Technology hot wires electric cars
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Autos in a variety of price ranges go farther, faster
as gas price sparks their appeal.
Jennifer Saranow / Wall Street Journal
The electric car is trying to shake its puttering
golf-cart image and be reborn as a futuristic
high-speed sports vehicle.
With rising gas prices, advances in battery
technologies and an aging generation looking for
a low-key way to ride around their communities,
a host of companies are betting that battery-powered
vehicles finally will catch on.
Some carmakers are coming out with models they claim
can go greater distances on a single battery charge
and go much faster than previous versions. Others
are adding carlike features such as sunroofs and
steel doors to a slower class of battery-powered
electric vehicles, hoping drivers will see them as
perfect second cars. More states, meanwhile, are
adopting legislation allowing lower-speed electric
vehicles on some public roads, though not on highways.
The comeback bid is even extending to movie theaters,
where a documentary, "Who Killed the Electric Car?"
opened last month. The movie looks for conspiracies
behind why electric cars -- specifically General
Motors Corp.'s EV1 -- were on the market for such
a short time in the late 1990s.
Smaller automakers are largely behind the current
revival. Silicon Valley startup Tesla Motors Inc.
last week began taking orders for its Tesla Roadster,
a battery-powered electric sports car ($85,000 to
about $110,000) that the company says can go up to
approximately 135 miles per hour and run for 250
miles per charge. Similarly, Wrightspeed Inc. is
developing a $100,000 electric sports car that it
hopes will last 200 miles per charge and run up to
about 120 mph. Another startup, Phoenix Motorcars Inc.
, plans to begin selling two electric vehicles early
next year that it says will be able to go up to 85
mph and last 120 miles per charge.
The resurgence of the battery electric vehicle comes
as rising gas prices are spurring many consumers to
look for ways to save at the pump, including opting for other new fuel-saving
technologies that have hit the market in recent years, such as hybrid vehicles,
which use a combination of gasoline engines and electric motors to boost fuel
efficiency.
High gas prices encouraged Charisse James, a 59-year-old
retiree in Lincoln, Calif., to buy a low-speed
electric-powered vehicle last summer that she uses
instead of her Lincoln LS to drive downtown for
grocery shopping, eating out, hair appointments and
other errands.
"It costs pennies just to plug this thing in," says
James, who estimates she now spends about $50 every
two weeks to fill up her regular car, versus about
$50 weekly before.
More to choose
Electric-car companies say driving their vehicles,
depending on the cost of electricity, can cost anywhere
from about a cent to 3 cents per mile or anywhere
from under $1 to just less than $8 for a full charge.
Varying by model, the vehicles take from around one
hour to eight or more hours to charge and can be plugged
into regular electrical outlets.
Among other battery-powered electric vehicles hitting
the market that are more like regular cars,
transportation-technology company Zap recently
began delivering to dealerships its Xebra "city car,"
a three-wheel, four-door $8,900 electric vehicle that
can go up to 40 mph and last up to 40 miles per charge.
It's Zap's fastest and longest lasting electric vehicle
on the market to date (options available include stereos
and leather seats). Miles Automotive Group Ltd. has started
selling its two-passenger ZX40 model, an electric car
with steel doors and cup holders that can go up to 25
miles per hour and last up to 40 miles per charge.
Later next year, the company plans to introduce
another model that can go up to 80 mph and last at
least 200 miles per charge. Today, the Electric Drive
Transportation Association estimates there are between
60,000 and 76,000 low-speed, battery-powered electric
vehicles on the road in the U.S., up from about 56,000
in 2004.
Technologically advanced
Many of the faster models still have to finish being
tested and will be available only in limited markets
initially. Tesla Motors, for instance, is completing
testing to make sure the vehicles meet federal motor
vehicle safety standards and plans to begin shipping
in mid-2007, in at least California and the Chicago
area.
Advances in battery technology are also helping to
make a longer-lasting battery-powered electric car
more viable than when carmakers such as GM and Toyota
Motor Corp. introduced their electric models about a
decade ago. While these earlier models ran on lead-acid
and nickel metal hydride batteries, the newer long-range
electric cars entering the market generally run on
lithium-ion batteries. Such batteries, the same type
used in laptops and cell phones, are lighter and can
store more power per charge than older batteries,
enabling the vehicles to last for more miles on the
road.
Indeed, major carmakers are also starting to take
another look at battery-powered electric vehicles.
While GM says it is focused primarily on developing
production vehicles that are powered by electricity
generated by hydrogen fuel cells, it is testing new
battery technology such a lithium-ion batteries to
see if it can find a way to get a range of roughly
300 miles per charge or use them in other ways, such
as for hybrids, according to a GM spokesman. Toyota
announced last week that it is developing a plug-in
hybrid. The batteries in such a hybrid model could
be recharged at an outlet to allow the vehicle to
go a certain number of miles before needing to
switch over to the gasoline engine.
More alternatives
Besides the focus on coming out with faster and
longer-range electric cars, lower-speed electric
vehicles that can go up to 25 mph are evolving
from golf-cart style vehicles meant for driving
around subdivisions and corporate campuses to
carlike models that can be used for short trips
on some public roads.
Some cities are also encouraging the use of the
vehicles on their roads. Belmar, N.J., plans to
have low-speed electric vehicles at its boat docks
and train station by next summer that people
arriving could rent and use to get around town.
Lincoln, Calif., similarly, is working on
creating lanes on existing roads with speed
limits above 35 mph for the low-speed electric
vehicles
Technology hot wires electric cars
<
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060809/AUTO03/608090317/1149
>
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