ITS America’s latest report - vehicle electrification and the smart grid

The latest report from the Intelligent Transportation Society of America (560 ITS America), entitled Vehicle Electrification and the Smart Grid - The Supporting Role of Safety and Mobility Services, is to be presented in a webinar hosted by Dr Kenneth Laberteaux, Senior Principal Research Scientist at 1686 Toyota Research Institute-North America. The webinar, entitled What’s Driving All This Driving? will be held on 15 November, at 1 p.m. Eastern Time. %$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 oLinkExternal Click here ITS AMERICA false http://www.itsa.org/events/electric-vehicles-and-smart-infrastructure-webinar false false%> for more information and to register.

The report is the latest in the Technology Scan and Assessment project, which is funded by the 324 US Department of Transportation and concludes that although electric vehicles are gaining popularity among environmentally conscious consumers they are limited to a niche in the vehicle marketplace because of technology constraints: limited driving range and costly batteries. Although range is a critical factor for passenger vehicles that are driven both short and long distances, fleets such as transit, short haul freight and car sharing do not require significant range and thus may represent an opportunity to expand vehicle electrification. New Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) regulations in the next decade may drive the light-weighting or downsizing of some vehicle categories, including electrics, to achieve more aggressive fuel economy requirements and electric range performance. Light-weight vehicles may be more fuel efficient, but it remains to be seen whether they will be able to afford as much protection for occupants in the event of a crash. To prepare for larger scale production of electric vehicles, and to allay concerns or perceptions that smaller, lighter vehicles may prove less safe than conventional vehicles in the event of a crash, collision warning and crash prevention technology will likely need to advance simultaneously with light-weighting.

The build out of connected electric vehicle charging infrastructure and the smart grid will improve the mobility range, fuel efficiency and environmental performance of electric vehicles. Distributed public charging infrastructure includes chargers in workplaces and parking facilities that allow drivers to top-off their batteries, which increases the range of battery electrics, but also the number of miles that plug-in hybrid vehicles can travel in more fuel-efficient and environmentally friendly all-electric-mode.

In the webinar, Dr Lamberteaux will expand on the conclusions in the report and examine the larger population and transportation trends in the US that will affect the future of electric vehicles. He will addresses the urbanisation and mobility trends in US metropolitan areas by visualising of both national-level and metro-level data.

Contradicting the conventional wisdom, the data suggest that suburbs, highways, and cars will likely remain key to future US society.  Finally, he will examine these questions: How should the U.S. prepare for this possible future? What are the challenges and opportunities for the automotive industry and policy makers? What is the role for ITS and electric vehicles?