EV Digest 2676
Topics covered in this issue include:
1) Re: Evercells versus Yellow tops
by "Joe Smalley" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
2) Re: Escort EV limbo?
by Peter VanDerWal <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
3) Re: More Go-Kart EV ideas
by "Joe Smalley" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
4) Re: Free EV Parking in San Jose
by Bruce EVangel Parmenter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
5) Re: ev
by "1sclunn" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
6) Re: Evercells versus Yellow tops
by John Wayland <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
7) Re: Th!nking in Phoenix AZ
by "Lawrence Rhodes" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
8) Re: AC controllers/contactor controller
by "Lawrence Rhodes" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
9) Re: Evercells versus Yellow tops
by "Thomas Shay" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
10) EVLN(Automaker lawsuit has CARB back hybrids instead of EVs)
by Bruce EVangel Parmenter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
11) EVLN(Toyota sez Electric-only vehicles are too much hassle)
by Bruce EVangel Parmenter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
12) EVLN(Hawaiian Electric Electron Marathon 3/29/03)
by Bruce EVangel Parmenter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
13) EVLN(Street-legal electric cars)
by Bruce EVangel Parmenter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
14) EVLN(Did Auto & Oil Put the Brakes on LA Electric Trolleys?)
by Bruce EVangel Parmenter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
15) EVLN(Hold to Zero-Emission Rule, elected board should stand fast)
by Bruce EVangel Parmenter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
--- Begin Message ---
The EverCell I have made 84 AHr.
Do you have a reference for the 68 AHR figure?
Joe Smalley
Rural Kitsap County WA
Fiesta 48 volts
NEDRA 48 volt street conversion record holder
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
----- Original Message -----
From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Monday, March 24, 2003 5:52 PM
Subject: Re: Evercells versus Yellow tops
> Does that $ 280 per 12.8 v battery include an individual charger ?
> 9 x 691 whr = 6.219 kwhrs, 9 x 36 lbs = 324 pounds.
> 18 T145s for 18 kwrs, 18 x 72 = 1296 pounds.
> So, for the same 18 kwrs, 18/6.219 x 324 = 3 x 324 = 972 pounds
> saving 324 pounds.
> What's wrong with my math ?
> NiZn does better in cold weather than Lead-Acid, but what about normal 70
> F weather ? Isn't NiZn only about twice the energy density as
> Lead-Acid
> (30 whrs/pound verse 15 whrs/pound) in 70 F weather ?
> $ 280 per 691 whrs = 40.5 cents/whr for NiZn verse, Cycle Life 500,
> But need total distance traveled to get cost per mile.
> $ 110 per 1000 whrs = 11 cents/whr for Lead Acid, Cycle Life 500
> But need total distance traveled to get cost per mile.
>
> On Mon, 24 Mar 2003 05:09:28 -0400 "Shelton, John D. AW2"
> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
> > All,
> > The 691wh listed for the NiZn is more than double that of
> > the yellow
> > top's rating of 312wh. So does this mean that if I have a string of
> > twelve
> > MB80s, I'll have at least as much total energy as two strings of 12
> > yellow
> > tops run in parralel? Are these the Evercell NiZn? Where are they
> > selling
> > for only $280? How many T-145s is this equivalent to? Any update on
> > the
> > cycle tests being conducted by one of the listers? Thanks guys.
> >
> > John Shelton
> >
> >
> >
> > Current pricing, based on recent information, small quantities.
> > Shows that
> > NiZn and LiIon are competative for inital cost and have longer life
> > that
> > PbA. Comparison based on YT size form.:
> >
> > PbA - Optima YT
> > price $120
> > weight 45lb
> > voltage 12v nominal (13.2v rest, charges up to 14.9v)
> > capacity 55ah (C/20; 25ah at C/1 usable max)
> > storage 12v*26ah=312wh
> > price/wh $0.385
> > cyles 300 (spec)
> >
> > NiZn - MB80-12-8
> > price $280
> > weight 36lb
> > voltage 12.8v (charges up to 16.0v)
> > capacity 68ah (0.8*68ah=54ah usable max)
> > storage 12.8v*54ah=691wh
> > price/wh $0.405
> > cyles 500 (spec)
> >
> > LiIon - TS-LP8581A (4 cells)
> > price $520 (=4*130)
> > weight 27lb
> > voltage 14.8v nominal (=4*3.7v, charges up to 4*4.3=17.2v)
> > capacity 100ah (0.8*100ah=80ah usable max)
> > storage 14.8v*80ah=1184wh
> > price/wh $0.439
> > cyles 500 (spec)
> >
> > LiIon - TS-LP90A (4 cells)
> > price $460 (=4*115)
> > weight 21lb
> > voltage 14.8v nominal (=4*3.7v)
> > capacity 90ah (0.8*100ah=72ah usable max)
> > storage 14.8v*72ah=1066wh
> > price/wh $0.432
> > cyles 500 (spec)
> >
> >
>
>
> ________________________________________________________________
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--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
$6000 is a good price to the right buyer. The problem is locating that
buyer. Most conversions sell for less than that.
