http://snipurl.com/19t0f
http://www.ajc.com/cars/content/printedition/2007/02/10/carplugin0210a.html (free registration might be required) Note the incorrect reference to Steorn who had said they have never attached an electric generator to their device. Complete article for group use only: Electrics slide into market: Battery-powered autos best option for U.S., advocates say By John Christensen For the Journal-Constitution Published on: 02/10/07 When Stephen Taylor sold his radio stations in Macon and retired, he could have taken some nice trips, bought a swell new house or indulged himself in any number of ways. Instead, he paid off his house in Marietta and bought a Corbin Sparrow. The Sparrow is a cartoon car, a three-wheeled electric-motor motorcycle wrapped in a composite shell. It has a heater, windshield wipers and a radio, but it is slow, has no air conditioning and seats just one. Taylor's is jellybean orange. "That's what I drive if I want to attract attention," he says. "People say it looks like a nose. The front wheels are the nostrils." But there was no room for the wife and kids, so he bought a Selectria Force, a four-passenger Geo Metro that had been converted into an electric car. Then he bought another Force, and another. Taylor now has eight electric vehicles —- including the electric tractor he mows his 5 acres with —- and is president of the local chapter of the Electric Automobile Association. He is also an evangelist for what many believe is the inevitable future of motoring in America: the electric vehicle. At the recent Detroit Auto Show, Car & Driver picked the Chevrolet Volt concept car as one of the most significant in the show. Beneath the Volt's crisp, aggressive styling is a lithium-ion battery that is the equivalent of 12 Toyota Prius batteries and has a range of 40 miles. There is also an 85-horsepower, 1.0-liter, three-cylinder turbo engine that powers a generator that recharges the battery while the car is running. It can run on an ethanol/gasoline blend or on gasoline alone with a range up to 640 miles. The Volt is a hopeful sign among EV fanciers, and for reasons that are anything but frivolous. "Without a doubt the electric vehicle is the car of the future," says Bill Moore, publisher of EV World, an online zine devoted to electric vehicles. "If it isn't, we're all going to be in serious hurt, transportation-wise." The reasons: rising fuel prices and our dependence on foreign oil, the likelihood of limits and taxes on carbon emissions (Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has already signed such an order in California) and the limitations of alternative fuels such as ethanol. "The whole country needs to get away from depending on foreign oil," Taylor says. "Electricity is something we can create ourselves without using oil. Environmentalism is a happy benefit of it, but I'm thinking more about national security. That's why I like electric cars." The downside to EVs is that they are often slower than conventional cars and have limited range. Taylor says he prefers the slow lane, anyway, but his wife's electric Toyota RAV4, which requires no shifting and has no engine noise, "accelerates so smoothly that if you don't let up, you're speeding. It's really a cool feeling." The lithium batteries he put in one of his Selectria Forces gives him a range of 100 miles —- more than enough for in-town trips. On long trips, the family travels in one of the hybrids —- a Prius and a Camry —- his kids drive. "The really great thing," he says, "is you never have to go to a gas station. You plug it in and walk away, so you never leave home without a full charge." EVs had a fling in the 1990s when California's Air Resources Board ordered manufacturers to make electric vehicles available to improve air quality. Other states began preparing as well. But the manufacturers objected that the technology was unproven and the cars unprofitable, and when the state suspended its quotas, the manufacturers stopped making EVs. Moore estimates that there are less than 30,000 highway-capable EVs in the United States today, and another 35,000 low-speed and neighborhood electric vehicles which he calls "golf carts on steroids." Georgia Power had 550 EVs over a period of several years, the second-biggest fleet in the country behind Southern California Edison, but now has none. Nevertheless, Don Francis, senior marketing engineer for the program, says the plug-in hybrid is clearly the future. His concern is that that U.S. manufacturers, who were unprepared for the oil crisis of 1974 and the success of the Toyota Prius hybrid, may again miss the boat. "What we should be worried about," Francis says, "is that they may decide not to do the plug-in hybrid, and the Japanese do because they don't want to be left behind —- especially the next time gas spikes to $4 or $5 a gallon and stays there. "Because one thing I know about the Japanese, having worked with them, is that there's something going on behind the veil. They don't talk much, but then they pop up and say 'Done!' and give it to you." The key is a battery that is powerful, inexpensive and reliable. The Volt is viable now, but its battery alone would cost $40,000. Moore says companies big (Panasonic, Sanyo, Gold Star) and small (A123, AlterNano, Eestor) are engaged in a furious race to produce such a battery, and a group in Ireland claims it has an electric motor that puts out more energy than goes into it. The EV, then, is where science fiction and reality collide, and it's full of surprises: the Tesla Roadster and the Tango kit car bought by George Clooney (MSRP: $108,000) that appears to have been designed in a funhouse mirror. These bring what Taylor calls "the EV grin." "It's just fun to drive an electric car," he says. "Some like to race a car, but to me driving electric cars are just as thrilling as racing a car. And after Katrina, my wife called me a genius because she never had to wait in gas lines." In the market: None of the vehicles below offers highway-ready, mass-market transportation. The Volt is a concept vehicle; the Tesla is a limited production, high-dollar sports car, and the Xebra enters the market as a neighborhood vehicle. But they offer a tantalizing glimpse at what the future may hold for U.S. motorists. Tesla Roadster (MSRP: $92,000): Proof that EVs don't have to look like a cheap toaster and handle like a dump truck, the nifty Tesla was built in California with styling cues from Lotus' chief designer. It clocks from 0 to 60 in four seconds and costs about a penny a mile to operate. The limited 2007 production run is sold out, but a $50,000 deposit gets you to the front of the line for 2008. Chevrolet Volt (Price not available): It's expected to take GM five to eight years to find an inexpensive replacement for the Volt's 400-pound, $40,000 lithium-ion battery. But its appearance at the Detroit Auto Show and its stylish, muscular design suggests that at least one U.S. manufacturer may be taking EVs seriously. Xebra (MSRP: $8,995): A three-wheeled, Chinese-built oddity that comes as a four-passenger sedan or a two-passenger pickup, the Xebra is marketed by a California company called ZAP (for Zero Air Pollution). Top speed is 40 mph, and its range is about 41 miles. The electric motor is powered by a lead-acid battery pack. <end>
