Recent reports, blogs and missives about the future of the electric car include much hyperbole, criticisms, hand wringing and partial--and often misleading--information. To understand the electric car better, it is useful to revisit the history of the modern automobile. There are some apt parallels that suggest the criticisms of emerging automotive technologies—then and now—are unjustified. Our analysis of the necessary elements for widespread adoption of the electric car and recent IP activity reveals significant areas of opportunity for the development and manufacture of electric drive vehicles.

A Retrospective on the Automobile

In the first few decades after its invention, the internal combustion engine automobile was criticized as unreliable, limited in travel range and far too expensive for the general public. (This matches current issues with the electric car.)

During those early years, there was no gas station on every corner. Getting repairs was challenging; parts were necessarily custom made as needed. The infrastructure evolved over time as automobiles became more prevalent. (We would expect a similar evolution for the electric car.)

The image of the impractical automobile was turned on its head by some of the manufacturers in the early 20th century, most notably Henry Ford. The critical innovation was not the assembly line, but a more fundamental concept that evolved in manufacturing during the 19th century called interchangeable parts. Drop-in parts with consistent, identical design are made per specification, so that they fit into any device of the same type. This concept, taken for granted in modern manufacture, enables simple, quick and consistent manufacture of a complex end product. Interchangeable parts are necessary to the assembly line, but were irrelevant in the time of hand manufacture, where each part was made only to fit an individual device.

This concept is the key to enabling mass production of all standardized products. Ford was one of the early innovators to put this principle into use, producing high volume and high quality automobiles affordably.

In retrospect, the early criticism of the internal combustion automobile was shortsighted. Is the present criticism of electric drive automobiles, and their hybrid cousins, perhaps a similar example of shortsightedness?

The Current State of the Electric Car

Automobile design has moved away from the old “Lead Sleds”, big, heavy, metal monstrosities that long dominated the American automobile scene. Technology has been used to create lighter and more aerodynamic designs. This trend has been a boon to the electric vehicle, as the easiest way to increase its range is by decreasing its weight and wind resistance.

Even so, range anxiety is still possibly the biggest barrier to the introduction of electric drive automobiles. This is best addressed by the Extended Range Electric Vehicle, which is essentially an electric vehicle with a small internal combustion engine driving a recharging system, which recharges the battery (the main power source) on the fly.

This type of vehicle provides most of the advantage of an all-electric vehicle while allowing the range of traditional internal combustion engine automobiles. It uses the gas stations on every corner to recharge electric vehicles. Many new carmakers and several established car manufacturers are pursuing this approach. In the USA, Ford, GMC and Chrysler all have their fingers in this technology.

Though Toyota must be given credit for getting to the right market at the right time, the Prius is technologically a stodgy old foot dragger with its dual drive hybrid system. This design features an internal combustion engine car with an electric motor inserted into the drive train. This means that the vehicle carries the weight of the electric motor and its massive battery plus a full internal combustion drive train!

Another issue with the dual drive hybrid is system complexity. The fully electric car and its extended range cousin have significantly fewer parts than the traditional automobile, making them easier and less expensive to maintain. However, the dual drive hybrid has all the maintenance requirements of an internal combustion engine car, plus the maintenance of an electric car. In this case, more is not better.

At present, price is another barrier to acceptance of electric cars. Simplicity of design can significantly reduce the manufacturing costs, and this is also an area of great opportunity. While there are enormous numbers of patents in the area of electric vehicle design, few of them address innovations that drive down production costs. Just as Henry Ford’s affordable automobile manufacturing revolutionized the automobile industry, developments that enable the manufacture of an affordable electric car may also impact the industry in profound and transformative ways.     

Where is the White Space?

The primary areas of focus of most manufacturers for patenting and development efforts in the electric car sector have been the drive train and the chassis/body. Manufacturing methods have been somewhat neglected. There are some filings that address the cost of manufacture (see 20090250274/US-A1, “Motor Assembly For Alternative Fuel Vehicles”, from GM Global Technology Operations, and 2009029138/WO-A2, “Battery Pack Thermal Management System”, from Tesla Motors), but very few when considered against the potential financial returns from an affordable electric vehicle.

Gas stations are ideally placed to support electric vehicle “refueling” and are already on the grid. This simplifies the establishment of a charging station network. Gas stations require only upgrades to their power lines, and the installation of some “electricity pumps”. Patenting and development of the electric car charging station has been somewhat neglected until recently. Now the introduction of plug-in electric vehicles is driving greater activity in this area, such as GE’s recent activity (see 20070139010/US-A1,"Systems and methods for charging a battery"). Still, there remains significant white space in this area.

Some observers worry about the recharging time required for the battery. Taking hours to recharge would restrict the usefulness of the vehicle for long trips. However, fast charge technology is already a high priority for electric car development. Several battery makers such as Altairnano have developed electric vehicle batteries that recharge in ten minutes with specialized equipment. Altairnano had a flurry of battery design filings in recent years, including, most notably, “Lithium Ion Batteries” 20070092798/US-A1, which states in its abstract that the invention “is directed to lithium ion batteries that provide for rapid recharge, longer battery life and inherently safe operation.” Toshiba also has recent IP in this area.

The introduction of electric vehicles into our present dealership network would require little change. Some added effort is needed to train technicians to service the electric drive systems. There will also be a need for diagnostic tools for the new class of vehicle.

These areas of development remain relatively wide open, awaiting the indication of a viable electric car design that would be widely used. The corollary equipment for recharging, test and repair will follow designs and technology that show the signs of popular adoption by the industry.

The Henry Ford of the electric car could possibly be someone in the battery industry. The often-made claims of 10-to-1 capacity improvement (i.e., ten times the range between charges) are not necessary to make a major impact nor are they likely to be realized in practice. A more modest (and more realistic) gain of 2-to-1 could be enough to radically change the game in favor of the electric car in terms of performance and affordability.  Players in the electric car game will be closely watching filings such as 2006091019/WO-A1, “Secondary Battery of Improved Lithium Ion Mobility and Cell Capacity”.

Technologies outside the drive train can also play an important role. For example, regenerative braking, in which electric motors or equivalents turn the vehicle momentum into electric power which is fed back to the battery, can help squeeze more range out of the battery between charges.  2000000363/WO-A1, “Brake Device for Car”, assigned to Nissan Diesel, is an excellent example of this technology. Similar benefits can be realized from a photovoltaic car roof used to power car accessories and thus save the battery, such as US6313394, “Electric Vehicle Photovoltaic Charging System”, assigned to Powerlight. Such accessory technologies with potentially large impact can be excellent areas for IP investment.

Electric cars are green, in spite of the arguments about coal burning power plants. There are new sources of power that are green. Commercial scale wind power, solar thermal power and photovoltaic power are taking off, and can provide clean electricity for electric cars as they take to the road. And the electric utilities are firmly behind the electric car concept, both as a new market, and as a potential load-balancing mechanism.

It is not possible to say for certain what the future will hold. The best one can do is look at the information available and follow where it leads. The extended range electric car apparently has what it takes to replace that old family sedan and maybe even do the job better. What is now white space in electric car technology may yield exactly the needed innovations to bring the electric car to a very bright future.

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