My truck is a similar age and has similar components, the differences
are GE controller instead of the Curtis and no DC/DC or battery
heaters. I paid $3500 for it with 2 year old batteries.
Now these are just my opinions so take them with a grain of salt. Most
EV buyers are cheap. They want an EV cheap and are more willing to buy a
$2000 EV with batteries that are almost worn out than a $3000 EV with
new batteries. They figure they can drive around a bit on the old
batteries and buy new ones later.
My truck has 8V batteries, common list wisdom says that 8V batteries are
good for about 2 years. I figured I'd buy the truck and replace the
batteries later, well it's two years later and I'm really thinking
seriously about replacing those batteries now, range is down under 20
miles.
The point is that your car is probably worth $6000, but most folks will
see that price and decide to sacrifice some of the creature comforts
(like battery heaters) and buy a vehicle that costs 1/2 as much.
FWIW phoenix EAA sold a Soleq built '93 escort with a GE regen system,
air conditioning, 3kw heater, standby heating, sealed batteries, yada
yada yada for $8000.
Took them over a year though. It's twin (without AC) is still up for
sale and has been for 1.5 years.
So you might get your price if you are patient long enough, otherwise
drop the price.
On Mon, 2003-03-24 at 18:34, David Brandt wrote:
> I'm needing to sell my escort EV to make room (and $) for a new conversion
> project. Unfortunately, my efforts to sell it before the rebuild with an ad
> on the tradin' post which lingered a few months, and a few leads I've had
> since ti was rebuilt, have all proved fruitless. I've been asking $6000.
> It's at www.evalbum.com/221.html. I'd like to ask the list if I'm asking
> too much.
>
> I calculated that $6000 would just about cover the cost of the electric
> components.
>
> Oh, it has new batteries (less than 75 cycles), a battery heater system, and
> is located in the middle of the country, in Oklahoma.
>
> Just looking for advice, to see if I should bother listing it like this
> again. Thanks.
>
> IMPORTANT - THIS MESSAGE (INCLUDING ANY ATTACHMENTS) IS INTENDED ONLY FOR
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> TAKING OF ANY ACTION BASED ON IT IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED. THANK YOU.
>
--
EVDL
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
I would probably use contactors
http://www.evparts.com/shopping/product_details.php?id=614&product_id=940
for the reversing switch.
Four of them in an H bridge would give you an electrical reverse.
Joe Smalley
Rural Kitsap County WA
Fiesta 48 volts
NEDRA 48 volt street conversion record holder
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
----- Original Message -----
From: "Matthew Muelver" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Monday, March 24, 2003 6:22 PM
Subject: More Go-Kart EV ideas
> On Thursday, November 21, 2002, at 03:19 PM, VanDerWal, Peter MSgt
> wrote:
> > Ignore those infidels, they don't know what they are talking about. ;)
> > The 2hp motors that ASAS has should work ok and are a far cheaper
> > option
> > than the skill saws. The Leeson motors are rated for 14 amps whereas
> > skill
> > saws are only rated for 10-12 amps.
>
> Things are starting to shape up for my go-kart, so I thought I'd revive
> this thread to ask a few more questions of the local experts.
>
> I've decided that I want to go super cheap, just to get it rolling,
> then maybe I'll start changing things later. Once I've figured out
> what I'm doing I'm going to polish it all off and dress it up nice and
> purdy.
>
> I picked up one of the Leeson motors that we discussed, hooked it up to
> a 12V SLI that I've got laying around just to verify that it wasn't
> damaged or non-functional and was pleased to find that it spins in
> either direction easily.
>
> I'm not going to play around with my 144V Insight battery pack, its
> really heavy and bulky anyway. So I want to string together a simple
> contactor control system for the YTs with forward and reverse. I've
> got the wiring diagram figured out but I'm not having much luck finding
> appropriate relays. I guess I need one 20A 24VDC SPST and one 20A
> 24VDC DPDT (or two SPDTs). Nothing I've found so far really fits the
> bill, everything is either too big and expensive or too little and
> cheap. Any ideas?
>
> > The relay idea is workable with cheap relays (like 70amp 24V truck
> > relays)
>
> Where can I find these? And how cheap are they?
>
> Another question, how big should my wires be? 12GA? 10GA? 8GA?
>
> The good news is that the long forgotten go-kart is still in good
> shape. I'm pretty sure the YTs will fit nicely behind the seat in
> place of the gas tank. The engine's mounting bracket should do nicely
> for securing the new motor. If only the motor had some kind of
> mounting holes in it. There's no obvious mode of attachment on the
> motor, which will probably be one of my biggest obstacles. Another one
> will be to figure out how to get a sprocket on the motor's keyed shaft.
> I found some keyed sprockets at Cloud EV, but having never done this
> kind of thing before I'm really not sure what I'm looking for.
>
> So, again, advice/experience and any leads on parts/info will be
> greatly appreciated!
>
> Thanks,
>
> Matt
> --
> Honda Insight '01 Monte Carlo Blue
> Honda Valkyrie Interstate '99 Forest Green
> Honda CR-V '98 Jet Black
> Apple Dual 1GHz PowerMac G4
> Apple iBook 12.1" 800MHz
> Kyocera 7135 Smartphone on Verizon
> Custom Audio Adapters! Use standard stereo headphones on your 7135!
