"We have EV1 drivers
who put 30,000 to 40,000
miles on their cars in a
year and they spend less
than $10 a month
charging them."

Jeff Kuhlman, General Motors
Corp.

Cars of the Future

http://www.enn.com/features/2000/04/04302000/cars_9831.asp

[Fair Use: For Educational/Research Purposes Only]

By Phil Bourjaily
Sunday, April 30, 2000

Practical, clean, efficient, alternative-fuel vehicles are closer to car dealers' lots than consumers may think. Some cars have already arrived, and a few years from now, buyers may be able to choose from three or four alternative-fuel engines, just as they now choose between standard and manual transmissions.

Battery-electric cars are the most familiar of the alternative-fuel lot. They've have been around for years, but are limited by short range and long charge time.

General Motors Corp.'s EV1 coupe illustrates both the problems and promise of the newest battery-electric breed. Already leased to consumers, the EV1 is powered by a battery 24 times the size of a standard car battery. The two-seat coupe has a range of 140 miles and a top speed of 80 miles per hour.

[Caption: Toyota's hybrid, Prius, will be sold in the United States beginning this summer. ]

"We have EV1 drivers who put 30-40,000 miles on their cars in a year and they spend less than $10 a month charging them," reports GM's Jeff Kuhlman.

Fuel savings are offset by the high cost of an EV1 lease - from $450 to $500 a month - and the inconvenience of recharging. It takes six to eight hours to recharge the EV1 with the charger that comes with the vehicle, and more than 10 hours to recharge it from a 110-volt outlet.

Moreover, the lead-acid batteries of the EV1 lose power in cold weather, one reason why the cars are offered only in California and Arizona. Nickel-hydride batteries, an option in the EV1s and other electric vehicles, perform well in cold weather but poorly in warm conditions.

Finally, battery-electric vehicles are only as clean as the power source that supplies their electricity. Recharge a car with electricity from a coal-fired plant, for instance, and you're still polluting the air.

Rechargeable electric cars make sense as fleet vehicles or in-town runabouts. Ford Motor Co. offers an electric Ranger pickup for use in government and business fleets. Ford's Think line is aimed at consumers who need a vehicle in small towns or retirement communities. The line includes Think City, a small hatchback with a range of 55 miles; Think Neighbor, a kind of golf cart; and two electric bicycles.

Two other alternative technologies promise practicality and longer range with no recharging time.

Hybrid gas/electric vehicles have two power sources, one from a gas or diesel engine and the other from an electric motor. Toyota's hybrid, Prius, will be sold in the United States beginning this summer. In Japan, where the car is already on the market, the Prius gets 66 mpg in stop-and-go traffic.

At high speeds and under heavy loads, both the gas engine and electric motor drive the Prius. At low speeds, the electric motor alone runs the car. The battery charges during deceleration and braking, eliminating the need to recharge the vehicle in overnight. GM will unveil demonstrator models of full-size hybrid pickups this year.

Fuel-cell vehicles - electric cars that use fuel cells rather than batteries for their power - hold perhaps the greatest promise for a clean car of the future. In the fuel cell, hydrogen and oxygen mix in the presence of a catalyst to create electricity that powers the car's engine. Water vapor is the only emission.

Obstacles remain in fuel-cell technology. Storing hydrogen onboard a vehicle requires either a huge, pressurized tank or a cryogenic system capable of maintaining compact liquid hydrogen at extremely cold temperatures. Hydride storage is a promising alternative. The method involves a hydrogen-absorbing alloy that stores hydrogen among its crystals at 1/1000th of the volume of hydrogen gas. However, until the advent of hydrogen-supplied filling stations, pure hydrogen won't be a practical fuel source.

Fuel cell-vehicles with onboard processors that "reform" or break off the hydrogen from a substance and emit the rest offer an interim solution. Currently, the three most practical fuels for reforming fuel cells are natural gas, methanol and gasoline. "All three burn cleaner than current gasoline engines," says GM's Kuhlman. "But honestly, the processor system is more of a step toward the future than an end in itself."

