Today’s electric cars and the infrastructure needed to support them may seem far out compared to conventional cars that run on gasoline, but they’re inside-the-box thinking compared to what’s on the drawing boards.
Automakers are pushing the definition of the motor vehicle as they contemplate a future with densely populated cities that are inhospitable to today’s cars and trucks.
General Motors Co.’s EN-V concept is one example of that out-of-the-box thinking. It’s a tiny, battery-powered, two-seat vehicle based on a two-wheeled Segway scooter.
Today’s electric vehicles struggle to achieve higher performance and greater range than the current 100 miles or so, to compete credibly with gasoline power. But the futuristic EN-V’s top speed is 25 mph and its maximum range only 25 miles.
How is that an improvement?
The key is the “N” in EN-V, which stands for “Networked.” The entire name is Electric Networked Vehicle. GM and its Chinese partner, Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp., unveiled three versions of the concept car in March at the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai.
Takeshi Mitamura, general manager of the Mobility Service Laboratory at the Nissan Research Center in Japan, said in a phone interview that three macrotrends are driving the development of such imaginative vehicles from now until 2050: increased urbanization, an aging population and the switch to electric power from fossil fuels.
Those trends imply that for automakers to remain relevant, they will have to offer much smaller, more maneuverable and more “intelligent” vehicles, Mitamura said.
Leave the driving to us
The networking concept behind the vehicle is that EN-Vs communicate wirelessly with each other and with the electric grid, plus the parking and road infrastructures.
“That’s a game-changer,” said Chris Borroni-Bird, GM’s director of advanced technology vehicle concepts. He also co-wrote a recent book, Reinventing the Automobile.
Networking allows the little EN-Vs to be programmed not to run into each other. It also means the EN-V can drive itself from Point A to Point B. Theoretically, that frees the driver to relax or do other tasks, like check e-mail or do work.
The network also knows where empty parking spaces are. And because the vehicles are so small, they require less space.
In a seamlessly networked world, the guided vehicles wouldn’t collide, so they wouldn’t need most of the body structure and safety features in today’s vehicles. That would save a lot of size, weight and cost, said Borroni-Bird.
But to avoid collisions, every vehicle within a given area has to be on the network. Possible guided-vehicle zones could be a city center, college campus or dedicated lane.
“It’s got to be a case of all or nothing,” Borroni-Bird said.
Switching from gasoline to battery power reduces tailpipe emissions but does nothing to reduce accidents, optimize traffic flow or make it easier to find parking. To do all that, networking and downsizing are necessary, too, he said.
“If you just focus on ‘clean’ and we all switch to electrics, what we end up with is still gridlock,” Borroni-Bird said in a recent interview.
Cities such as Shanghai and Mumbai, India, can’t build roads fast enough to keep up with growing vehicle ownership, he said. London has introduced stiff “congestion pricing” to keep vehicles out of the city center. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg tried to introduce congestion pricing in Manhattan in 2008, but the New York State Assembly shot down the idea.
That’s an alarming trend for a company that makes automobiles, Borroni-Bird said. Concepts such as the EN-V aren’t just altruistic, he said. They’re a way to make sure GM will have a product to sell to tomorrow’s city-dwellers.
Space, the final frontier
ENLARGE
The CityCar from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology folds into a 60-inch length for parking.
Other futuristic projects are outside the envelope compared to today’s expectations — for car ownership, for size and for utility. But not quite as far out as GM’s EN-V.
For instance, a team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has come up with a CityCar prototype whose best-known characteristic is it folds up for parking.
In the folded position, the CityCar is only 60 inches long, vs. 106 inches for today’s Smart ForTwo. As many as four CityCars can fit in a single parking space, according to the Smart Cities Group of the MIT Media Laboratory.
There’s no driveshaft — or, for that matter, no engine — inside the skin of the CityCar because it uses battery-powered hub motors within the wheels. Nor are there side doors. The two occupants get in and out through a front hatch hinged at the top.
Unlike the EN-V, the CityCar doesn’t depend on networking to make the concept fly. Chin said the MIT group hasn’t performed crash testing, but he said the CityCar is capable of operating in the same, low-speed urban environment with ordinary cars.
More than meets the eye
Like the GM EN-V, there’s a lot more to the CityCar concept than the vehicle itself.
Shared use, or what MIT calls “Mobility on Demand,” is central to both concepts. That is, the user doesn’t own an individual unit. There are several ideas for payment, but the basic one is the user pays for use only, not the entire vehicle.
Chin said billing could be structured like cell phone use — a monthly flat fee, a per-minute charge or a monthly plan that covers a stated maximum number of minutes.
The entire MIT Smart City concept also includes bicycles with an electric motor assist along with battery-powered scooters.
A “smart” electrical grid is also an important part of the holistic system. The future grid would balance pricing, supply and demand. With enough sensors everywhere, it even could be tied into the parking system.
Drivers of futuristic EVs will have to accept that they’re not a suitable substitute in all cases for a gasoline-powered car — and they’re not meant to be.
“Most Americans travel no more than 40 miles each day, two ways,” said Chin of MIT. “You don’t need long range [capability] most of the time. If you do, it’s OK to own another car for that.”
Smaller steps
Other car companies already are working on evolutionary rather than revolutionary solutions to urban transportation.
For instance, in April BMW confirmed it would build its first purpose-built electric vehicle, which it calls the Megacity. Sales are scheduled to start in 2013 under a yet-unnamed subbrand.
Rich Steinberg, manager of electric-vehicle operations and strategy for BMW of North America, said the Megacity will be built from the ground up to be an electric vehicle, using lightweight but strong carbon-fiber-reinforced plastic. Unlike prior BMW pilot project EVs, it will be equipped to handle higher-voltage “fast charging” at 480 volts at commercial locations, as well as at slower at-home charging at 240 volts.
“Our concept is to use electric power to reduce emissions within the city environment, with enough capacity for passengers and cargo, with the smallest footprint that makes the most sense,” Steinberg said.
“The Megacity project is for people who live in megacities and what their needs are,” he said. But compared to the EN-V or the MIT CityCar, Steinberg acknowledged, “Our vehicle is basically not that radical.”