> <http://www.geocities.com/nokmout/adapter.html>
>
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
fyi
-----Original Message-----
From: "Burton, Jason"
Subject: RE: [RAV4-EV] Free Parking in San Jose
Date: Thu, 20 Mar 2003 08:55:39 -0800
The Rav4's that the City has we're keeping as far as I know.
It's a good little car. The metered parking spaces in the
City are also free as long as you respect the time limit (2
hour spaces you can only park for 2 hours, etc).
Occasionally, some electrics do get ticketed - since they
aren't seen very often, or they aren't as obvious. Anyway,
you can contact the Parking Control Officers unit directly
at (408) 277-5545.
I actually manage all of the off-street parking in the City
- the private lots do not offer free parking. If you want
to contact them, you can go to
<http://www.sjdowntownparking.com/parkmap.htm> and click on
any of the lots on the page - the phone number should pop
up. City of San Jose lots have a CSJ: in front of the title
on the pop-up page. Cheers,
Jason Burton
Off-Street Parking Administrator
Department of Transportation
4 North Second Street #1225
San Jose, CA 95113
(408) 794-1427
(408) 794-1410 (fax)
-
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--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
A golf cart was what first got me thinking . I welded some big 15" car
tires to the old golf cart rims and it went quite fast.
by the way
I'm going to be having my Fort Pierce EV rally on May 3 . I've been
switching the days around so as some people could make it but now the date
is set. As much fun as EV's are the rally's are even more. When the "Sunday
challenge" ended (gov cutmakes) I missed it so much that I decided to just
do my own. This will be the 4th . One of the things I liked about the
Sunday challenge was the 76 mile driving competition. I have never had a
long distance competition at my events and am thinking of it this year . I'm
open to ideas to make this good .
Of course everyone is invited. (sorry just can't change the date again)
Steve Clunn
www.grassrootsev.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "garry" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Monday, March 24, 2003 3:47 PM
Subject: Re: ev
> Hi Steve,
>
> Looks like its not quite as illegal as I first thought it was.
>
> I spoke to a "friendly" certifier last night and even though I haven't
seen
> him in 10 years we are still both doing the same sort of things :)
>
> Garry Stanley
>
> Cable.net.nz
>
>
>
>
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
Hello to All,
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> What's wrong with my math ?
> NiZn does better in cold weather than Lead-Acid, but what about normal 70
> F weather ? Isn't NiZn only about twice the energy density as
> Lead-Acid
> (30 whrs/pound verse 15 whrs/pound) in 70 F weather ?
Here's what's wrong with your math...it's called Peukart's Curve. On paper, not taking
this effect into consideration, NiZN has roughly double the energy density as lead
acid.
So...'on paper', if you take an Optima at 65 ahrs and really baby it and only pull a
wimpy
3.25 amps form it for 20 hours, yes, you will get all of its ahr rating...do the same
thing to a NiZN battery, say a 40 lb. 87 ahr model, and you will also get its rated
ahrs.
As is often the case though, in the real world, away from bench racing and spec sheets,
things are way different. That same 65 ahr lead acid battery, when beefy EV type
currents
are pulled, thanks to Peukart's Curve, falls to just 25 ahrs., but the 87 ahr NiZN
battery, which is largely immune to such an effect, can give nearly the same 87 ahrs,
even at EV currents.
When battery 'chemistry' is merely compared, no regard is given to the application,
and so
lead acid looks better than it really is. If a lead acid battery is rated at a 20 hour
rate (useless when talking EVs), and if it is tested and discharged at that rate, it
will
in fact, deliver its rated whrs/pound. This same battery, however, will 'not' deliver
that
same whrs/pound at the one hour rate...not even close.....a NiZN battery will.
At the one-two hour rate, a NiZN battery is about three times the energy density as a
comparably sized lead acid battery....if both batteries are cold, say at 32 degrees,
the
NiZN jumps way ahead of lead acid, at nearly six times the deliverable EV current ahrs!
See Ya.....John Wayland
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
Man. That's what I call range. Lawrence Rhodes........
----- Original Message -----
From: "Michael A. Radtke" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Monday, March 24, 2003 2:12 PM
Subject: Th!nking in Phoenix AZ
> Hello,
>
> On the way to work this morning a Ford Th!nk City caught up to me. The
> driver waved, and we drove together for the next 5 or so miles. The car
> had CA plates.
>
> I was not aware that these cars were sold in the US. Is the owner on
> this list? Am I wrong about US imports?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Mike '79 Jet ElectraVan
>
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
Yep. Lawrence Rhodes....
----- Original Message -----
From: "garry" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Monday, March 24, 2003 3:35 PM
Subject: Re: AC controllers/contactor controller
> Hi Lawrence,
>
> Are you saying that they have upped the motor voltage from 36 volts to 72
> volts in this golf cart mod ?
>
> Garry Stanley
>
> Cable.net.nz
>
>
>
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
This sounds too good to be true. You're telling us, John, that
Evercels suffer no loss of amphour capacity at the high currents
that an EV demands and no loss of capacity at lower temperature.
