ColognE-Mobil 2-Year EV Field Trial to Launch in January; 25 Ford BEVs
29 December 2009
The ColognE-Mobil large-scale battery electric vehicle (BEV) field trial in Germany will launch on 4 January 2010, bringing together four partners—the Ford-Werke GmbH, RheinEnergie AG, the city of Cologne and the University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE)—in a project to test electrical mobility in all its aspects under everyday conditions.
Ford will provide 25 battery electric vehicles for the €15-million (US$21.6-million) project, starting with 10 Ford Transit BEVs. RheinEnergie AG will deliver the CO2-neutral power to drive the vehicles and will explore the topic “Electricity as a fuel” and all related infrastructure and customer product developments.
| Work packages for the ColognE-Mobil project. Click to enlarge. |
The city of Cologne is participating in the pilot in terms of urban integration of e-mobility—the effect on the city’s climate and noise control objectives and safety for repair and salvage situations; first responders; and pedestrians.
Some 50 researchers from 15 UDE departments will analyze the results, including customer acceptance of electric vehicles and the extrapolation of the results from Cologne to the entire North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) region. UDE sub-projects for ColognE-mobil include:
| UDE Sub-project | Leader |
|---|---|
| Electric Mobility Project Management | Prof. Dr. Renatus Widmann / Dr. Thorsten Mietzel, Urban Water and Waste Management |
| Driving simulator for electric vehicles and the diversion of cycles | Prof. Dr. Dieter Schramm, mechatronics |
| Traffic models for electric vehicles | Prof. Dr. Michael Schreckenberg, Physics of Transport and Traffic |
| Logistics concepts for the electrical supply traffic and stopped traffic (Electric Vehicles) | Prof. Dr.-Ing. Bernd Noche, transportation and logistics |
| Integration of electric vehicles in public transport and location concepts for Cradles | Prof. Dr. J. Alexander Schmidt, city planning and urban design |
| Communication Infrastructure (cradle) - Auto | Prof. Dr. Andreas Czylwik, Communication Systems |
| Hardware in the loop simulation test bed and battery | Prof. Dr. Dirk Söffker, control, and system dynamics |
| Research on the behavior and aging of the batteries | Prof. Dr. Angelika Heinzel, energy |
| Simulation of power networks, and security issues associated with recovery of electric vehicles | Prof. Dr. István Erlich, Electrical Power Systems; Prof. Dr. Holger Hirsch, energy transport and storage |
| Protection of road users (silent electric vehicles before driving) | Prof. Dr. Edeltraud Straube, road |
| Acceptance of studies and development of business and financing models | Prof. Dr. Rainer strips, Business Administration & Operations Management |
| Customer acceptance of the battery-charging | Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jürgen Ziegler, Interactive Systems / Interaction Design |
| Customer acceptance and financing models for electric vehicles | Prof. Dr. Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer, general business and automotive industry I; Prof. Dr. Heike Proff, Business Administration and automobile industry II |
The ColognE-Mobil project is part of the efforts being undertaken by the Rhine-Ruhr region as part of a larger model region e-mobility plan funded by the German Federal Ministry of Transport. The Rhine-Ruhr region (with the extra clusters of Aachen and Münster) is one of eight model regions receiving a total of €115 million (US$165 million). As part of the “National Development Plan for Electric Mobility”, the federal government wants to see one million electric cars on German roads by 2020.
The NRW state government has in this context created a Master Plan for Electric Mobility. The state government wants to make North Rhine-Westphalia the first large-scale electric mobility model region of Europe—and is planning to have approximately 250,000 electric vehicles in NRW streets by 2020.
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I'm in favor of EV's, but can't trials become redundant?
Fifteen PHDs to lead teams on trials which likely have been done, in some form, hundred of times already.
How many studies and trials, even commercializations, of “Electricity as a fuel” can be found on this website alone?
Posted by: kelly | 29 December 2009 at 06:33 AM
I agree with Kelly, studies aren't news anymore. News is, well, something new. I am happy that there are new biofuels applications, and that BEV's are being used by utility companies, but I am getting a little impatient for ER-EV's and BEV's to actually start selling. 800 Teslas is nothing, it is a rich mans toy. I want to see Leafs and Volts and BEV Focuses rolling down the street so that the economies of scale can start to kick in on the battery packs and the electric intent HVAC systems and all the other parts that have to be built slightly differently due to their being used on an electric car. And we need them to be built and sold in the hundreds of thousands, not the scores, per year.
And I do realize that it will happen, I just wish it would happen sooner.
Posted by: Ziv | 29 December 2009 at 07:28 AM
But unfortunately this IS news – in a way.
Congratulations to GCC for publicizing these repetitive, senseless wastes of peoples money (US$21.6-million) by bureaucrats who should just buy Simcity and play on their own $$$.
..” .. a project to test electrical mobility in all its aspects under everyday conditions.”
Who are they kidding – everyday conditions?
What present or future world conditions is this - 10 to 25 EVs suddenly alone in an city full of ICEs ?
City businesses and charging stations will evolve in ways that we cannot predict – each step will be affected by the previous step and the changing environment - and we don't even know when.
Posted by: ToppaTom | 29 December 2009 at 07:59 AM
Will BEVs pick up sales at the same rate as LED lights in the next 3 years?
According to Japan's LED industry, new higher efficiency LED (120 lm/W to 150 lm/W) will compete directly with high efficiency fluorescents by 2012. Sales will triple in the next three years. All LCD displays will use LED back lights instead of cold cathode fluorescents by 2012. Most HEVs-PHEVs-BEVs will also use LEDs extensively. Street lithting will move to LEDs, etc.
Future high efficiency LED will have 2x times the efficiency of CFL and 10x times the efficiency of regular incadescents.
Posted by: HarveyD | 29 December 2009 at 09:24 AM
Ford already have Transit EVs in use for the past 2 years in the UK and mainland Europe. They are called the Smith Edison and examples can be seen on the Case Studies page of the Smith website at http://www.smithelectricvehicles.com
Why do they need a third year and fourth year of ongoing trials? The UK's third biggest supermarket group, Sainsbury's, have been using 20 of them in London and recently ordered 51 more.
Posted by: Bob Uppendown | 29 December 2009 at 10:02 AM
They are doing this in Germany in the winter...that is putting it on the line. There was a company that put PT Cruiser EV cabs in N.Y. in the winter, they had 40% of the capacity and range. I guess it never occurred to them to warm the batteries with the heat from the motor and controller.
Posted by: SJC | 29 December 2009 at 10:28 AM
I am sure Toyota, Honda, GM, Nissan etc. are very knowledgeable about battery capacity as a function of temperature without help from the town councils of Cologne and NYC.
I think the batteries generate more heat than the motor and controller. Trying to harness their heat is probably much less sensible than thermopiles in the exhaust of an ICE.
My guess is they thought of it – fleetingly.
Posted by: ToppaTom | 29 December 2009 at 08:09 PM