The public is being invited to learn more about the phenomenon of the electric car at the Irish Times Motor Show 2011, which is being held at the RDS, Dublin between February 25th and 27th. ESB ecars, is sponsoring the Electric Avenue feature at the show which has been designed to answer questions, promote awareness as well as ignite the interest of the curious at the show.

ESB ecars is rolling out a nationwide network of charge points: at home, in public areas and in service stations, so that drivers are never far from a charge point. Targets for end of 2011 will include 1500 public charge points, 40 fast charge points in services stations as well as 2000 conveniently located home charge points, for those who purchase electric cars.

Electric cars are a real alternative to the petrol or diesel equivalents offering motorists up to 80% savings on the running costs. Indeed tests have shown that driving an ecar costs 2-3 cent per km compared to 12-14 cent per km for a conventional car. In the next two years, a wide range of 100% electric cars and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles will be available to the worldwide market.

Paul Mulvaney, managing director of ESB ecars, says: “The Electric Avenue is an excellent opportunity for the general public to see the range of electric cars available and view demos of how they are charged at home, on-street and in service stations. At the show we hope to encourage motorists to consider the electric car as an alternative option and benefit from the cost savings, the fun driving experience as well as supporting this exciting development in sustainable transport.”

The Irish Times Motor Show 2011 will be Ireland’s first national motor show in over 20 years and will have features for every motoring taste. Some of the bands showing include Alfa Romeo Audi, Fiat, Ford, Hyundai, Mazda, Nissan, Lexus, Opel, Peugeot, Renault, Seat, Skoda, Toyota, Volvo, Saab, Chevrolet and Volkswagen.

24 households on the Aran Islands are participating in a pilot project to demonstrate the smart grid technologies needed to transfer and store wind energy in electric vehicles. Eight electric vehicles have been delivered to homes as part of a project coordinated by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) and the Department of Community, Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs. The vehicles will be rolled out to an initial eight households for one year, with a further eight households selected for participation in 2012 and again in 2013, under a three year programme looking at the potential for wind energy to power electric cars and to reduce reliance on imported fuels on the islands.

Each household has been fitted with an innovative smart charger unit which can be accessed remotely to allow matching of available wind power with vehicle charging requirements.

The project will aim to show a significant potential for electric vehicles charged by wind energy to meet the transport requirements under the difficult access conditions of an island environment. It will assess the efficiency, reliability and maintainability of the vehicles and the potential for locally generated wind power to supply the electricity requirements for the vehicles.

“Ireland has the twin goals of replacing 10% of its passenger vehicles with electric vehicles by 2020 and of exploiting our availability of renewable energy resources, in particular wind. Under Government plans to put 6,000 electric vehicles on the road by 2012, a grant of €5,000 is now available for the purchase of electric vehicles. This project on the Aran Islands is a significant step, and is among the first initiatives worldwide to demonstrate the potential for electric vehicles fuelled by wind energy,” comments Professor Owen Lewis, chief executive of SEAI. “We are most encouraged by the positive reception to the project to date. Aran is a particularly useful test-bed as the islands have an abundance of wind power and mainly domestic consumers.”

Participants were selected following on open competition and an electrical survey of applicant properties in 2010. Following a public procurement process, the vehicles have been supplied by GreenMachines, and Merrion Fleet Management was selected to provide full maintenance and support services for the duration of the trial. Another Irish company, Klockner Moeller, developed the smart charging units to meet SEAI’s technical requirements.

Grants of up to €5000 for electric and hybrid cars will be available from January 1st 2011.

Grants of €5,000 for the purchase of Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs) and up to €2,500 for the purchase of Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs) are available from 2011 to 2012. This support comes in addition to the zero VRT on BEVs and VRT relief of up to €2,500 for PHEVs announced by the Minister for Finance in his Budget Speech of December 2009.

Vehicles which meet the following criteria will be eligible for support

* Vehicle Type: Passenger vehicle must meet the M1 classification as defined under the European Whole Type Approval Process;

* Safety: Vehicle must meet European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP) rating of at least 3 stars;

* Speed: Must achieve 100kph on a level surface;

* Endurance per charge: BEV >100km/PHEV >20km;

* Tailpipe CO2 Emissions: BEV = 0g/km/PHEV <75g/km;

* Vehicle Warranty (including battery): 3 years or 100,000km.

For PHEVs with a list price greater than €18,000 a grant of €2,500 will be available. For BEVs with a list price greater than €20,000 a grant of €5,000 will be available. For BEVs with a price less than or equal to €20,000, the grant will be in proportion to the vehicle costs.

Hydrogen-powered fuel-cell cars are set to play a key role in reducing the emissions of road transport as we move forward. That is the conclusion of an unprecedented European study conducted to date on the prospects of various power-train solutions for personal mobility.

The study was prompted by the target set by the EU Commission and G8 nations to reduce overall CO2 emissions by 80% and road transport emissions by 95% by 2050. The study explores and compares the economics, sustainability and performance of internal combustion engines, battery electric vehicles, fuel-cell electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids for various vehicle segments.

According to the study, fuel cell electric cars, battery electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids need to reach a considerable market penetration in order to meet the CO2 reduction targets. The study found that whereas battery electric vehicles are ideal for short trips, in urban locations for example, fuel-cell electric vehicles offer the added advantage of longer ranges and shorter refuelling windows. The study thus concluded that they present the most viable drive concept for reducing CO2 emissions in the medium and larger vehicle segments. This segment covers about 50% of all vehicles and currently accounts for around 75% of all CO2 emissions in road traffic.

Based on current production methods, which involve steam reforming of natural gas, hydrogen cuts CO2 emissions for each kilometre driven by up to 30% compared with conventional petrol and diesel cars. The study shows that the 95% reduction target can be achieved by 2050 with the help of various hydrogen production methods, with an increasing share of renewable sources in the mix.

Linde, a world leading gases and engineering company, joined 29 other companies and organisations from the automotive, oil and gas, industrial gases, utility and energy industries in supporting the study by submitting comprehensive data. “This latest study provides convincing substantiation of the key conclusion we drew in a study back in 2005,” says Dr Andreas Opfermann, head of innovation management at Linde. “The cost involved in building up a hydrogen infrastructure would be of reasonable proportions. This has now been underscored by the latest in-depth findings.”

Linde is currently researching various production options aimed at gradually increasing the share of ‘green’ sources in the hydrogen landscape. One of these uses liquid biomass (glycerine), a by-product of biodiesel production, as the feedstock.

Looking at the total cost of ownership of a vehicle, the playing field will be more or less level for all drive concepts by 2025 – or earlier, with tax exemptions and/or incentives during the ramp-up phase.

In its ‘balanced’ scenario, the study assumes that fuel-cell vehicles will account for 25% of all cars on the road by 2050. This requires an investment of around Eur3 billion in a Europe-wide hydrogen refuelling infrastructure by 2020. Expressed as a percentage of the total cost of ownership, this corresponds to a mere 5%. To access the full study, visit www.zeroemissionvehicles.eu.