City of Raleigh Begins PHEV Trial

20 November 2007

The City of Raleigh, North Carolina, is conducting a six-month trial of a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV), a Prius converted with a Hymotion/A123Systems Li-ion battery pack.

The City’s six-month pilot demo of this PHEV will collect the following data:

• Fuel economy (both gas and electric) on urban and highway driving;

• Emissions for urban and highway driving;

• Acceleration (0-to-60 mph and quarter-mile);

• Operating costs; and

• Charging profile variations with depth of discharge.

This data should allow us to clearly see the benefits of over-night charging and evaluate the impact of the vehicle to a typical residential household. We will also estimate the charging costs under the most popular rate structures for residential, commercial, and industrial facilities. All of this data will be used to calculate the bottom-line impact to a consumer and determine the pay-back period.Assistant City Manager Julian Prosser

The Raleigh City Council this year unanimously endorsed a goal of reducing fossil fuel consumption by 20% over the coming five years. In the past fiscal year, alternative fuels represented 17% of the City’s total fuel consumption. The City has 334 alternative-fuel vehicles constituting 15% of the total fleet.