I hope you're right. Are these untested claims or has somebody
actually tested and proved that amphour capacity is not affected
by high current drain or reduced temperature?
Tom Shay
----- Original Message -----
From: "John Wayland" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Monday, March 24, 2003 3:37 PM
Subject: Re: Evercells versus Yellow tops
> Hello to All,
>
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>
> > What's wrong with my math ?
> > NiZn does better in cold weather than Lead-Acid, but what about normal
70
> > F weather ? Isn't NiZn only about twice the energy density as
> > Lead-Acid
> > (30 whrs/pound verse 15 whrs/pound) in 70 F weather ?
>
> Here's what's wrong with your math...it's called Peukart's Curve. On
paper, not taking
> this effect into consideration, NiZN has roughly double the energy density
as lead acid.
> So...'on paper', if you take an Optima at 65 ahrs and really baby it and
only pull a wimpy
> 3.25 amps form it for 20 hours, yes, you will get all of its ahr
rating...do the same
> thing to a NiZN battery, say a 40 lb. 87 ahr model, and you will also get
its rated ahrs.
> As is often the case though, in the real world, away from bench racing and
spec sheets,
> things are way different. That same 65 ahr lead acid battery, when beefy
EV type currents
> are pulled, thanks to Peukart's Curve, falls to just 25 ahrs., but the 87
ahr NiZN
> battery, which is largely immune to such an effect, can give nearly the
same 87 ahrs,
> even at EV currents.
>
> When battery 'chemistry' is merely compared, no regard is given to the
application, and so
> lead acid looks better than it really is. If a lead acid battery is rated
at a 20 hour
> rate (useless when talking EVs), and if it is tested and discharged at
that rate, it will
> in fact, deliver its rated whrs/pound. This same battery, however, will
'not' deliver that
> same whrs/pound at the one hour rate...not even close.....a NiZN battery
will.
>
> At the one-two hour rate, a NiZN battery is about three times the energy
density as a
> comparably sized lead acid battery....if both batteries are cold, say at
32 degrees, the
> NiZN jumps way ahead of lead acid, at nearly six times the deliverable EV
current ahrs!
>
> See Ya.....John Wayland
>
>
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
EVLN(Automaker lawsuit has CARB back hybrids instead of EVs)
[The Internet Electric Vehicle List News. For Public EV
informational purposes. Contact publication for reprint rights.]
--- {EVangel}
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/03/23/BA285723.DTL
Electric-car effort running out of juice
State air board may back hybrids instead
Mark Martin, Chronicle Sacramento Bureau
Sunday, March 23, 2003
Sacramento -- Thirteen years after starting a pioneering
effort to force Detroit to create cleaner automobiles,
California officials are poised this week to pull the plug
on the electric car.
A lawsuit, continuing resistance by automakers and the
success of hybrid vehicles will probably lead the California
Air Resources Board to substantially weaken a 1990 rule that
was intended to get 100,000 electric cars on state roads by
this year. In a meeting Thursday, the board is expected to
remove the mandate for battery-powered cars.
The concession -- which comes after a long, messy fight
involving the board, environmentalists and carmakers --
highlights the difficult task California has undertaken to
clean the state's smoggy skies by imposing even limited
requirements on what vehicles automakers should develop and
sell.
"In terms of envisioning what would be out there years in
advance, we've been wrong every time," said Jerry Martin, a
spokesman for the Air Resources Board.
The 11-member board isn't totally scrapping the idea of
pushing automakers into greener technologies. It may adopt
new rules that would require more sales of hybrids like the
Toyota Prius and relatively clean-burning models like the
Honda Civic.
The changes would essentially reflect the realities of
California's giant auto marketplace: While carmakers have
largely given up on creating electric vehicles that never
sold very well, sales of hybrids have Detroit cranking up
production.
Most battery-powered models still can travel only up to 100
miles before needing a recharge, and many still cost as much
as $100,000, said Eron Shosteck, director of communications
for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers.
But hybrids, which typically get as much as 60 miles per
gallon of gas, have been a success so far, Shosteck said.
Both Toyota and Honda announced this month that sales of
hybrids -- which combine a gasoline engine with an electric
motor -- had risen 50 percent this year and demand was
exceeding supply on models such as the Prius.
Toyota expects to sell 21,000 Prius sedans this year, and
Ford and General Motors will roll out hybrid SUVs and
pickups soon.
SCRAP CLEAN CAR PROGRAM
Given those trends, the air resources board is expected to
scrap the so- called "zero-emission vehicle" program.
The program, which required 10 percent of all vehicles sold
in California in 2003 to be emissions free, never really got
off the ground. Faced with constant opposition from
automakers, the board had weakened the program's
requirements three times.
A coalition of carmakers also won a federal injunction last
year that delayed the program.
Instead, the board is considering new rules:
-- By 2005, 4 percent of an automakers' sales in California
would have to be hybrids; an additional 6 percent would
be cars such as the Honda Accord or Toyota Camry that
meet strict emissions standards.
-- The auto industry would have to build 250 fuel cell
vehicles by 2008, most of which would probably be sold to
universities or government agencies. Fuel cell vehicles
are powered by hydrogen or other clean sources and what
many experts think will be the long-term future of
emission-free vehicles.
