One million testing miles reveal EV performance

AVTA PHEV Testing benchmarks plug-in hybrid performance with 1 million on-road miles, 26,000 charging events, and 215 vehicles, analyzing energy consumption, grid impacts, driver behavior, and climate effects across U.S. states and Canada.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), through its Advanced Vehicle Testing Activity (AVTA) at Idaho National Laboratory, has completed 1 million miles of plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) testing.

The AVTA's testing of PHEVs demonstrates PHEV concepts in real-world usage by using fleet and public drivers. The 1 million test miles and more than 26,000 charging events have been accumulated in on-road operations across the United States and Canada as well. More than 215 PHEVs, comprising 12 different PHEV models, have made up the PHEV test fleet to date. PHEV testing results can be found at http://avt.inl.gov/phev.shtml.

The PHEV testing benchmarks vehicle performance by quantifying energy consumption, both in terms of gasoline and electricity, in a wide variety of operating conditions in 23 states and Canada. The testing also demonstrates how environmental conditions, such as air temperature and human behavior, influence the performance of PHEV technologies. By evaluating how the vehicles are driven and how they are charged, the AVTA is able to demonstrate vehicle energy consumption results and potential electric grid impacts observed in operations.

The AVTA testing of PHEVs supports DOE's goal of evaluating technologies that have potential to reduce petroleum consumption. Results are shared with industry and government research and development groups to aid in technology development and target setting. Information is also made publicly available via presentations and the AVTA Web site to help fleet managers and private consumers make knowledgeable decisions when acquiring advanced technology vehicles, including plug-in hybrid vehicles for utility demonstrations.

The AVTA's PHEV testing effort involves more than 75 testing partners, including electric utilities such as Hydro-Québec collaborating with automakers; city, county, state, federal and provincial governments; universities and colleges; clean air agencies; private companies and other organizations. As part of the AVTA, INL also collaborates with testing partner Argonne National Laboratory, which performs laboratory dynamometer testing of each PHEV model tested on the road. This testing partnership provides an important link between standard laboratory test results and real-world performance. In addition to Argonne, INL also collaborates with other DOE laboratories by sharing PHEV data analysis and reporting.

The AVTA is conducted by Idaho National Laboratory and the Electric Transportation Engineering Corporation (eTec) for DOE's Vehicle Technologies Program. The AVTA also tests other electric drive vehicles such as hybrid electric vehicles and neighborhood electric vehicles. Additional information about the battery testing results can be found at http://avt.inel.gov/.

INL is one of DOE's 10 multi-program national laboratories. The INL performs work in each of DOE's strategic goal areas: energy, national security, science and environment. INL is the nation's leading center for nuclear energy research and development. Day-to-day management and operation of the laboratory is the responsibility of Battelle Energy Alliance.

Related News

• Electricity Forum News

• EV Infrastructure News