Charging Infrastructure for Oregon Utility partnering with ODOT to install electric-vehicle charging stations. By Libby Tucker, Daily Journal of Commerce, Portland, Oregon     Portland General Electric has begun leading the charge for mass adoption of plug-in hybrid=electric cars in Oregon. The utility plans to install 12 electric-vehicle charging stations in Portland and Salem by September as part of a demonstration project to develop the transportation infrastructure needed to support electric vehicles. The project will also help the utility anticipate the demand plug-in cars might place on the region's electric grid and design smart grid systems to help even out variability in wind and solar resources.     "We're not creating a new division or a new product; we're preparing for what might become a sea change in the electric vehicle market," said Bill Nicholson, vice president of customers and economic development for PGE.     "As we understand how manufacturers are going to deploy these vehicles, we'll know better if it becomes a huge focus of our utility or if it will be delayed based on the manufacturer response."     PGE is working with the Oregon Department of Transportation and other partners on the demonstration project, which will design standards for charging stations and develop a public awareness campaign to prepare for mass adoption of plug-in cars over the next two to five years.     "The biggest drawback for people considering switching to electric vehicles is the range of those vehicles and having certainty about being able to charge up if they're going to travel," said Art James, a project director with ODOT's Innovative Partnership Program. "If we could establish a network where they can top off the charge, we'll facilitate adoption."     About 400 electric cars are registered in Oregon, comprising slightly more than 1 percent of all cars in the state, according to the Oregon Department of Motor Vehicles. But ODOT anticipates electric car ownership will grow dramatically in the next two to five years when manufacturers begin mass producing plug-in hybrids.     Portland also boasts the gighest per capia ownership of hybrid cars in the country, according to the Oregon State Public Interest Reesearch Group, and current hybrid models can be converted to recharge on the grid with a few modifications. "Our customers are on the leading edge of all things green," Nicholson said, "and they'll be the first to adopt the next technology." The demonstration project is part of a larger effort by ODOT that will "investigate a variety  of methods for funding, installing, and managing a network of charging stations," according to  a concept paper drafted by ODOT's Innovative Partnership Program. Standard signage, markings, color safety features and otheer design considerations will help make charging stations easy for the public to recgnize, according to the concept paper. And choosing easy-to-find locations will help promote adoption an encourage investment in new vehicle technologies. PGE is partnering with Portland-based Shorepower Technologies to ddesign new charging stations that will resemble the one it installed almost a decade ago at its Portland headquarteres. The updated versions will look more like a parking meter than the old utility box, however, with new user-friendly features such as display of the eneregy use and a place to swipe credit cards.     "We're designing something more for an urban environment that would be a little more artsy," said Jeff Kim, president and CEO of Shorepower Technologies, which has installed similar units for long-haul trucks at truck stops throughout Oregon.     Under the ODOT proposal, charging stations could be located at TreiMet park-and-ride lots, school campuses, big box store parking lots, as well as on city and county property. Eventually, the agency hopes to install charging stations along the state's majore travel corridors, including I-5 and I-84.     "The good thing is that in reality the infrastructure is pretty flexible and already exists for the most part," said Tom Dowling, charging infrastructure mangaer for the national Electric Auto Association. " The (PGE charging station) in Portland is a good example, If they revise it, they don't need to replace the wiring. It's like replacing an old overn or something, and it isn't that hard to install."     ODOT proposes a mix of public and private funding to pay for its program, including investments from utilities and the formation of a possible revenue district that would charge electric vehicle owners $50 a year for unlimited charging at any station within the district.     "We're not exactly sure what technology will emerge, so it's important that we're flexible as we're dfining this," said ODOT's James, "because things are changing very rapidly in the electric vehicle industry." PGE assembled an internal teaem a little over a month ago to begin planning for electric vehicles and will spend about $25,00 on a pilot project. Beyond that, the company's budgete and the scale of the project will depend on when electric vehicles hit the market.     In the early states, PGE's investment is not considered a capital expense for shareholders because of the small budget amount, said Nicholson. But if the utility plans to invest on a larger scale, it will seek approval from the Public Utility Commission, which regulates electricity rates. The utility's $132 million investment in advanced metering technology will also lay the groundwork for plug-in vehicles and other "smart" appliances, which interact with the electrical grid to help keep costs low by running when the demand for power is low.     Because electric vehicles contain a battery, they can also help store electricity that a utility can tap to help even out electricity production from unreliable renewable energy sources such as wind and solar, shich vary in output with the weather. Volt Spotted in Unexpected Sneak Peek By James R. Healey, USA Today      The production version of the Chevrolet Volt electric car is a small four-door sedan that bears little resemblance to the low, sleek, two-door sports coupe that Chevy exhibited on the 2007 auto show circuit to drum up interest in the vehicle and boost parent General Motors' image as leaning green.      The production version was expected to unveiled next Tuesday as part of an event marking GM's 100th anniversary.      However, official GM photos of the car were posted accidentally by Wieck Media, a clearinghouse for automakers' pictures, for just 12 minutes Monday. That was long enough for them to be spotted, downloaded and published by the TheCarConnection.com and other auto-related websites. The images were "put back in the vault" as soon as GM noticed, according to Chevy spokesman Terry Rhadigan.      