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

evaluation, i.e., approved for driver insurance coverage provided
through The Rideshare Co. The combination of driving activities,
conducted under a variety of battery levels, weather, traffic and
roadway conditions, was anticipated to provide balanced first-hand
evaluations of production-EV technology with two different battery
systems.
During 1996, the data and information were submitted to Rideshare
on a monthly basis for subsequent transmittal to ARPA, where data from
this project became part of a national data repository on EVs, which is
maintained by ARPA. Department personnel periodically analyzed data
obtained from the two assigned EVs, and interim results and preliminary
information were posted on an Internet World Wide Web homepage,
maintained by the author (Appendix B). After the two-year CCEVD’s NAVC
project ended in 1996, the CCEVD continued to make the ALAB car
available to the Department for this research project.
During the final year of this project (1998), researchers
refocused the project objective on a test of the ALAB manufacturer’s
claim that their latest battery pack would provide 400 charge/discharge
cycles under specific restricted operating parameters, which are
delineated in the report section titled, “85 Ah ALAB Car – 1998.”
Objective
The objective of the project was to conduct an evaluation of two
electric vehicles (EVs) provided by The Connecticut Rideshare Company
(Rideshare). Two different EV configurations were to be evaluated, a
30-50 mile range EV (Connecticut Motor Vehicle Registration #EV-2)
powered by a conventional sealed lead acid batteries (CSLAB), and a 60-
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