EV Customer Usage Measurement Program for Durability Test Mode Development 2014-01-0723

Virtually every major automaker has announced intentions of producing an electric vehicle (EV). Hyundai Motor Group has also announced plans to sell an electric vehicle in the next several years. There is strong and increasing support for electric vehicles in the USA due to an interest in protecting the environment, limiting dependence on oil, and reducing the associated cost of petroleum-based transportation. From a durability perspective, battery performance and longevity are significant concerns. In order to better prepare for upcoming electric vehicles, Hyundai-Kia America Technical Center, Inc (HATCI) Vehicle Evaluation group is developing an EV durability test and battery lifecycle laboratory test based on real world EV customer usage. Since there is limited availability of real world customer information for electric vehicles, a program has been started to collect EV customer usage data. This will be correlated with test inputs for both road and lab testing. An outside vendor has been contracted to collect data on customer usage from existing Nissan Leaf and Chevrolet Volt customers. Using specially instrumented vehicles, data is being collected on electric vehicle owners charging and driving habits in 5 different US locations. When complete, this data will be used to correlate field results with an EV battery lab test and EV durability road test.