Evaluation of Electric Vehicles as an Alternative for Work Trip and ...

ange against the maximum required 60 mpd. An approximate number of
substitutions could be estimated from an examination of state fleet
records following the general approach developed by Berg. However, it
was not within the scope of this study to make this analysis.
A public/private partnership was formed in 1994 to demonstrate and
evaluate five electric vehicles used primarily in commuter operations on
Connecticut highways. The demonstration project was titled, "The
Connecticut Commuter Electric Vehicle Demonstration” or CCEVD. The
seven (7) partners in the CCEVD were: Connecticut Office of Policy &
Management, Connecticut Department of Transportation, The Rideshare
Company, Rideworks, MetroPool, Northeast Utilities, and Connecticut
Light & Power. The seven partners together pledged $175,000 in soft and
hard matching dollars to secure an equal amount under a federal
demonstration project. The demonstration project was administered by
the Northeast Alternative Vehicle Consortium (NAVC, which changed its
name in 1999 to Northeast Advanced Vehicle Consortium) and sponsored by
the Department of Defense through its defense diversification program
run by its Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA). Under the
demonstration project, The Rideshare Company purchased, registered,
insured, maintained, collected data for, and coordinated the use of the
five (5) electric vehicles (EVs). They were identical with respect to
their car body, chassis, motor and drive train. Four (4) EVs were
identically equipped with conventional sealed lead acid batteries
(CSLAB). The fifth EV received a more expensive Advanced Lead Acid
Battery (ALAB) to test claims of a 40% longer driving range (70 versus
50 miles) from its premium-priced lead acid battery.
One element of the CCEVD evaluation involved the use of an annual
regional road rally for electric vehicles to gather data about the
longer-range ALAB electric car. The American Tour de Sol (ATdS) is an
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