SPX Home Charging Installation Survey Findings Shed Light on Households of Electric Vehicle Customers

{"s" : "spw","k" : "a00,a50,b00,b60,c10,g00,h00,l10,p20,t10,v00","o" : "","j" : ""} Press Release Source: SPX Corporation On Tuesday June 14, 2011, 8:00 am EDT

NOVI, Mich., June 14, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The homes of most electric-vehicle buyers have the electrical foundation to support advanced charging, but they often require a custom solution installed by an expert to take advantage of this option, according to data collected by SPX Service Solutions.

SPX Service Solutions, a leader in global automotive diagnostics, has gathered data about potential owners of electric vehicles and their garages since November 2010, when it became the exclusive provider of turnkey home-charging installation services to owners of the new Chevrolet Volt.

SPX Service Solutions works with electric vehicle owners and interested buyers to prepare their garages for 240-volt charge stations, which can charge the vehicles in half the time required with a 120-volt charge station. To date, the company has surveyed about 2,000 potential owners in five U.S. markets where electric vehicles are currently rolling out: California, Michigan, Texas, and the New York and Washington, D.C. metro areas.

"After seven months of working with people acquiring electric vehicles, SPX has collected an extensive amount of valuable data on their needs," said Tanvir Arfi, President of SPX Service Solutions. "One key finding is that, for the most part, their homes are conducive to home-charging. Most respondents own their own homes, live in single-family dwellings, and have electrical systems that can support 240V charging. In addition, the types of garages and foundations in their homes vary considerably, indicating the need for highly flexible, custom charge station installations."

Arfi is presenting findings from SPX's electric vehicle home-charging survey during the Automotive News Green Car Conference taking place today in Novi, Mich. Some key findings from the survey include

98 percent of survey participants own their own home.63 percent live in single-family dwellings.99 percent of these homes have electrical systems equipped with circuit breakers, an important piece of infrastructure needed to support a 240V charge station.71 percent have space on their electrical service panel for additional breakers, allowing space to have a line for a charge station to be added.78 percent of respondents lack a 240V outlet or line near their parking location, which is essential for faster home charging.

Building foundations, garage types, and the location of electrical service panels create different charge station installation requirements. The survey indicates that 32 percent of participants have basements, 29 percent have crawl spaces and 36 percent slab foundations. Garage types also vary, with 47 percent of garages attached to the home, 7 percent detached, 13 percent carport or driveway, and 33 percent other types. The location of the main electrical service panel is also variable, with 32 percent in a basement, 29 percent in a garage, and 31 percent outside the home.

In addition to these findings, participants indicated that they usually want the charge station installed in a garage, but also want the flexibility of charging their vehicle in their driveway.

SPX conducts the detailed online survey to better prepare its network of 2,000 certified electricians for the specific type of electric vehicle home-charging installation required, and to simplify the process for EV owners and prospective buyers. SPX Service Solutions also offers its own SPX Power Xpress[TM] charge station for electric vehicles, a compact wall-mount unit that can be unplugged, moved, and installed in outdoor locations.

For more information about SPX's electric vehicle home charging service offerings, please visit http://www.homecharging.spx.com.

About SPX

SPX (NYSE:SPW - News) is a global Fortune 500 multi-industry manufacturing company. With headquarters in Charlotte, N.C., SPX has 15,500 employees in more than 35 countries worldwide. Visit www.spx.com. SPX Service Solutions is a leading global developer and manufacturer of advanced diagnostic systems and service solutions for automotive original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), their dealer networks, and retail and aftermarket channels. The business also provides consulting, strategy and technical information for vehicle servicing and maintenance, as well as for charging and the servicing of electric vehicles.

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Fuel prices will be tipping point for U.S. electric vehicle consideration: survey

A new survey released today by Deloitte shows that 78 percent of consumers in the United States would consider purchasing an electric vehicle (EV) when fuel prices reach $5.00 per gallon. ?The study, "Gaining traction: Will consumers ride the electric vehicle wave?," surveyed 12,000 consumers globally, including more than 1,000 in the U.S., and finds that the higher the price of fuel, the more interested consumers are in EVs.

"Offsetting the fuel factor is the finding that the better the fuel efficiency of internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, the less interested consumers become in EVs," said Craig Giffi, vice chairman, Deloitte LLP and U.S. automotive practice leader. "A total of 68 percent of consumers in the U.S. and 57 percent in China are less likely to consider an EV if they are able to find ICEs with a fuel efficiency of 50 miles per gallon."

