At yesterday's Ventura County (CA) ZEV Advisory Group meeting, Dan Riegert of Phoenix Motorcars* talked about his discussions of the ZEV mandate with Alan Lloyd, chairman of the California Air Resources Board ( http://www.arb.ca.gov/ ). For a company like Phoenix Motorcars, the prospect of losing the ZEV mandate would be a real problem. Dan reported that Dr. Lloyd said he was still firmly committed to the ZEV mandate and that it would be implemented in January 2003. But Dan stressed that the ARB was feeling great pressure, since they are swamped by auto industry input. So Dan said that CARB needs to hear support for EVs to bolster their determination to stick with the mandate and shape it in a way that is beneficial to EVs.
So, what we need to do is start a massive letter writing campaign supporting the ZEV mandate. Soon, since staff will obviously be writing up their recommendations for the mandate to be considered at the January meeting. California Air Resources Board P.O. Box 2815 Sacramento, CA 95812 This is, of course, second hand information. I'd be interested in hearing from others (PEVDC?) who have been in communication with Dr. Lloyd or others at CARB to see if they are getting the same information. Bruce Tucker, Secretary Ventura County Electric Auto Association *Phoenix Motorcars is an Ojai California based ev manufacturer (www.phoenixmotorcars.com ) They currently are using their prototype as a testbed to determine production parameters. Dan stated that they have a backlog of orders in the dozens, and production will start next month and they are expecting to produce 50 in 2002, 300-500 per year. Their cars use racing chasis, kit-car bodies (Early Ford), Enova drivetrain-BMS-charger, and either Hawker lead acid ($45,000 msrp) or NiMH ($60,000 msrp). They'll be converting an early production vehicle to use 3 Zebra sodium battery modules which they expect to have a range of 270 miles per charge. (Note: I have no financial stake, or any other connection to Phoenix Motorcars other than hoping a local company is successful in producing a quality EV, and sells a ton of them.)
