GERMAN EV PLANS CHARGING UP

Daimler and its small-car subsidiary Smart are launching a pilot project in conjunction with German utility RWE to introduce Germans to the electric vehicle (EV). Daimler will supply 100 EVs and RWE will install 500 charging stations throughout the city of Berlin.

Dieter Zetsche, chairman, Daimler: “We are convinced that the future of mobility is green, and the German industry has all assets for assuming a leading role…We invented the automobile and now we are reinventing it. Today, in collaboration with RWE, we are taking an important step into the future…”

Daimler will use a lithium-ion battery in the program that it is touting as smaller, lighter, faster-charging and longer-ranged than others. It will use the same battery in its Mercedes hybrid model S 400 BlueHYBRID, to be introduced in 2009.

As part of the project, Daimler and RWE are talking up the V2G concept, emphasizing the value of the EV as an energy storage device as well as a means of personal transportation: “…it will also be possible for the energy stored in the vehicle to be fed back into the supply network (vehicle-to-grid)…the vehicle battery of the future will store electricity when demand is low and feed this electricity back in the network when demand is high…both partners are relying on open standards and are willing to cooperate with other companies on the development of joint solutions in the future.”

Daimler plans large scale production of its EVs beginning in 2010.

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Berlin to have electric car ‘filling stations’
10 September 2008 (IANS via SIFY)
and
e-mobility Berlin: Daimler and RWE Embarking on the Age of Electro-Mobility
September 5, 2008 (Daimler)

WHO
Daimler (Dieter Zetsche, chairman); Smart; RWE (Juergen Grossmann, CEO)

WHAT
e-mobility is a joint pilot project of Daimler and RWE that will build 500 EV charging stations and provide 100 EVs.

German Chancellor Merkel with Daimler, RWE and auto industry leaders at a charging station. (click to enlarge)

WHEN
- 2009: The charging stations will be installed.
- 2009: Daimler will introduce the Mercedes hybrid model S 400 BlueHYBRID, its PHEV.
- 2010: Daimler expects large scale production of EVs.

WHERE
- The charging stations will be in Berlin.
- They will be in home parking spaces as well as in public spaces (offices, shopping centres, parking lots).
- The project is modeled on a similar one in London in which public services are testing Smart For2 EVs.

WHY
- Daimler and Smart will provide 100 EVs, both Mercedes Benz and Smart vehicles, for the pilot program.
- Utility RWE will design, develop, install and operate 500 charging stations.
- The cars will have “smart” systems that allow charging at any station that will be billed to the vehicle owner’s account.
- The Daimler EVs in the pilot project will use lithium-ion batteries with fast charging and long range capabilities.
- The Mercedes hybrid model S 400 BlueHYBRID will use the same lithium-ion battery technology.
- Financing support will come from German government agencies.

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QUOTES
- Juergen Grossmann, CEO, RWE:"In addition, business-to-business partners such as shopping centres, car park operators and fleet customers can be connected into the infrastructure…”
- Dieter Zetsche, chairman, Daimler board: "Our joint initiative is a good example of what can be achieved when policy makers, energy suppliers, and the automotive industry all work together toward the same goal…"