I think the WA $100/yr EV road tax law was written poorly, and I do not see it being illegal to use its own flaws/loopholes against it.
The idea of going in to change your vehicle type to hybrid by having a small genset on-board (making your EV now a serial hybrid) is not bad. After you get the DMV to change your vehicle type to hybrid, you can remove the genset and go back to driving in EV mode (no one is going to check on you). If anyone asks why your vehicle is listed as a hybrid, tell them the ice/genset is detachable, and you usually only use it for cross-country road-trips. But which genset would to be subject to smog laws. It would not have to be a large genset. It just needs enough kW capacity to power the level-1 on-board charger, or do a trickle charge to the pack, as there are likely no laws specifying how much a genset puts into a pack to qualify the vehicle as now a hybrid. If you got a smog-check letter, what gensets would pass their tests? At first I looked at gensets running off cleaner fuels, but they are so large and or expensive. It would not make sense/cents to spend $1000+ just to save $100 a year: it would take 10+ years to break even. Some may know they are going to keep their EV for over five years, and or also plan to rent out their genset add-on for changing other driver's vehicle type to hybrid. In either case, it might be worth the costs and effort (a $500 total expenditure would break even in 5 years, or renting it out would also cover costs with enough drivers doing same). A search let me find there are small CARB compliant and EPA approved gensets that run off gasoline. Their capacity would only need to run a level-1 charger, or if the genset was too tiny, possibly squeak-by using a home-brew (half-wave) charger that drew less current(?). Here is a list of links of CARB / EPA approved gensets to explore: http://www.absolutegenerators.com/p155-All-Power-America-APG3004C-1000W-1-5-HP-Generator-EPA-CARB.html http://www.absolutegenerators.com/CARB-Compliant-Generators-c14_8.html http://www.wayfair.com/Powerhouse-1000Wi-1000-Watt-Inverter-Generator-61356-PWH1008.html http://www.wayfair.com/Generac-1400-Watt-Inverter-Generator-CARB-Approved-5842-GDN1296.html http://www.ebay.com/itm/2700W-REMOTE-KEY-START-DIGITAL-INVERTER-RV-GAS-GENERATOR-W-EPA-CARB-APPROVED-/170891866292 http://www.sears.com/powerhouse-professional-series-ph2100pri-inverter-generator-carb-compliant/p-07195923000P?prdNo=20&blockNo=20&blockType=G20 {brucedp.150m.com} - On Wed, Jun 19, 2013, at 03:47 PM, Lee Hart wrote: > Lawrence Winiarski > > If they want to play by the letter of the law, then buy a little gas powered > > generator (less than $100) and put it in the seat, then re-register it as a > > hybrid. (i.e. no special tax for hybrids) > > That's an interesting angle. You'd have to read the law very carefully, > to see what they define as a "hybrid". Maybe a little gasoline engine > generator would qualify; maybe not. As Peri Hartman pointed out, it may > then have to meet emissions standards. > > If you're lucky, they defined "hybrid" in such loose terms that you > won't need an ICE to qualify. Maybe a battery-solar hybrid? Or a > battery-human powered hybrid? :-) - -- http://www.fastmail.fm - A no graphics, no pop-ups email service _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org For EV drag racing discussion, please use NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
