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DETROIT, Michigan - An electric car in the garage might be looking more attractive, what with fuel prices rising and instability in the Middle East, but before you plump for ditching petrol and switching to plug-in power, make sure your garage can handle it.
Can it REALLY be turned into a refuelling station?
Depending on which car you buy (when they become freely available in South Africa, that is) and the age of your house, it could cost several thousand rands to prep the garage so you can charge a car quickly enough to take off for work in the morning with a full battery.
Start with the age of the home. Older houses may not have enough juice to handle an electric car - 50 years ago, who would have thought we'd be plugging-i the family car overnight? So the garage may have to be rewired...
According to experts in the US, you need at least a 12-amp circuit to charge a car in a reasonable amount of time. You also need a circuit in the garage with little or nothing else on it - anything else drawing power from the same circuit can slow the charge rate.
One bonus for South Africa is our 220/230-volt electricity supply: most domestic garages in the US have only 110V/60 hertz outlets and that will double the normal charge time to 12 or 16 hours. Europe's supply is at 220V/50 hertz and the UK 240V/50 hertz - but with an antiquated system of fused plugs.
Two mass-market electric cars, the Chevrolet Volt and the Nissan Leaf (which could reach SA as early as 2012) have different power systems and different charging needs. The Leaf is all-electric and can go up to 160km on a single charge but it needs more power than the Volt to recharge its batteries. It takes eight hours to recharge a Leaf, even with a 240V circuit, double that at 12V.
The Volt can only go about 65km on battery power so has a small petroll engine to keep it going when the battery goes flat. It's smaller battery requires 10 hours to charge, even on 110V, five hours or less at 220. GM says a recharge in the US will cost about R1.50 - the equivalent of about R10 at the US rate of $0.11/kW hour.
AeroVironment, the company that makes charging stations for Nissan, recommends outfitting your garage with a special 240V station that begins charging when you plug the car in; a smart station can start charging later in the evening when the load on the power company grid is lower.
Either way, says Kristen Helsel, vice-president of electric vehicle solutions for AeroVironment, you'll need an electrician who knows about car-charging to figure out your needs and hook the station to a dedicated 40-amp circui.
"This is no different than installing an appliance or something else," she said. "We need to take the power from your breaker box and run it to where you want the charging station installed."
Charging stations also are available from other manufacturers. Helsel said, and cost about $2000 for the unit and its installation.
The Volt, however, may not need anything. If you have a dedicated circuit in your garage then General Motors, which makes the car, says it can be charged on anything from 110 to 240V. "Most cars are parked for more than 10 hours," said Britta Gross, GM's director of electrical infrastructure. "If I were a consumer, I would always try 120 first and, if you're not satisfied, consider the 240V upgrade."
The Volt's charger costs $495 and about $1500 to install, although it could be more depending on how much work is needed at the house, Gross said.
Gross said she's working to change building codes so that all US domestic garages have 240V outlets to charge a cars but conceded that "that could take years". Many auto industry analysts say it will be years before electric cars are in a lot of garages because cars powered by internal combustion engines will continue to become more efficient.
Can it REALLY be turned into a refuelling station?
Depending on which car you buy (when they become freely available in South Africa, that is) and the age of your house, it could cost several thousand rands to prep the garage so you can charge a car quickly enough to take off for work in the morning with a full battery.
Start with the age of the home. Older houses may not have enough juice to handle an electric car - 50 years ago, who would have thought we'd be plugging-i the family car overnight? So the garage may have to be rewired...
According to experts in the US, you need at least a 12-amp circuit to charge a car in a reasonable amount of time. You also need a circuit in the garage with little or nothing else on it - anything else drawing power from the same circuit can slow the charge rate.
One bonus for South Africa is our 220/230-volt electricity supply: most domestic garages in the US have only 110V/60 hertz outlets and that will double the normal charge time to 12 or 16 hours. Europe's supply is at 220V/50 hertz and the UK 240V/50 hertz - but with an antiquated system of fused plugs.
Two mass-market electric cars, the Chevrolet Volt and the Nissan Leaf (which could reach SA as early as 2012) have different power systems and different charging needs. The Leaf is all-electric and can go up to 160km on a single charge but it needs more power than the Volt to recharge its batteries. It takes eight hours to recharge a Leaf, even with a 240V circuit, double that at 12V.
NOT YOUR AVERAGE DASH: This is the high-tech information centre that will be ahead of the driver of a Nissan Leaf.
AeroVironment, the company that makes charging stations for Nissan, recommends outfitting your garage with a special 240V station that begins charging when you plug the car in; a smart station can start charging later in the evening when the load on the power company grid is lower.
Either way, says Kristen Helsel, vice-president of electric vehicle solutions for AeroVironment, you'll need an electrician who knows about car-charging to figure out your needs and hook the station to a dedicated 40-amp circui.
"This is no different than installing an appliance or something else," she said. "We need to take the power from your breaker box and run it to where you want the charging station installed."
Charging stations also are available from other manufacturers. Helsel said, and cost about $2000 for the unit and its installation.
CHEV GOES ELECTRIC: The Chevrolet Volt combines a small battery with llimited range and a small petrol engine for maximum fuel efficiency.
The Volt's charger costs $495 and about $1500 to install, although it could be more depending on how much work is needed at the house, Gross said.
Gross said she's working to change building codes so that all US domestic garages have 240V outlets to charge a cars but conceded that "that could take years". Many auto industry analysts say it will be years before electric cars are in a lot of garages because cars powered by internal combustion engines will continue to become more efficient.
