One of ECOtality’s wholly owned subsidiaries, Electric Transportation Engineering Corporation (eTec), announced that it will be performing baseline and fleet testing on two Hybrid Chevrolet Tahoes for the Department of Energy’s Advanced Vehicle Testing Activity (AVTA). The entire project is valued at $10.5 million and is part of a five-year contract with the Department of Energy that was started in October of 2005.
Don Karner, President and CEO of eTec, stated, “eTec’s work with the DOE’s AVTA program displays our commitment in taking a leading role in the testing, development and advancement of advanced vehicle technologies that will reduce our dependence upon oil. Through our experience with cutting edge technologies that include battery management and fast charging systems, eTec is well positioned to capitalize on the eminent expansion of electric transportation, from hybrids to plug-in hybrids and ultimately pure electric vehicles.”
The Subsidiary, through its sister company Electric Transportation Applications (ETA), will be conducting the vehicle testing for the AVTA. The testing will take place in and around Phoenix, AZ. The Company will test the Tahoes’ hybrid battery systems after an initial break-in period and then again at 160,000 miles to measure any changes that may have taken place. The data that will be collected includes fuel consumption, acceleration, gradeability, road load coefficients (to support dynamometer testing), and vehicle durability.
ETEC has already successfully completed testing on 12 HEV models and is now also testing quite a few plug-in HEVs, including conversions of both the Toyota Prius and Ford Escape Hybrid. The Company will organize a final report detailing the life cycle costs of the Tahoe Hybrid vehicles that includes fuel costs, operations and maintenance costs and resale values. The public will be able to view the results on DOE’s AVTA website, www.avt.inl.gov.
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