According to the survey, the majority of consumers' in the world's four largest automotive markets either identify themselves as potential first movers, or at least willing to consider purchasing an electric vehicle (U.S. 54 percent, China 93 percent, Europe 69 percent, and Japan 48 percent).?? Looking exclusively at the potential first movers segment, only 12 percent of U.S. consumers surveyed identify themselves as potential first movers in purchasing or leasing an electric vehicle.? China stands out with 50 percent of consumers falling into the potential first movers category, followed by Europe with 16 percent.? Japan has the smallest percentage of consumers in the potential first movers segment with only four percent.

"For mass adoption, automakers in the U.S. will be challenged to price electric vehicles to meet the expectations of consumers and still make a profit on them," said Giffi. "U.S. consumers are not likely to pay any sort of price premium for EVs. Therefore, government incentives are very important to the purchase decision."

More than half of U.S. consumers surveyed are not willing to pay any price premium for an EV compared to a regular car (ICE) while only 8 percent are willing to pay a price premium of more than $3,000. Moreover, the overwhelming majority of these consumers (77 percent) expect to pay less than $30,000 net of government incentives. In Europe and China however, it becomes an even more significant challenge as the majority of consumers expects to pay less than $20,000 for an electric vehicle and more than 50 percent of consumers in these markets refuse to pay any kind of price premium for an electric vehicle.

"Global mass adoption of electric vehicles will be significantly influenced by a number of factors, including rising fuel prices, advancements in ICEs, and the availability of government incentives," adds Giffi. "While interest in electric vehicles is growing, current market offerings generally fall far short of consumers' expectations for driving range, charging time, and purchase price."

The Deloitte survey reveals that consumer expectations, when combined in China, United States, Europe and Japan for EV range, is two to three times (200 to 300 miles) the current market offerings (100 miles) from major automotive manufacturers. And, the expectations for the majority of consumers in these markets is a charging time of two hours or less (60 percent in the United States, 55 percent in China, 67 percent in Europe, and 81 percent in Japan) compared to the expected eight hour charge time (required using Level II chargers with a 24 kWh battery pack) typical for current market offerings.

Currently, hybrids and EVs represent a tiny fraction of total cars on the road globally.?The adoption of all forms of green vehicles—hybrids, EVs, etc.—will be significantly influenced by government policies that will heavily shape the portfolio mix of powertrain technologies in each country. These policies will likely be driven by a number of factors, from stricter carbon emission standards to independence from foreign energy.

Additional findings from the Deloitte survey include:

‧ Consumers in the United States are aware of EVs. ?More than half of American respondents say they are at least somewhat knowledgeable about EVs, with 11 percent extremely or very knowledgeable. ?Among potential first movers, 37 percent rate themselves as extremely or very knowledgeable about EVs.

‧ For roughly 90 percent of respondent's convenience to charge, range, and cost to charge are all extremely or very important electric vehicle (EV) considerations.

‧ The vast majority of respondents have requirements that are not currently met by pure EVs in the market today, including range of up to 300 miles (63 percent of respondents; charging time of two hours or less (60 percent of respondents; and widespread availability of public charging stations (53 to 77 percent of respondents).

‧ Potential first movers in buying or leasing an EV in America describe themselves as environmentally conscious, tech savvy, trendsetters and politically active. These early adopters are generally between the ages of 18 to 34 years old (59 percent), educated (38 percent) with a bachelor's degree or higher, male (60 percent), and affluent (43 percent have incomes greater than $50,000).

‧ Most American consumers surveyed rate EVs as better than ICEs in their impact on the environment (78 percent), availability of government incentives (66 percent), and cost to operate (60 percent). However, ICEs rate better in their range before refueling or recharging (59 percent), purchase price (58 percent), and convenience to refill or recharge (56 percent).

‧ The most common perception is EVs are "green and clean" (72 percent) yet expensive to buy (71 percent).

‧ Of the total expected time U.S. respondents say they would be driving an electric vehicle, most are likely to use an EV for commuting to work (average 37 percent of expected driving time) or for short local trips (average 25 percent of expected driving time).

‧ More than half (60 percent) of U.S. respondents say two hours or less is the longest amount of time they would be willing to wait to fully recharge the battery if they were to purchase an EV. ?While only 23 percent of respondents find eight hours of charge time acceptable.

‧ The Full Useful Life of the battery as well as ease and cost of switching batteries are important factors to U.S. consumers as they begin to contemplate the total cost of ownership.

More information: For more information about Deloitte's "Gaining traction: Will consumers ride the electric vehicle wave?" please visit http://www.deloitt … ctricvehicle

Provided by Deloitte

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