Prius Hybrid Tested By Killingworth Resident

Electric vehicles are beginning to take shape in the Connecticut transportation arena. While still a few years away from making any significant sales, indications are that things are really beginning to heat up in this marketplace. Standing at the front of the line is Killingworth resident, George Keithan, currently one of the select few individuals testing the new Prius Hybrid for introduction sometime later this year or early 2012.

"It's exciting" Keithan noted about the opportunity to test-drive the Prius hybrid. "We have wanted to purchase an electric vehicle as a second car so to get to try this one out gives us an idea of what works with our family and my commuting needs," Keithan continued. "We have owned four Priuses already for the family and business," Keithan said, "and this hybrid drives just like the regular version."

But the big difference with this hybrid Prius comes each day when Keithan drives to and from work, plugging into a charging station at his home or business to refuel the car for the commute back and forth. A fully-charged battery can power the car for approximately 15 miles before the gas engine has to kick in. So, if your commute is under 15 miles, and you have at least 3-4 hours to recharge in each direction, you can use this vehicle to drive to and from work on electric alone.

Keithan isn't new to electric car testing. Earlier this spring, he was tooling around in a Tesla, a fully electric vehicle with all the bells and whistles. "The Tesla roadster is like a Prius on steroids," Keithan commented. "It's a much sportier car design that also offers a longer driving range of over 200 miles depending on conditions." Keithan noted.  "It is a great car to drive no matter what the fuel, it just happens to be fully electric making it a good choice environmentally as well."

Electric vehicles, or EV's as they are referred to, are creating a buzz of excitement as the industry is seeming to be close to having that early adopter phase kicking in. Just about every automotive manufacturer has got one in the works. While most of the initial focus has been on the smaller commuter-type cars, Ford has recently announced that they plan to team up with Toyota to focus on light trucks and SUVs.

There are essentially two types of EVs - the hybrid cars that combine a gas engine with the electric component, and the pure EVs that just plug and go, with no gas backup. The Toyota Prius hybrid (15-mile range using only electric) and Chevy's Volt (40-mile range using only electric) are examples of the electric/gas-powered cars, while the Tesla Motors Roadster and Model S cars, as well as the Nissan Leaf, are strictly electric. When the charge runs out the car stops. At current rates for the Tesla that is about 240 miles and about 100 for the Nissan Leaf.

In Connecticut according to the Connecticut Post, "as of February there were 41 EVs registered with the State Department of Motor Vehicles and plans for more than 50 charging stations." Clearly the thought is that this is a market that is growing. According to Colorado clean-energy forecaster Pike Research. "Connecticut will have 17,200 plug-in electric cars by 2017, representing 2.1 percent of all motor vehicles."

As important to the industry as the cars are, they are not going to really take off until the infrastructure is in place to charge/refuel these vehicles. For the gas hybrids that is not a problem as you can fill up with gas just about anywhere where you run out of a charge. But for the pure EVs, a recharge station is critical.

Currently, most EVs and hybrids use a Level 1 (120-volt) or Level 2 (240-volt - like a home dryer or oven) outlet to recharge. Using these types of outlets takes a couple of hours for a vehicle to fully charge, with the Level 2 charges cutting the time in half from Level 1. This has limited the pure EV's to more of a commuting car - running short distances between charges to be able to fully realize the savings (both financial and environmental) associated with driving a car using only electric power. But technology is changing quickly. As reported by HybridCars.com, there is a new group of fast-charging Level 3 stations based on a 480-volt charging outlet coming on the market, with a few in place in Oregon.

These fast-charging stations, according to John Aker, President and CTO of  Aker Wade Technologies, whose company in conjunction with Coulomb Technologies is one of the developers of these stations, "could alleviate 'range anxiety' - the concern that a pure electric car could run out of energy and its driver could be stranded for hours until the vehicle is adequately recharged." Aker states that "Today it will take 20 to 30 minutes to fill the battery with a Level III system. In five to 10 years, we’ll see that drop to 10 to 15 minutes. This will be helpful in situations where people need to fill up quickly and be on their way, such as a highway rest stop or a gas station." It is also when EVs will begin to take off as real driving options for many beyond just early adopters.

In CT, charging-station announcements are popping up all over. Whole Foods has announced that it will have charging stations at its new store locations in Connecticut. Walgreens has also announced plans for chargers at select store locations, and many municipalities are placing them at strategic locations around town (for example, the town of Fairfield has 4 chargers located at their train station).

In the meantime, it may be the commercial market that takes off first. Companies like Northeast Utilities have already installed charging stations at its company offices in Berlin, Hartford, Springfield, and Manchester, N.H. Obviously from a business standpoint, it is imperative that NU be at the forefront. As reported in Berkshire Hathaway's BusinessWire, CL&P President and COO, Jeff Butler is quoted as saying, " By gathering information from municipal and business customers, we can gain tangible experience to help guide future decisions about our infrastructure, our policies, and how we will ultimately serve all of our customers as EVs become more common.” Watson Collins, NU’s EV project manager, continues “By year-end, we expect to have a network of more than 30 charging stations in place and generating detailed meter data.”

Then there is GE's new solar carport charging station located in Plainville, thought to be one of the largest of its kind in North America. Open to the public, but mostly used for GE employees, the six ports available can charge 13 vehicles a day using solar power. And when not charging vehicles, the solar energy produced feeds back to the GE plant across the street or goes back to the grid. GE cited statistics from the Electric Drive Transportation Association showing that more than half of American drivers today travel less than 30 miles on a typical day, while more than 75 percent travel less than 60 miles. Electric vehicles with a range of 50 to 100 miles would easily meet those needs, GE said. There is no doubt that GE wants to play a major role in developing charging stations for home and business use. Current plans call for a 240-volt, wall-mounted charger developed by GE to be sold through Lowes for approximately $1,000.

"I want Connecticut to be a leader in this," Gov. Dannel P. Malloy was quoted as saying of GE's efforts to harness solar power and provide the infrastructure for electric cars. "This country is going to see a reindustrialization and Connecticut has to adapt to that."

But the decision to purchase an EV is tough given their hefty price tags. The Chevy Volt costs upward of $40,000, the Leaf more than $33,000 and the Tesla cars are double that and more. Sticker price for the Prius Hybrid isn't known yet, but most would expect it to be within the $30,000-plus range.

For others the decision is easy. Using an EV is an extension of who Keithan is and what he practices every day. He'll plug his EV in at home or at work and for the most part is recharging his wheels on energy supplied by the clean renewable energy resources of solar and wind that power his home and business. For the rest of us, refueling or recharging still carries an environmental price depending on how we source our power. If we charge those EVs from the grid, we are getting the electric "fuel" via mostly coal-fired energy plants, nuclear or other sources, not giving us much of a gain environmentally over using fossil fuels. As solar, wind and other renewable energy sources begin to contribute more toward our power supply, this dynamic will change.

The desire to own and drive an EV is therefore a statement on many levels. For early adopters like Keithan, who can take advantage of the best technology has to offer as founder of CES and Radiant Renewable Energy (RRE), two companies at the forefront of the clean & green energy movement here in the Northeast, it's a no-brainer. He has been an avid advocate for renewable energies for over 25 years and leads by example, being the designer and owner of the first Net Zero Energy home in Connecticut and in forming RRE, a firm specializing in solar development and integration. Owning an EV is another example of how Keithan is pushing the envelope for the rest of us.