A panel of experts would convene sometime in 2006 or 2007 to
prepare a report outlining feasible future requirements for
automakers.
Like a lot of the board's decisions throughout the emissions
debate, neither environmentalists nor Detroit is entirely
happy with the proposed rules.
RESISTANT AUTOMAKERS
Car companies hate any government mandate on what they sell.
They note that even a 4 percent hybrid requirement would
mean a huge leap in sales in the next two years.
"You can't mandate consumer demand," said Shosteck of the
Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers. "We hope consumers
will want them (hybrids) but you can't just create a law and
make it so."
And many environmental groups say the board would make a big
mistake by giving up entirely on a requirement regarding
zero-emission vehicles.
The mistake in 1990 was focusing solely on electric cars,
said Roland Hwang, a senior policy analyst for the National
Resources Defense Council.
This year, the board should set future zero-emission
standards, but let manufacturers take any route they can
invent, whether it be fuel cells, electric power or some
other technology, he said.
"In 1990, we had one vision of how clean technology could
evolve, and it was scrapping the gas-powered engine," Hwang
said. "We found out that was pretty tough, to make that
wholesale change. I think what we have found is that there
are a lot more paths to go to get to a clean car."
E-mail Mark Martin at [EMAIL PROTECTED]
-
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. EV List Editor & RE newswires
. (originator of the above ASCII art)
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--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
EVLN(Toyota sez Electric-only vehicles are too much hassle)
[The Internet Electric Vehicle List News. For Public EV
informational purposes. Contact publication for reprint rights.]
--- {EVangel}
http://www.dailybreeze.com/content/bln/nmcars23.html
Monday, March 24, 2003
Hybrid cars take over where electrics left off
EMISSIONS: California air-quality officials are expected to
end the landmark smog-fighting program.
By Michael Gardner COPLEY NEWS SERVICE
SACRAMENTO � Gary Campbell and Sharon Lewis have logged
82,500 miles in their Honda, but they didn�t spend a dime on
gas. The couple plugs in instead of filling up.
Lee Laymon also uses battery power, but his
50-miles-per-gallon hybrid hatchback can zip from San Diego
to San Francisco on a tank of gas.
Laymon, Campbell and Lewis are on the cusp of a modest, yet
important time of transition for car-crazy California. Gas
has pierced the $2-a-gallon barrier. SUVs are under siege.
And, in Southern California, corn from the Midwest is
helping curb pollution.
In a major policy shift, California�s air-quality regulators
Thursday are expected to all but pull the plug on the
state�s landmark electric vehicle program.
Resistance from automakers, a lukewarm response from
consumers and slow technological advances combined to park
the program that a decade ago was hailed as the next
promising smog-stopper.
Electric vehicles will give way to gas-electric hybrids �
cheaper and more convenient � as the smog-fighting vehicle
du jour.
The technology is off-the-shelf. We�re not talking about
experiments,� said Jerry Martin, an air board spokesman.
Electric vehicles rare
Under the proposal, automakers would have to sell 22,000
hybrid vehicles by 2005 and slowly broaden sales to 117,500
by 2009.
In contrast, at least 260,000 electric vehicles would be on
the roads alongside 28 million gas-powered cars and trucks
if the state had stuck to its 1990 mandate. Instead,
numbering just 2,500, EVs are rare enough to inspire �What�s
that?� looks as they pass by silently.
Air quality advocates appear resigned to the change. Taking
solace, they say there would not have been a steady march to
battery- and fuel-cell-powered vehicles if the state had not
issued the original zero-emission-vehicle mandate.
Hybrids are the next evolution,� said John DeCicco, a
Detroit-based watchdog for Environmental Defense. Consumers,
he said, will readily accept hybrids because they don�t see
it as a big change from traditional gasoline engines.
Toyota and Honda � the only dealers with hybrids on the mass
market today � sold a record 4,200 combined nationwide last
month, according to industry figures. Just about every major
manufacturer has announced plans to launch a hybrid model in
the next year or two.
It�s hard to tell if it�s a short-term phenomenon,� said
Dave Hermance, an engineer with Toyota in Torrance. �As more
product comes to market, we�ll see if it�s ready for prime
time.� Laymon, a retired Sacramento engineer, didn�t give it
a second thought. He selected a $21,000, two-seat hatchback,
convinced that gas savings will quickly cover the difference
in price if he had settled on a less expensive sedan.
Electric-only vehicles, he said, �are too much hassle.�
Range is limited, and recharging stations are rare, he
said.
The hybrid does not have to be plugged in because its
battery recharges with each trip.
�It delivers all the power you want,� Laymon said.
The shift away from electric vehicles is a bittersweet time
for Campbell and Lewis, an Elk Grove couple. They are some
of the earliest pioneers, leasing a Honda EV Plus for $500 a
month (collision insurance and maintenance included) in
1997.
There�s no pollution, no consumption of fossil fuels,�
Campbell said. �Right now, it�s nice to not have the sticker
shock at gas stations.�
But, over the years, the car�s 100-mile range has been cut
in half. They don�t expect Honda to renew the lease in
June.
