The buzzing of future streets

By Graeme McNaughton/The Oshawa Express

The streets around the country could look quite different in years to come, thanks to research being done right here in Oshawa.

And the research being done is on technology that is integral to making the system work: batteries and what goes into charging them.

One of the projects being worked on by Sheldon Williamson, a Canada research chair for energy storage systems and transport electricification at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology, is on supercapacitors – a power source that can hold more energy, charge quicker and dispense more power than a typical battery. Williamson says he would like to see this technology used to help cut greenhouse gas emissions from large vehicles that make frequent stops – buses and garbage trucks.

“For me, mass transit provides for a larger market share, and they are gas guzzlers. Even the garbage trucks that come one day a week, they run throughout the day…but imagine these guys going seven days a week, making short stops. It’s a lot of gas, a lot of diesel that is being burned,” he says.

“So a supercapacitor can charge very fast, propel the bus to pick up passengers, and then charge up through regenerative braking. That is some of the research we are doing.”

Williamson adds that the university is also doing research on high-speed charging and wireless power transfers.

“There is no wires, it’s an inductive power transfer to the bus lane that would be magnetically coupled with the battery bus or the supercapacitor on the bus, or other heavy duty mass transit systems.”

Looking ahead, Williamson says that more work needs to be done on extending the range of these vehicles.

“You’re getting up to 200 km before you have to charge it back up again to 100 per cent. That’s no good, because you’re going to have to charge three or four times between Toronto and Montreal,” he says.

“Even if we made it to 400 km, then that’s OK, because at least by then you’ve made it three quarters of the way.”

One of the ways Williamson and his team are looking to address this is through an energy management system that he says could be added for as little as $150 to new battery packs through the manufacturer – a low-cost option that could greatly improve the range of electric vehicles.

“It’s very important. They only want it to be one or two per cent (of the cost of the battery pack), or else they can’t sell the battery packs.”

Future everyday drivers

While he says that in the next five to 10 years there will be more electric vehicles on the road, Justin Gammage, the university’s industry liaison manager, says drivers can also expect to see different inclusions of the technology in cars that are more closely related to what most are driving today.

“You’ll also see variant versions of electric vehicles. Maybe you won’t have a pure electric vehicle, but something that would involve start-stop technology, which is basically an e-assist type of technology, which is less expensive, and it addresses a lot of the issues that a lot of fuel is burned during stops and starts,” he says.

“You’ll see more of those as a sort of stepping stone towards more of an electric vehicle fleet.”

However, despite the drive in technology to develop better electric vehicles, Gammage says consumers are not going to flock to such vehicles if the biggest roadblock is not removed: the price.

“If their price point was down to what a standard combustion engine model would be, you’d see a lot more people going to them. They make a lot of sense. They’re efficient, they’re quiet, they’re cheaper to operate, there’s less maintenance, but they’re still prohibitively expensive.”

Currently, purchasers of pure electric and other hybrid vehicles can claim a rebate from the provincial government, ranging from $1,665 on a one-year lease of a Toyota Prius plug-in hybrid to $13,000 for several different BMW models and the Cadillac ELR. However, even with these rebate incentives, such vehicles are more expensive than comparable gas- and diesel-powered vehicles.

For example, the all-electric Chevrolet Spark EV comes with a manufacturer’s suggested retail price starting at $32,445, while the regular gas-powered Chevrolet Spark starts at $9,995.

Those who buy electric vehicles are also able to apply for provincial rebates for the cost and installation of home-based charging stations, coming in at $500 each.

In fact, the move to more electric vehicles could become just a bit easier following an announcement by the province that it would be installing nearly 500 new public charging stations across Ontario.

While more than a quarter of the stations under the $20-million program will find homes in Toronto, two will be coming to Oshawa, set to be located at the Best Western hotel on Bloor Street West.

“We’re excited about it,” Errol Gilhooly, the hotel’s manager, tells The Oshawa Express.

The chargers at Best Western will both be Level 3 chargers, which uses a 480-volt system to charge a car to 80 per cent battery power in approximately half an hour.

Currently, there are three charging stations for electric vehicles open to use by the public in Oshawa. One at UOIT’s north campus, another at General Motors’ research and development centre on Wentworth, as well as the automaker’s headquarters on Colonel Sam Drive.

While the shift towards electric vehicles and similar technologies will do a lot to address climate change, Williamson says at the end of the day, it is only addressing part of the problem.

“We have a mix of energy generation in Canada, whether it be thermal, nuclear, hydro, so on and so forth. It depends on where the electricity is coming from,” he says, adding that cleaner sources of energy production should be looked at as a means of charging these vehicles.

“We are looking at alternative energy sources as well, for charging. That includes solar, wind and other things to charge these vehicles. I think this is where the future is, where you can do your own charging. You would have solar panels at your home, or carry a portable unit with you.”