EVDL Administrator via EV wrote:
[Sunrise efficiency] Also a light, efficient transaxle. Even the Geo Metro
factory transaxle was too high in friction for his taste, so Worden chucked
it and built something better.
Not quite; he kept the Geo transaxle, but "gutted" it so all it had was 2nd
gear. It then ran lighter weight oil (not the usual 90w gear lube).
That's what James Worden was all about. He obsessively tuned efficiency in
his EVs. That's why he routinely won the Tour de Sol, and also part of why
his cars were too expensive to ever sell well.
That's him! Efficiency was his goal; and he was good at it achieving it.
The cars were expensive simply because they were hand-made in such low
quantities. The efficiency enhancements added little to their cost, but helped
them sell better. So they were probably a step in the right direction.
I think Worden saw the GM EV1 as his real competition. It was another
exceptional EV that was designed from the ground up for efficiency. Neither car
was the "same old thing" -- an EV conversion of a standard ICE vehicle, with an
old forklift motor and off-the-shelf batteries. Instead, they showed us what an
EV can really do if designed right from the very beginning.
I think the genius of Bob Rice was to realize that a) scratch-built EVs really
*can* be built cheaper and simpler than ICEs, and b) Worden's improvements could
be applied to *any* EV that was built from scratch.
--
Whether we or our politicians know it or not, Nature is party to all
our deals and decisions, and she has more votes, a longer memory,
and a sterner sense of justice than we do. -- Wendell Berry
--
Lee Hart, 814 8th Ave N, Sartell MN 56377, www.sunrise-ev.com
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