Paul: Who killed my electric car?

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/07/25/pau...ary/index.html

Paul: Who killed my electric car?
By Alexandra Paul
Special to CNN

Editor's note: Alexandra Paul is an actress best known for her four
years starring in the television series "Baywatch". She has been
driving electric vehicles since 1990 and is a founding member of Plug
in America. Paul can be seen in the documentary "Who Killed the
Electric Car?" in theaters this summer.

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- I drive an electric car. Not a hybrid
-- a gasoline-powered car that gets some help from an electric motor --
but a full electric vehicle. I plug it in at night and can drive 100
miles the next day and go faster than 80 mph on the highway.

So don't think "golf cart"; these cars have power and pick-up.

While you won't see many electric cars on the road, they've been around
longer than you might think.

In 1900, electric cars outsold both gasoline and steam vehicles because
electric cars didn't have the vibration, noise and dirtiness associated
with gas vehicles. But soon afterward -- with the discovery of Texas
crude oil that reduced the price of gasoline, the invention of the
electric starter in 1912 that eliminated the need for a hand crank, and
the mass production of internal combustion engine vehicles by Henry
Ford -- the electric vehicle went the way of the horse and buggy.

The energy crisis in the 1960s and 1970s revived interest briefly.
There was another push in 1990, when General Motors Corp. unveiled the
(ineptly named) Impact, a sporty, aerodynamic electric car prototype.

In 1998 the California Air Resources Board decided that if a car
company could make such a car, it should, and mandated that 2 percent
of vehicles sold in the state in 1998 must be emission-free, with that
number rising to 10 percent by 2003.

Since California is a huge market, Honda, Toyota, Nissan, Chrysler,
Ford and GM started building electric vehicles -- about 5,000 were
manufactured. But by 2005 the mandate had been eviscerated because of
pressure from those same car companies, and 4,000 perfectly good
electric vehicles were crushed.

But did car companies really want electric cars to succeed? The success
of electric vehicles would have threatened the status quo and core
business models of two of the world's biggest industries -- oil and
automobile. It is more expedient for these companies to give lip
service to hydrogen in an attempt to appear "green." But hydrogen is a
technology that experts say is decades away.

Because the small print in California's mandate allowed for car
companies to manufacture only as many cars as there was interest in
them, the game became to pretend there was no interest. Virtually no
advertising money was spent to let you know electric cars existed, and
even if you did find out about them salespeople actively dissuaded you
from getting one.

As with any new technology, an electric vehicle was more expensive than
its gas counterpart. Also, the limited range scared off customers, even
though the average American drives only 34 miles a day and every
electric car could go at least twice that far on a full charge.

These cars had great potential, but no media covered their subsequent
crushing. It is only with the release this summer of the documentary
"Who Killed the Electric Car?" that the full story comes out. This film
chronicles the rise and fall of the General Motors EV1, an electric car
I leased on the day it was released in 1996. Zero to 60 mph in 7.4
seconds, a top speed of 140 mph and a range of 120 miles. GM
discontinued this car just a few years later. No car company today
makes a mass-production electric vehicle.

My current electric vehicle, a Toyota RAV4 EV, also was discontinued a
few years ago. This car costs me the equivalent of 60 cents a gallon to
run. I never need to get a tune-up, change spark plugs or add water to
the batteries or oil to the motor. The only maintenance for the first
150,000 miles is to rotate my tires. This car is quiet, fast and
emission free. I plug it in every night at home, and it charges on
off-peak energy.

Even if it were getting power solely from electricity derived from coal
-- a common criticism of electric cars -- my vehicle uses 50 percent
less carbon dioxide than a 24 mpg gas car (for a summary of more than
30 studies on the emissions of electric cars, hybrids and plug in
hybrids, go to www.sherryboschert.com/FAQ.html). When I have to get new
batteries, which I expect I'll will be when my car is 10 years old, the
old ones will be over 90 percent recyclable.

The concern I hear most often about electric vehicles is their range.
Well, at 100 miles per charge, my electric vehicle fulfills 98 percent
of my driving needs, and I live in a city where everything seems to be
40 minutes away.

When I want to go further, I borrow my husband Ian's Toyota Prius. I
don't like driving it. Am I supposed to be amazed when a car gets 43
miles per gallon? The average fuel economy mandate for cars in 1985:
27.5 mpg. For 2006: 27.5 mpg. No wonder our expectations are so low.
Progress in fuel efficiency has been glacial compared to improvements
in computers and cell phones.

There is a solution: The plug-in hybrid. This vehicle will run on pure
electric power for up to 60 miles, and then automatically switch to gas
(or a biofuel) if you drive farther. Because around 85 percent of
Americans travel less than 50 miles a day, this means that most people
who charge their cars at home each night would hardly ever dip into
their car's gasoline tank.

The infrastructure to charge is already in place (electric outlets are
everywhere), and the technology (batteries) has been tested in the
field and greatly improved upon for over 15 years. National security
experts, including former CIA Director James Woolsey, are advocates for
these vehicles because they say these vehicles can help break our
dependence on foreign oil. Environmentalists support them because
plugging in means getting an average of more than 100 mpg. Consumers
like them because they will be saving thousands of dollars in gasoline
costs.

Once you have known the quiet smooth speed and the clean efficiency of
an electric vehicle, you will never think "golf cart" again.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer. This
article is part of a series of occasional opinion pieces on CNN.com
that offer a broad range of perspectives that express a variety of
thoughts and points of view.

