The Tesla Motors duo
If you thought electric vehicles, EV were already involved in the most frenetic of all races, that of the automobile dominance, another race has started which could yield great competition amongst manufacturers. EPA and pollution ratings for EV is coming to fruition. (more…)
We know EPA are estimates and even after a new overhaul of its testing, which will make it more accurate, it still will have a hard time classifying and testing hybrids, HEVs.
The gist, you might have heard lately, the EPA doesn’t know how to rate Chevrolet’s new Volt HEV. According to MotorTrend, the real problem is how do you define the Volt? Is it an electric vehicle, EV or a plug-in hybrid, PHEV? Depending on which category it gets, its EPA rating will vary and could effect it positively or not.
Terminology. In the strictest sense, the Volt is a PHEV, meaning its 1.4L gas engine is used to recharge batteries only. It is known as a serial mode HEV, and the gas engine doesn’t power the wheels. If with its electric battery pack the car can run 40 miles but its engine allows to extend that range for as long as the gas tank will allow, how do you define the car?
The crux is that the EPA can only test in so many ways how the Volt can be driven. For instance, the Volt can make it through an EPA test cycle with high-speed running, AC load, cold-start tests, and of course with the obvious city and highway cycles but if the gas engine only runs about 15% of the time, how accurate will the EPA average is? A 100 mpg or more vehicles?
The EPA is thinking about certifying the Volt differently with batteries close to full charge when the test of over. This radically changes the fuel consumption and brings it down to below 48 mpg. So should the EPA run the Volt with the engine on all the time, or not? What is a normal, average driving situation? How does one define that anyway?
The problem we will see over and over with EVs and their HEV cousins is that driving styles are different, conditions are not the same everywhere and weather, traffic, landscape and a myriad of other input will greatly affect the way they are tested. The EPA has some serious thinking going forward. Even though it has already beefed up its testing, they are still only average and do not necessarily reflect real life conditions. The real question is how do YOU drive. It has to be relevant to you.
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