GM had been telegraphing that the real car's styling would be somewhat different because the show car, despite its sleek appearance, was an aerodynamic disaster that would have used too much power just plowing through the air.      Despite the automaker's hints, the radical makeover of the Volt coupe -- into a four-door sedan resembling an Asian economy car -- is unexpected.      Through the production Volt looks nothing like the show car, it has the concept version's lithium-ion battery pack that is supposed to take up to 40 miles on a charge. The battery pack would require up to 10 hours to recharge, plugged into an ordinary 115-volt home outlet -- less time if plugged into a 230-volt outlet, the type electric clothes dryers use for example.      Volt carries a small internal-combustion engine that kicks on and recharge the batteries if the driver isn't near an outlet for a plug-in recharge. But the gasoline engine never powers the car directly, so Volt is not considered a hybrid.      Recent guesses at its price have been around $35,000, and Rhadigan says, "It won't be below that, and it could be higher. But it's two years out, and we know we have to get it to a (reasonable) price point. It's still a Chevrolet."      Production is to begin November 2010, and it should be at dealers late in 2010 or early 2011.      GM hopes to sell 60,000 a year when production is running full steam. A Drag Calculation Overview for EVs By Ron Freund and Ian Wright October 2008 Air is a fluid through which we navigate our cars on the road. Fluid dynamics experts frequently talk in seemingly nebulous terms: coefficients of drag, Reynolds number, laminar and turbulent flows. When it comes to conversion EVs, there are simply two major components of drag forces we need to over come: rolling (tires resistance with bearings) and aerodynamic. Both are quite different, but can be best compared in terms of pounds of force, something we can relate to more easily. On the ground, we examine rolling resistance. With your EV on a flat, level, hard surface (with no brakes set) use a small calibrated 'spring scale' to gauge how much force in pounds it takes to just move the car. Assume it takes this same constant force of 30 lb to keep it moving. That 30 ols is pretty much the same at all speeds. It is mostly tire drag, which is mostly sidewall flex. So increasing the tire pressures will reduce it. Further reductions can be achieved by reducing the vehicle weight (which is why the additional weight in an EV is generally frowned upon. Lighter is better, yielding more range if all other things are the same.) A more subtle effect is wheel alignment. Any maladjustment of 'toe-in' (pigeon toed-ness) or 'camber' (sideward tilt) will cause tire scrub and therefore increase the drag force. Getting a four-wheel alignment done after completing your EV conversion is highly recommended. You can check your EVs standard factory specifications and minimize watt-hour per mile readings with such alignments. It is important to understand that the power required to overcome this drag force rises linearly with increasing vehicle speed. It is 30 lbs of force (thrust) at any speed, but the required power is the product of thrust times speed. In the air, we examine aerodynamic drag force. We talk about the drag coefficient (Cd), and how that is a measure of how slippery the vehicle shape is. (The GM EV-1 was 0.19, while the 2003 Hummer 0.57, a bicyclist about 0.9). But to arrive at a drag force, we have to multiply drag coefficient by the "frontal area" -- the cross-sectional area seen by "the wind". Some buses have a relatively low Cd, but their frontal area is huge, so the drag force is still large. As an extreme example, the WrightSpeed X-1 has pretty terrible Cd (0.7), but there's not much frontal area, so the product does not yield a super penalty. How to arrive at an equivalent force as the 30 lbs drag force caused by tires, bearings, and such? That aerodynamic drag force happens to be a function of speed. At low speeds (walking speeds) the aeerodynamic drag does not contribute enough to matter. It barely ruffles ones hair! And likewise, at the top speed it will be very significant, much larger, but just how much larger? At subsonic speeds, the aerodynamic drag force rises with speed squared. Speed times 4 equals drag times 16. And the power required is the drag force times speed. So combining, the power required to overocme aerodynamic drag forces is (Cd times area) times speed cubed! Speed times 4 equals drag times 64!!! So every EV has a speed (called crossover) below which its rolling forces dominate, and above which aerodynamic drag forces dominate. Depending on the design, it typically is between 30 and 50 miles per hour. Actual numbers can be found on the Internet. Some examples are found in the Wiki on Automobile drag coefficients Heavier cars even with a good Cd have it, just at a higher speed. Similarly, a lighter car with bad aerodynamic profile can crossover at a lower speed. Additional detail and discussion on this topic can be found addressed in the book "Build Your Own Electric Vehicle" by Bob Brant which is being released as a 2nd edition, now 15 years after the original, this month. Watch for details! The takeaway from this piece is that aerodynamic drag rises so much faster than rolling forces that at freeway speeds, for practicla purposes, it's pretyy much all that matters. This reminds us (those of us old enough to recall) of the 1970's 55mph national speed limit during the days when OPEC for the first time, wielded its oil excessive speed in an EV --  you simply squelch your range just pushing air out of the way. Electric Vehicle Conversion Criteria      It is fair to say that most any gasoline powered vehicle can be converted into an electric vehicle. However, it is important to give proper consideration to performing any conversion in the most efficient way. In order to have the most efficient conversion the following generalities should be used only as guidelines:     1. The donor vehicle should be as light weight as possible.     2. The transmission, which will be used in the converted vehicle, should be manual.     3. Front wheel drive vehicles are the most efficient conversions, however many electric vehicles are rear wheel          drives. Four wheel drives are not generally considered good candidates for conversion.     4. A minimum of "electrically powered" accessories are best, i.e. air conditioning, electric vehicles, etc. Power             assisted brakes are OKAY.      Keeping these important factors in mind, the three parameters which are important to successfully determining the performance of one's converted vehicle are: range, tope speed, and price. Any two of these parameters may be chosen by the person wanting the conversion and the third will fall out of the equation.