Electric cars never caught on enough to make it feasible,�
Campbell said. �Maybe if the manufacturers had marketed
better and tried harder to make the infrastructure work.�
Campbell and Lewis want another EV, but there are few
available. Instead, they are shopping for a hybrid.
�It�s a good compromise,� Campbell said.
Excitement over fuel cells
Laymon already has picked out his next car � a hydrogen
fuel-cell vehicle � once it enters the market.
Unlike electric vehicles, fuel cells � endorsed by President
Bush � have been embraced by the industry.
The car companies are in love with fuel cells,� said Martin,
the air board spokesman. �They see a business case for fuel
cells. They are much more willing to do the heavy investing
to move from concept car to market.�
Until then, SUVs still rule the roads despite their
insatiable thirst for gas. But times are changing for these
drivers as well. The air board is in the middle of
developing new standards for the behemoths to cut down on
carbon dioxide emissions starting with model year 2009.
Just by starting their engines every Southern California
motorist is already participating in the next evolution in
traditional gasoline formulations. Midwest corn � once
destined for the dinner table � now helps fuel their trips
to the supermarket.
Refiners have been ordered to stop using methyl tertiary
butyl ether by the end of the year. The toxic additive helps
gas burn cleaner, but has been discovered in water sources
from Santa Monica to Lake Tahoe.
In Southern California, all but one refiner has made the
switch to corn-based ethanol, according to Pat Perez, a
California Energy Commission fuels specialist.
Initial concerns about ethanol shortages have been
unfounded, at least for now.
�Supply is not an issue,� Perez said.
Publish Date:March 23, 2003
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EVLN(Hawaiian Electric Electron Marathon 3/29/03)
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informational purposes. Contact publication for reprint rights.]
--- {EVangel}
http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2003/Mar/21/sp/sp14a.html
Posted on: Friday, March 21, 2003
Briefly: Rhino Coastal Relay set for tomorrow
Advertiser Staff
[...]
Electric vehicle race set
The Hawaiian Electric Electron Marathon � a 60- minute race
of self-built electric vehicles � will be Saturday at Ford
Island.
Thirty high school teams from across the state will
participate in the race that begins at 10 a.m.
The students design, engineer and build their vehicles
starting from identical kits of basic parts provided by
HECO, Hawai'i Electric Light Co., and Maui Electric Co.
The event is free and open to the public.
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--- {EVangel}
http://www.nctimes.net/news/2003/20030322/60804.html
Citizen Corps gets donation of five electric cars
Teri Figueroa Staff Writer
TEMECULA ---- Street-legal electric cars. If there's one
nearby, you can't help but notice. It draws stares and
finger-pointing as it rolls down the street. x25 Ad
The unusual nature of the cars as well as their open design
encourage folks to stop and chat with the drivers.
It is precisely because GEM electric cars are so noticeable
---- and because they move at a relatively slow clip ----
that they make neighborhood patrols more effective, said
City Councilman Mike Naggar.
So now there will be a handful of them tooling the streets
of Temecula, making up the new fleet of five patrol vehicles
for the Temecula Citizen Corps.
Temecula's Norm Reeves auto dealership donated the five
cars, which are called the GEM Neighborhood Electric
Vehicle, to the Citizen Corps program and plans to turn over
the keys at Tuesday's City Council meeting. The dealership
is donating three two-seaters, which retail for about
$4,000, and two four-seaters, which run about $5,000.
"We felt it would help the city demonstrate its increased
commitment to the concept of green transportation,"
dealership Vice President Dick Kennedy said Friday.
And, Kennedy added, the public's exposure to the cars can't
hurt.
Temecula Police Department Sgt. Cynthia Wait said the
surprise donation of the cars to the Citizen Corps programs
gives the group "an added resource and a great asset."
Just which of the Corps' more than 60 volunteers will be
assigned the GEM cars will likely be decided next week when
Corps officials meet to hammer out logistical issues.
Naggar, who bought one of the cars in December to support
the use of alternative fuels, is hoping to "create a
synergy" throughout the city that will encourage more people
to buy the cars.
As part of that push, Naggar not only worked to get the cars
donated, but also directed city staffers to develop a map of
Temecula streets on which the cars can be driven.
Since the cars travel at top speeds of 25 mph, California
law only permits them on streets with speed limits of 35 mph
or less.
The GEM gets a complete recharge from plugging it into a
normal electrical outlet for eight to 10 hours. According to
the DaimlerChrysler Web site, it costs about a penny a mile
to run and can go about 30 miles before needing to be
recharged.
So far, Norm Reeves has sold 148 of the cars, 12 of which
have gone to Temecula residents. Murrieta residents have
bought about twice that amount, Kennedy said.
The cars, he said, seem to sell best to the residents of
gated communities.
Citizen Corps is a citywide force of volunteers trained to
respond to emergencies both natural and man-made. Corps
members will be able to do initial building damage
assessments, neighborhood special needs assessments, and
first aid as well as helping families come up with plans in
case of a disaster. Neighborhood Watch crime prevention is
another of the corps members' duties.
Contact staff writer Teri Figueroa at (909) 676-4315, Ext.
