The majority alternative fuel vehicles in Connecticut and other emerging electric car markets will be part of fleets – and not owned individually – as automakers try to make plug-ins mainstream, according to a report by a clean energy firm.
Next year, Connecticut will be one of the first four markets to receive the Chevrolet Volt, a win for the state that has been prepping to become a forerunner in the electric vehicle industry. Gov. M. Jodi Rell and the state’s electric utilities have been working to install infrastructure throughout the state to ready for plug-in vehicles.
Despite all this prep work, the majority of electric vehicle charging stations will be idle as most individually owned electric vehicles will be charged at home, according to a December report by energy consultant Pike Research entitled “Electric Vehicles: 10 predictions for 2011.” Charging stations won’t emerge as a business for some time, the report states, as the only ones that could be busy are those adjacent to where people leave their cars for extended periods of time, such as work.
Other findings of the report include that most plug-ins will operate as part of rental car, taxi or car share fleets, with few people actually owning a plug-in. The automakers will experience a pushback from the individual plug-in owners over how long it takes to charge the vehicle, since the Volt and the Nissan Leaf both need more than eight hours from a standard socket.
Stop-start vehicles – modified gasoline cars with technology that cuts the engine when not needed – will arrive in the United States from Europe in small numbers next year, the report finds. Also fuel cell cars – vehicles powered by hydrogen – will start to be sold in to fleets in small numbers next year, as the market for those cars emerges over the next five years.
Proton Energy Systems in Wallingford this year started building a fleet of fuel cell vehicles, as the company is installing technology up and down the East Coast to build fueling stations for fuel cell vehicles.
The Pike Research report finds that concern over the range of electric vehicles will be more myth than fact, as most drivers can drive their daily amount with only a portion of electric car’s battery. The report also says the media will overreact to someone having a bad experience with an electric vehicle.
Companies specializing in research and development of better batteries for electric cars will start merging in 2011, the report says. Also, companies specializing in battery charging equipment will give way to larger companies such as Fairfield giant General Electric that are making better and cheaper products.
The final item from Pike Research’s “Electric Vehicles: 10 Predictions for 2011” is that the best-selling electric vehicles will be bicycles, scooters and motorcycles. Two-wheeled vehicles have the advantage of removable battery packs, and they do not require charging infrastructure.
