GoAuto News
15/04/2009

Australian companies are filling the gap left open by car-makers and their slowmoving introduction of electric vehicles.While Mitsubishi is aiming to bring its all-electric i-MiEV to Australia as early as next year, the Japanese giant is yet to confirm the move, and although Nissan has committed to bringing an electric-only model to Australia, it will not arrive before 2012 – the same year Holden has committed to importing the plug-in Volt hybrid. Meanwhile, a wide range of small operations across Australia are taking up the electric vehicle (EV) slack and offering to convert existing petrol or diesel cars into green electric models.

Right now, you can drive a brand-new Mazda2 or Hyundai Getzwith electric drive, or even have an existing used vehicle switched over. This strong EV drive is happening at the same time as a boom in electric scooters and bicycles with electric motors as city commuters look for green and cheap transport.
When it comes to the electric car industry, some of the organisations trying their hand at the new technology are backyard outfits doing the odd conversion, while a handful of operations stand out as planning serious production levels. Two EV operations of particular note are Energetique in Armidale, New South Wales, and Blade Electric Vehicles in Castlemaine, Victoria. Both are at different stages of development, with Energetique just delivering its first vehicle, while Blade has sold 18 cars including exports to New Zealand.

Both take existing donor vehicles and convert them to run on electric drive. Given the nature of the emerging technology and the fact that so much time must be spent on the electrification of each vehicle, the finished cars are significantly more expensive than the donor models. The Energetique evMe, which is based on the Mazda2, costs $70,000, while the Hyundai Getz-based Blade costs $42,000.
The cars use different technology, which helps explain the price difference, but neither car comes cheap. Both companies are confident that the price can be reduced as the technology matures and volumes increase, but what happens when the big brands arrive with factory-backed electric vehicles?
Energetique CEO Dr Phillip Coop told GoAuto that it would take some time before the major car-makers begin selling EVs, and expressed doubt that the first models could be here as early as next year.
“I have heard that for a long time,” he said. “I think it will be five to 10 years before we see production EVs in Australia.” Ross Blade, the man behind Blade Electric Vehicles, believes his operation can survive direct competition with the big car-makers because his vehicle will be more affordable.

He says that despite media speculation, cars such as the Mitsubishi i-MiEV will likely cost around $50,000. Mr Blade said his company was committed to reducing the price of its cars to $32,000, at which point he believes it would have mass-market appeal. “There is an ongoing market, but what
we have to do is get the price down from $42,000 to $32,000 and we are absolutely determined to do that,” he told GoAuto. “At $32,000 the market is considerable.” When asked how he would achieve that goal, Mr Blade laughed and then provided an answer that gave away no secrets. “The fact that we have got it down to $42,000 is a miracle as it is,” he said. Mr Blade also believes his Getz-based
EV will have a distinct advantage – size – that will give it a competitive advantage against the new breed of EVs from large manufacturers. “They will all be micros, far smaller than the Hyundai Getz, and they will mostly all be two-seaters,” he said.

Mr Blade said EV production is a completely different business model to traditional combustion-engine-powered vehicles, and even the increasing range of petrol-electric hybrids, which provide a significant income for servicing franchises given the maintenance needs of a combustion engine. Of course, EVs will still need to be serviced, but Mr Blade said the electric motor and battery pack rarely requires any work. Blade Electric Vehicles is already looking beyond Australian borders and has exported three electric vehicles to New Zealand. It plans to outsource the assembly process to a New Zealand-based company, which will be able to handle production of a large number of vehicles.

“We will build the first 20 or so this year and then we will then be licensing it out to a large manufacturing firm,” Mr Blade said. “We do small-range production, but large scale production gets licensed out.”
Dr Coop said Energetique initially plans to build 100 evMe cars and has already had more than 100 expressions of interest. “We have complete faith in the technology, it is a lovely vehicle and has great performance and a range of more than 200km,” he said. Dr Coop said Energetique would use realtime
data collection to find out how the cars are being used in order to better match it for consumer needs. “What we need is to get a lot more data out of it. What are the driving habits of people with electric cars? These are questions that have never been answered.” This information would also help Energetique find out whether it has overengineered the vehicle and whether there is a chance to reduce the price of the componentry. “That would help us work out whether we are over-doing it with the battery pack, can we get away with one that is half the size? (which would be considerably cheaper),” Dr Coop said.

The Energetique chief believes advanced EVs are being held back because of a technology bottleneck, as the leading organisations are not set-up for large-scale production. “The technology we are using is still being hand-built,” he said. “We asked the company for a quote on 1000 vehicles and they said they had never thought of producing that many. “What has got to happen is someone like Ford has to pick this up and do the production themselves. The companies producing this technology are very small, it hasn’t moved into the area of large-scale manufacturing yet.” As is the case with most emerging technology, there are various types of battery technology with no clear indication of which type will be the most popular.

The Blade EV uses a lithium-ion phosphate battery pack from China, while the evMe uses lithium-polymer battery pack from South Korea. Both are generally seen as a better bet than lead-acid, nickel
cadmium and nickel-metal hydride batteries used in many hybrids, which can be bulky and also contain hazardous materials. Dr Coop says lithium-polymer batteries used in the evMe are non-toxic, more energy dense, take up less space and have a greater range than other batteries. They can also be hooked up to possible future Smart Grid technology being discussed by energy companies such as
Better Place.

The idea is that the EV would not only be able to draw energy from the grid, but the grid would be able to draw energy from it as well. South Korean car-maker Hyundai and its sub-brand Kia also see lithium-polymer batteries as the best bet, with Hyundai planning to introduce a hybrid Elantra with the technology in its home market this July. A Kia Forte (known as the Cerato in Australia) will also be launched in South Korea a month later using the same hybrid system. Interestingly, Hyundai claims its Elantra will be the first car in the world using lithiumpolymer batteries, overlooking the Australian evMe. It certainly will be the first large-scale production vehicle with the technology.