2623, or [EMAIL PROTECTED] 3/22/03
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--- {EVangel}
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/los_angeles_metro/la-me-then23mar23,1,2709109.story?coll=la%2Dcommun%2Dlos%5Fangeles%5Fmetro
March 23, 2003 L.A. THEN AND NOW
Did Auto, Oil Conspiracy Put the Brakes on Trolleys?
By Cecilia Rasmussen, Times Staff Writer
It has been 40 years since the last clang-clang-clang of a
trolley in Los Angeles. The Yellow Car -- the city's local
electric-car line -- made its final run March 31, 1963, a
farewell tour on the "V" Line from Los Angeles City College
on Vermont Avenue to Pico Boulevard.
Two years earlier, the interurban Red Cars that once ran
from Redlands to Santa Monica for a penny a mile had made
their last runs. Once both were gone, so was the golden age
of mass transit in Los Angeles. In the decades since,
Angelenos have repeatedly asked the question: Who was
responsible for dismantling the electric trolley cars?
The automobile became Angelenos' preferred mode of
transportation so quickly and completely that, for decades,
conspiracy theorists have believed that the auto, oil and
tire companies secretly did in the smokeless trolleys to
promote the need for -- and sales of -- their products. The
theory was part of a 1988 big-screen comedy about an
animated actor named Roger who is charged with a murder he
didn't commit. As he and a detective work to clear his name,
they uncover a conspiracy to wreck Southern California's
public transit system.
"Who Framed Roger Rabbit" became to traffic planning what
"Chinatown" was to Los Angeles water politics -- but with
more laughs.
The giant corporations with a stake in cars and buses were
prosecuted half a century ago by the federal government for
conspiring to deep-six the region's streetcars. The
consortium of General Motors, Standard Oil, Firestone Tire &
Rubber, Phillips Petroleum and Mack Truck Manufacturing Co.,
in turn, blamed the Red and Yellow cars' demise on
Angelenos' love of their automobiles, arguing that residents
had grown increasingly irate over the streetcars'
overcrowding, high fares, aging equipment, accidents and
inadequate routes into the new suburban reaches of Los
Angeles.
Although it's tempting to believe that evil forces must have
been to blame, most historians agree that GM and the other
mega-companies only helped to speed the end of the railway,
which already was deep into red ink. There were mixed court
verdicts, with fines levied that were considered a drop in
the bucket.
Nowadays, in the age of choked freeways, the nostalgic
mystique of the old Red and Yellow trolleys remains and the
old myths die hard, if at all.
It's hard to believe in car-mad Southern California, but
even before the beginning of the last century, and for a
half-century thereafter, the streetcar was the model and the
marvel of the nation's urban mass transit. For the price of
a nickel, a dime or two bits, the trolley whizzed over more
than 1,100 miles of tracks connecting the Balboa Peninsula
in Newport Beach to the San Fernando Valley, and from San
Bernardino to Redondo Beach. Tourists rode from downtown to
the heights of Mt. Lowe in the San Gabriel Mountains.
The electric-car system was the combined brainchild of
railway and real estate magnates Henry E. Huntington and
Moses Hazeltine Sherman.
Sherman was 19 and a New York schoolteacher when he headed
west in 1873, seeking a warmer climate. He stopped in
Arizona, where he spent 17 years building a fortune in real
estate, banking, ranching and railroads, a fortune he would
both spend and increase in Los Angeles.
By 1896, he was established in Los Angeles, where he and his
brother-in-law, Eli P. Clark, built the first
electric-interurban railway that linked Los Angeles to
Pasadena. Their first rail cars were green; the line was
called the Pasadena & Los Angeles Railway.
That line eventually was bought up by Huntington's Pacific
Electric Railway, which Huntington began building in 1901 --
primarily so people could reach his new suburbs and buy the
homes he was building across the vast valley of Los Angeles
and beyond.
In 1910, he sold his interest in the rail system to Southern
Pacific Railroad. By then, the system linked more than 50
Southern California communities and four counties, making it
the world's largest electric-transit system. Huntington kept
ownership of the Los Angeles Railway's Yellow Cars, which
operated locally.
In the 1920s, as Los Angeles grew and residents and
businesses began moving to the suburbs, people began to rely
more and more on the automobile for transportation rather
than the aging trolley system.
With 160,000 cars cramming onto Los Angeles streets in the
1920s, mass transit riders complained of massive traffic
jams and hourlong delays. The hard wooden seats and the
open-window "air-conditioning system" in the summers were no
picnic either.
The conflict between the trolley and the automobile was
often played out at intersections, where they collided
repeatedly, resulting in many injuries and deaths. Newspaper
editorials raised the alarm about the accidents and crusaded
against the streetcars.
The Red and Yellow cars became transit villains. Buses began
competing with them as early as 1924, when a serious drought
caused a power shortage, forcing cutbacks in trolley service
for several years.
Pacific Electric tried to win back riders and increase
trolley speeds, at the same time retiring more and more
electric cars from city streets and beginning work on a
subway.