>>My current electric vehicle, a Toyota RAV4 EV, also was discontinued a
>>few years ago. This car costs me the equivalent of 60 cents a gallon to
>>run. I never need to get a tune-up, change spark plugs or add water to
>>the batteries or oil to the motor. The only maintenance for the first
>>150,000 miles is to rotate my tires. This car is quiet, fast and
>>emission free. I plug it in every night at home, and it charges on
>>off-peak energy.

This just demonstrates that absolute ignorance of those who push for
alternative fuel and vehicles. This chick thinks that the batteries
will never need to be replaced and/or disposed of (not to mention
manufactured in the first place), and that generation of electricity is
emission free.

I live in the Detroit area, and in the big blackout of 2002, I would
like to know how she would have gotten around town to buy food without
power for 5 days?

Larry Bud wrote:
> >>My current electric vehicle, a Toyota RAV4 EV, also was discontinued a
> >>few years ago. This car costs me the equivalent of 60 cents a gallon to
> >>run. I never need to get a tune-up, change spark plugs or add water to
> >>the batteries or oil to the motor. The only maintenance for the first
> >>150,000 miles is to rotate my tires. This car is quiet, fast and
> >>emission free. I plug it in every night at home, and it charges on
> >>off-peak energy.
>
> This just demonstrates that absolute ignorance of those who push for
> alternative fuel and vehicles. This chick thinks that the batteries
> will never need to be replaced and/or disposed of (not to mention
> manufactured in the first place), and that generation of electricity is
> emission free.
>
> I live in the Detroit area, and in the big blackout of 2002, I would
> like to know how she would have gotten around town to buy food without
> power for 5 days?

Probably only slightly more difficultly than New Yorkers in the 2003
blackout who couldn't buy gas since there was no electricity to run the
pumps. Just like "when your battery runs out, your outa luck", "when
your gas tank goes empty, your outa luck!"

Not that I would have wanted spoiled food anyway...

Mike Tantillo wrote:
> Larry Bud wrote:
> > >>My current electric vehicle, a Toyota RAV4 EV, also was discontinued a
> > >>few years ago. This car costs me the equivalent of 60 cents a gallon to
> > >>run. I never need to get a tune-up, change spark plugs or add water to
> > >>the batteries or oil to the motor. The only maintenance for the first
> > >>150,000 miles is to rotate my tires. This car is quiet, fast and
> > >>emission free. I plug it in every night at home, and it charges on
> > >>off-peak energy.
> >
> > This just demonstrates that absolute ignorance of those who push for
> > alternative fuel and vehicles. This chick thinks that the batteries
> > will never need to be replaced and/or disposed of (not to mention
> > manufactured in the first place), and that generation of electricity is
> > emission free.
> >
> > I live in the Detroit area, and in the big blackout of 2002, I would
> > like to know how she would have gotten around town to buy food without
> > power for 5 days?
>
> Probably only slightly more difficultly than New Yorkers in the 2003
> blackout who couldn't buy gas since there was no electricity to run the
> pumps. Just like "when your battery runs out, your outa luck", "when
> your gas tank goes empty, your outa luck!"

Since a gas station could be running on generators, you'd still have
access to gas. Unless you plan on buying a home generator with
enough power to charge your car, you're gonna be outta luck... of
course, that pretty much defeats the purpose of getting away from oil.

Larry Bud wrote:
> >>My current electric vehicle, a Toyota RAV4 EV, also was discontinued a
> >>few years ago. This car costs me the equivalent of 60 cents a gallon to
> >>run. I never need to get a tune-up, change spark plugs or add water to
> >>the batteries or oil to the motor. The only maintenance for the first
> >>150,000 miles is to rotate my tires. This car is quiet, fast and
> >>emission free. I plug it in every night at home, and it charges on
> >>off-peak energy.
>
> This just demonstrates that absolute ignorance of those who push for
> alternative fuel and vehicles. This chick thinks that the batteries
> will never need to be replaced and/or disposed of (not to mention
> manufactured in the first place), and that generation of electricity is
> emission free.
>
> I live in the Detroit area, and in the big blackout of 2002, I would
> like to know how she would have gotten around town to buy food without
> power for 5 days?

Seems you skipped a paragraph there Larry. RIght below where you ended
your quote, she referenced the need to replace the batteries and that
she believes them to be about 90% recyclable.

I'm not claiming electrics are the way of the future or anything, but I
think your trimming/reading here was pretty sloppy.

The cut paragraph follows.


*****
My current electric vehicle, a Toyota RAV4 EV, also was discontinued a
few years ago. This car costs me the equivalent of 60 cents a gallon to
run. I never need to get a tune-up, change spark plugs or add water to
the batteries or oil to the motor. The only maintenance for the first
150,000 miles is to rotate my tires. This car is quiet, fast and
emission free. I plug it in every night at home, and it charges on
off-peak energy.

Even if it were getting power solely from electricity derived from coal
-- a common criticism of electric cars -- my vehicle uses 50 percent
less carbon dioxide than a 24 mpg gas car (for a summary of more than
30 studies on the emissions of electric cars, hybrids and plug in
hybrids, go to www.sherryboschert.com/FAQ.html). When I have to get new
batteries, which I expect I'll will be when my car is 10 years old, the
old ones will be over 90 percent recyclable.
*****

In article .com>,
Mike Tantillo > wrote:
>
>Probably only slightly more difficultly than New Yorkers in the 2003
>blackout who couldn't buy gas since there was no electricity to run the
>pumps.

No gas stations in New York have generators?


--
There's no such thing as a free lunch, but certain accounting practices can
result in a fully-depreciated one.