Evaluation of electric vehicles as an alternative for work-trip and limited business commutes final report
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1999-12-01
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Abstract:This report presents the results of a four-year evaluation of an electric subcompact car. The principal finding was that the 1995-model electric car must be viewed in two contexts, the body/chassis/drive train and the battery/recharge system. Firstly, the vehicle body, chassis and driver train were adequate for the transport of personnel within Connecticut for most routine non-emergency state business. Drivers did notice that the drive train was somewhat underpowered as compared with most other vehicles on the road. The designer of the drive train appears to have placed higher priority on efficiency over acceleration and speed. The car is best suited for use on primary and secondary highways and local roads where speeds are generally below 55 mph. Secondly, one must recognize that several different batteries could power the car. Two different battery types were evaluated in this project. A conventional sealed lead acid battery (CSLAB) powered the first car, and an advanced lead acid battery (ALAB) powered the second. The finding is that a 50 Ampere-hour CSLAB car configuration was reliable, although cold weather range was 15-20 miles less than the warm weather range, due to the power-draining effect of the electric heater/windshield defroster. The CSLAB car demonstrated a year round driving range of 35 miles per charge in Connecticut. The 85- and 95-Ampere-hour ALAB car configurations tested were uneconomical due to premature ALAB failures in all combinations tested over four years.
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