In 1925, a $5-million underground route of slightly more
than a mile opened to riders. It was called the Hollywood
Subway and the Belmont Tunnel. When the trolleys rolled into
town, they would dip underground at Crown and Bunker hills,
saving 15 minutes over their formerly circuitous path
through downtown. The subway began at the Subway Terminal
Building at 4th and Hill streets before surfacing at
Glendale and Beverly boulevards.
During the Depression, the electric cars were augmented with
more bus service. Then World War II's shortages of gasoline
and rubber crippled bus service. By the end of the war, the
trolley lines were decrepit, obsolete and deep in the red.
Some Angelenos purchased the trolleys from scrap dealers,
moved them to vacant lots and began living in them during
the city's housing shortage. (The landmark Pacific Dining
Car restaurant, however, was built only to resemble a Red
Car.)
In 1945, Huntington's estate sold the Yellow Car system to
American City Lines, a subsidiary of National City Lines, a
Chicago-based company whose investors included General
Motors and other big oil and rubber interests.
Here is where the conspiracy theorists have a point.
National City Lines soon controlled 46 transit networks in
the Midwest and West, including Los Angeles. The company
began scrapping these electric systems and replacing them
with diesel buses that -- surprise -- used fuel and rubber.
Clearly, L.A.'s electric-car days were numbered.
By 1946, the Justice Department had caught on. It filed an
antitrust suit against National City Lines for conspiracy to
monopolize the transit industry. But before the suit came to
trial in Chicago, the consortium of big companies bailed
out, selling their holdings in National City Lines. That
essentially left it as an empty corporation.
In 1949, the case finally came to trial. The verdict was
mixed, with acquittals and convictions. Although they no
longer owned National City Lines, the companies in the
consortium were fined wrist-slapping amounts of $5,000 each,
while individual company officials were fined $1 each, for a
total of $37,007. By then, the far-flung suburbs were
crisscrossed by cars, highways and a few freeways, and the
so-called conspiracy plot simply applied the coup de grace
to a dying system.
In 1953, Pacific Electric sold its remaining Red Cars to a
private bus line, which was bought out five years later by
the state-owned Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority
for $33.3 million. The LAMTA scrapped the last Red Car in
1961, which was followed to the transit graveyard by the
Yellow Car in 1963.
Even a Los Angeles transportation official declared, "The
rail passenger operations of Pacific Electric became
obsolete, and economically there was no justification for
their perpetuation. As a result, like the horse and buggy,
they dropped from the scene."
To commemorate the death of the Red and Yellow cars, the
Orange Empire Railway Museum in Perris, near Riverside,
holds its annual "Rail Fest" on April 26 and 27. It features
a Yellow Car resembling the one that squashed a Model T in a
Laurel and Hardy film.
There's also a Red Car of the sort in which Gene Kelly
danced in "Singin' in the Rain," just before he leaped into
an automobile being driven by Debbie Reynolds -- a symbolic,
transitional moment in the history of the Red and Yellow
cars.
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http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-ed-electric24mar24,1,5025672.story?coll=la%2Dheadlines%2Doped%2Dmanual
March 24, 2003 EDITORIAL
Hold to Zero-Emission Rule
With gasoline prices still soaring like fugitive helium
balloons, the state's Air Resources Board shouldn't be
pulling the plug on California's electric car program. Yet
when the board meets Thursday it will consider dumping its
core rule, lifting any obligation for most automakers to
produce zero-emission vehicles for the next several years.
Electric cars are the only vehicles with no tailpipe
emissions. The 26 million cars on the road in California
still spew enough smog-causing emissions to keep the state
in violation of federal clean-air laws. Yet the proposal
before the air board this week would allow automakers to
comply with state clean-air rules with only lowered-emission
gas vehicles and hybrid gas-electric vehicles (including
some new models that will reduce gas consumption by only 10%
or 15%).
The air board staff says it believes that a temporary
federal court injunction issued last year in a lawsuit by
car makers forces it to amend its requirement that 2% of new
cars sold in California be nonpolluting. But the proposed
changes go beyond the scope of the suit, which claims that
when the board rewrote emissions rules two years ago it
veered into the federal government's authority to set
fuel-efficiency standards. An appeals court will soon decide
whether to lift that injunction and a trial will eventually
rule on the merits of the industry's claim. Why not wait for
these rulings before gutting the program? Alternatively,
electric-car supporters say a much more modest change of
wording would cure the problem.
Electric vehicles still cost too much and don't go far
enough between charges to compete with gas-powered cars. But
electrics are valuable niche cars -- good for in-town
driving and a key part of public fleets in cities like Los
Angeles. Technical improvements, including better batteries,
will bolster their marketability. But dropping the
zero-emission mandate would doom this technology and throw
away $10 million in publicly funded charging stations and
other infrastructure investments.
The air board staff argues that the gasoline-electric hybrid
cars that Toyota and Honda sell (and soon to be sold by
General Motors) are more marketable than electrics and that
fuel cells show more promise than batteries in the longer
run. Hybrid vehicles, which can wring at maximum 60 miles
from a gallon of gas, are certainly a major advance. But
manufacturers, which have fought nearly every safety and air
quality rule, would not have made them marketable without a
zero-emission mandate on their backs.
The air board staff is no doubt worn down by constant battle
with car makers. The elected board, however, should stand
fast.
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