Meanwhile, research and development continues in an effort to build more efficient gasoline engines. Direct fuel injection - in which gasoline is injected straight into the cylinders - could result in cars running on fuel mixtures nearly twice as lean as conventional engines, improving mileage and reducing emissions. But direct-injection engines require low-sulphur gasoline, which is currently unavailable in U.S.

The challenge of developing alternative-fuel vehicles lies in making them affordable. With low gasoline prices in the U.S., fuel economy alone is not yet a compelling reason for consumers to spend more on an alternative-fuel vehicle.

"There's no enforcement on the government side to make consumers buy alternative fuel cars," says Toyota's Wade Hoyt. "Some people will buy a cleaner car because it fits their environmental beliefs, but until we can sell alternative-fuel vehicles for the same price as conventional cars, there won't be a large market for them."

-- Anonymous, April 30, 2000

Answers

Take action

Alternative Fuel Vehicle Group and The Green Culture: Cars and Vehicles provide general information about current and future alternative automotive options.

Alternative Fuel Vehicle Group
http:// www.alexcommgrp.com/afv/ac21.html

The Green Culture: Cars and Vehicles
http:// www.greenculture.com/ps/pp_car.html

Cooler by the Lake: Automotive also offers both consumer information and a comprehensive compilation of Internet sites related to this topic.

Cooler by the Lake: Automotive
http://www.cbtl.org/auto/ alt.htm

Related stories

Candidates weigh in on ethanol
ENN Features - January 11, 2000
http://www.enn.com/enn-features-archive/2000/01/ 01112000/candidates2_8743.asp

ENN Features - December 30, 1999
Fuel cells power brave new energy world
http://www.enn.com/enn-features-archive/1999/12/ 123099/featurefuel_6347.asp

Environmentalists push hybrid vehicles
ENN News - December 6, 1999
http://www.enn.com/enn-news-archive/1999/12/120699/ afvs_7886.asp

Study crushes idea for aluminum vehicle
ENN News - May 26, 1999
http://www.enn.com/enn-news-archive/1999/05/052699/ aluminum_3406.asp

-- Anonymous, April 30, 2000

Diane,

Excellent article, thanks! Doesn't Honda already have a gas/electric sports coupe out on the market already? Supposedly a self-charging electric battery, if I heard right...

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2000

Deb,

Theres an interesting little site with Green Car publications that may cover those topics...

http://www.specpubs.com/ index.html

Or...

Electric Vehicle Contact List

The following list is provided as a public service by the California Energy Commission. It is not intended as an endorsement of any product, company or service. ...

http:// www.energy.ca.gov/afvs/evcontacts.html

The list has other publications, as well.

Diane

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2000

Also of interest...

Visionary Hypercars Influencing the Automotive Market

http:// www.specpubs.com/greencarjournal/story2.html

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2000

Donella Meadows (co-author of "Beyond the Limits") bought one. Here's her take.

Global Citizen.
http://iisd1.iisd.ca/pcdf/meadows/insight.html

I don't understand her unaccountably naive and inaccurate last paragraph. But I still like her overall view of life and Earth.

In fact, Diane, I may have mentioned that she reminds me a bit of you. Back into her main page and read a couple of articles. See if you agree that her Global Citizen is a bookmark-worthy site.

Hallyx

"The world, we are told, was made especially for man--a presumption not supported by all the facts... Why should man value himself as more than a small part of the one great unit of creation?" ---John Muir, Naturalist and explorer (1838-1914)

-- Anonymous, May 05, 2000

.."unaccountably naive..."

About sums it up for describing me Hallyx! *Grin*

Part of the reason for doing this iForum is to learn... study... and research. (Did you know I was a Sierra Club member at age 5-6?)

Will take a look at her site. Thanks.

Diane

-- Anonymous, May 05, 2000

Diane & Hallyx,

Thanks for the links - excellent sites!

-- Anonymous, May 14, 2000