Electric and Hybrid Vehicle Program, Site Operator Program. Quarterly progress report, January--March 1996

Abstract

Goals of the site operator program include field evaluation of electric vehicles (EVs) in real-world applications and environments, advancement of electric vehicle technologies, development of infrastructure elements necessary to support significant EV use, and increasing the awareness and acceptance of EVs by the public. The site operator program currently consists of 11 participants under contract and two other organizations with data-sharing agreements with the program. The participants (electric utilities, academic institutions, Federal agencies) are geographically dispersed within US and their vehicles see a broad spectrum of service conditions. Current EV inventories of the site operators exceeds 250 vehicles. Several national organizations have joined DOE to further the introduction and awareness of EVs, including: (1) EVAmerica (a utility program) and DOE conduct performance and evaluation tests to support market development for EVs; (2) DOE, DOT, the Electric Transportation Coalition, and the Electric Vehicle Association of the Americas are conducting a series of workshops to encourage urban groups in Clean Cities (a DOE program) to initiate the policies and infrastructure development necessary to support large-scale demonstrations, and ultimately the mass market use, of EVs. Current focus of the program is collection and dissemination of EV operations and performance data to aid in the evaluation of real- world EV use. This report contains several sections with vehicle evaluation as a focus: EV testing results, energy economics of EVs, and site operators activities.