Electric Blue auto convertions wrote:
How many conversions are out there still running? I dont think no one knows.
That's right. EV hobbyists are like farmers; each one is out standing
alone in his field. There is no national registration, no lobby, no
organization that represents a majority of EV hobbyists. Other hobbies
have their spokesmen, that the media knows of and can call on for an
opinion. But not EVs.
The EAA (Electric Auto Association) could be such an organization, but I
don't think they represent even 10% of EV drivers. They also don't
really have any voice in the media or do any serious lobbying.
The converters are a very, very small group of builders, and you say
WE had an impact on what the auto makers are doing now?
Yes! Management of course knows absolutely nothing about existing EV
work (Not Invented Here syndrome). But their engineers read the
journals, go to car shows, and see the reports of hobby EVs, prototypes
from tiny companies, and school EV projects. They know it can be done!
And it influences what they propose to their bosses, and what they can
make happen. "That looks like fun. What if we..."
When some pundit says, "It can't be done", all it takes is one lone guy
in the back row to put the lie to the claim. They say:
- "Well, my neighbor has been driving his homebuilt EV to work every
day for years."
- "My kid built this EV in school, and they raced it."
- "But I saw this EV at a car show; it was gorgeous."
- "I saw this drag race on the internet, and that EV whomped the ICE."
Bob Rice was an excellent demonstration of this. *Everyone* in the EV
industry knew Bob! He was a truly unforgettable EVangelist. I have no
idea how many EVs he was responsible for; but it must be thousands.
Would Tesla have been building EVs with thousands of laptop cells if AC
Propulsion hadn't done it first in the Tzero, to prove it could be done?
Would AC Propulsion have existed without Alan Cocconi, working alone on
his kitchen table to create the inverter for the Impact (which became
the GM EV1)?
We need pioneers, out there in the wilderness, going at it alone,
blazing the trail, to prove that it CAN be done. EV hobbyists provide
these pioneers.
But as you wrote, one EV has a fire and the world goes in to panic...
Exactly. There are scheming lobbyists, just waiting for any tiny bit of
bad new that they can distort and exaggerate to suit their purposes.
Cycles of development are real, and when they crash they come back,
but they come back higher than before
Yes, that that is the hopeful part of it. On each cycle, EVs and their
components get better and better. The improvements are coming at a rapid
rate, far faster than improvements in ICE vehicles.
--
Humanity is acquiring all the right technology for all the wrong
reasons. -- R. Buckminster Fuller
--
Lee A. Hart, http://www.sunrise-ev.com/LeesEVs.htm
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