Electric car project aims to make heating efficient

WASHINGTON – As part of his plan to get 1 million electric cars on the road by 2015, President Barack Obama wants Congress to give buyers a tax credit of up to $10,000 next year.

Currently, the maximum is $7,500, and some Republicans scoff at the credit, calling it a subsidy for the wealthy, noting that the average yearly income of a Chevrolet Volt electric car owner is $170,000.

But engineers at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, known as the PNNL, in Richland, are conducting research that could go a long way toward making the cars more affordable – not necessarily to buy but to operate.

While internal combustion engines generate a lot of heat, making it easy to heat the passenger cabin in winter, electric vehicles produce very little excess heat. As a result, providing electricity for the same amount of heat can reduce their driving range by up to 40 percent.

The researchers want to create a new, five-pound molecular heat pump, the size of a 2-liter bottle, that would handle both heating and cooling and allow the cars to travel longer distances before they need to be plugged in again.

The team won a grant of $803,000 from the U.S. Department of Energy for its pioneering work. Funding began on Dec. 1.

“We’re really just barely under way,” said Pete McGrail, of Pasco, a laboratory fellow and engineer who has worked at PNNL for 29 years.

The science is complicated, but the basic idea is straightforward: Instead of using a conventional heat pump to control heating and air conditioning, the cars would be heated and cooled with a new class of nanomaterial – or an “electrical metal organic framework” – that responds to applied electricity to get the job done. And the new compact and efficient heat pumps would be much lighter.

“The vehicle is going to be more attractive because it’s going to be able to travel longer distances on the same charge you’re putting in overnight,” McGrail said. “So it’s going to make it more marketable, more attractive, and it’s going to take less energy.”

But McGrail said results would vary for individual cars, based on temperatures and driving conditions.

“Are there hills involved? How cold was it?” he asked. “If you left on a day in Minnesota when it was 10 below zero, it’s going to take a lot more energy to heat the cabin than if you’re talking about a mild spring day of 40.”

While the research gears up in Washington state, Congress is fighting over the 2013 budget released by Obama last month. The president urged Congress to increase the maximum tax credit from $7,500 to $10,000 for an electric car.

Republican Rep. Dave Reichert of Washington, a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, criticized the president for taking “a narrow view” on overhauling the tax code.

“What’s needed to build a stronger economic recovery is not just a break for electric vehicles, but comprehensive tax reform that creates a climate of certainty for small businesses, America’s job creators,” Reichert said.