.
Posted by: kelly | 25 April 2012 at 07:56 AM
That is a big enough data set to compare fires per million miles to new ICE cars fires per million miles.
Way lower, it would seem.
Posted by: Davemart | 25 April 2012 at 08:55 AM
That reminds me, the Chevy Volt suffered a drop in sales due to an anti-EV campain this past year. One of the things "they" were saying was 'it caught fire in a crash.' That's bullpunky. After a series of "crash tests" two Chevy Volt batteries did catch on fire, but these fires were due to coolant leaks, after the cars were left sitting for at least a week untended to, after the impact. And even then, the crashes had to be "severe" crashes.
http://inhabitat.com/general-motors-to-make-structural-changes-to-chevy-volt-batteries-to-ease-fire-fears/
Posted by: ai_vin | 25 April 2012 at 10:44 AM
For unknown reasons, EVs seem to have less accidents and fatalities per million miles than ICEVs. In the longer term, could more electrification lower both issues in USA?
Posted by: HarveyD | 25 April 2012 at 10:47 AM
Probably not, Harvey. The current crop of drivers is a highly non-representative sample.
Posted by: Engineer-Poet | 25 April 2012 at 11:12 AM
Those who are environmentally responsible tend to be socially responsible too?
Posted by: ai_vin | 25 April 2012 at 01:04 PM
EP and AV, you are correct, the drivers of EV are atypical, however there may be some reason to believe that EVs will be safer. One reason, and this will vary with vehicle is that the battery containment unit adds rigidity to the car frame. In the case of the Volt, this is true, I am not sure with the Leaf, but I expect it to be true. The second thing is, you are carrying less flammable liquid. The electrolyte solvent, has significantly less volume than the typical amount of gas you carry now, and is somewhat bound up in the porous battery cells. So, while there may not be less accidents once the cars make it to the typical drivers, there still may be less fatalities.
Posted by: Brotherkenny4 | 25 April 2012 at 01:24 PM
Yes, using in-wheel e-motors on all four 18-inch to 20-inch wheels + installing batteries under floor to lower the center of gravity + more driver electronic assistance etc could make future electrified vehicles safer and less accident prone than current ICEVs?
Electronic assistance could also stop drivers from texting, using hand phones, driving too close and changing lane when it should not etc.
Posted by: HarveyD | 25 April 2012 at 02:45 PM
Yeah, we need smart cars because the drivers have become so dumb.
Posted by: ai_vin | 25 April 2012 at 09:31 PM
And we need people smart enought to know this means next to nothing.
People who understand that the total for EVs of all types is still struggling to stay above 3% of total sales.
Posted by: ToppaTom | 26 April 2012 at 12:10 AM
And we need people smart enought to know things typically start small before growing large.
Posted by: kelly | 26 April 2012 at 05:17 AM
Kodak, after inventing the video-cam, would not let go of old fashion film and associated cameras. We all know what happened to a great company.
The same could happen to car manufacturers who will not make the switch from ICEVs to electrified vehicles fast enough.
Posted by: HarveyD | 26 April 2012 at 12:37 PM
And we need people smart enought to know some things start small and grow large but some just stay small - at 3%.
Posted by: ToppaTom | 26 April 2012 at 11:11 PM
And we need people smart enought to know that electric/hybrid vehicle sales have increased over a 1000% during the past ten years while ICE sales are about the same as five years ago.
Posted by: kelly | 27 April 2012 at 04:52 PM