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

efficiency, was clearly illustrated through data collected in the ATdS.
More detailed data and information about the daily performance of the
ALAB car at the 1996 ATdS is provided in the project’s Web site, which
is included in this report as Appendix B.
Immediately following the ATdS, on May 20, 1996, the eighteen-
month (18) commuter and work-trip element of the evaluation was
initiated. Instrument data and narratives of significant events were
recorded in accordance with vehicle demonstration project requirements
and submitted monthly to Rideshare. Beginning on June 7, 1996, the ALAB
car lost about ten percent of its driving range. At roughly two-week
intervals, the battery capacity dropped in successive 10% increments
until on July 29 the daily commuter/work-trip evaluation was suspended.
At that point the range of the car had diminished to 10 miles (16 Km)
(see Figure 5).
Distance (miles)
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
79 Drives during 1996 in ALAB Electric Car
ATdS
(6)
May
(11)
June
(24)
July
(36)
August
(2)
Longest
Average
Shortest
FIGURE 4 Monthly distribution of 79 single-charge drives in ALAB
car during ATdS and during four months of daily use in
Connecticut during 1996
In Figure 4, the number of drives represented by each bar appears
in parentheses. The graph displays statistics about the shortest,
longest and average distances driven on each fully-recharged ALAB. The
16