The Electric Car Gets Some Muscle
- From: "lkgeo1" <lkgeo1@xxxxxxx>
- Date: 28 Jul 2006 06:14:22 -0700
The Electric Car Gets Some Muscle
Latest Models Go Faster, Farther on a Single Charge; Sticker Prices Up
to $110,000
By JENNIFER SARANOW, The 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.
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Some car makers 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 now 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 auto makers are largely behind the current revival. Silicon
Valley start-up 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 start-up,
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 like 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 Ms. James, who
estimates she now spends about $50 every two weeks to fill up her
regular car, versus about $50 weekly before.
Electric-car companies say driving their vehicles, depending on the
cost of electricity, can cost anywhere from about a cent to three 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. DaimlerChrysler AG's Global Electric Motorcars LLC
has made more carlike options available for its 2006 models including
heated seats and steel bumpers.
The push to develop battery-electric cars dates back to the 19th
century and has hit many bumps in the road before. In the late 1990s, a
number of auto makers came out with battery-powered electric cars
partly in response to a California regulation requiring at least some
emission-free electric vehicles on state roads. Instead of fueling the
cars up with gas, drivers would generally charge batteries by plugging
vehicles into special charging stations. But within a few years, most
car companies dropped plans to develop and market the battery-powered
electric vehicles for reasons including revisions to California
requirements and, car makers say, limited demand among consumers. Low
gas prices also helped fuel sales of sport-utility vehicles instead.
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.
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 car
makers like GM and Toyota Motor Corp. introduced their electric models
about a decade ago. While these earlier car-maker 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
cellphones, 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 car makers 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 like 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.
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.
In 1998, partly in response to the increasing use of battery-powered
electric vehicles as an alternative to conventional golf carts, the
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration created safety standards
covering vehicles, many electric powered, that can go up to 25 mph,
classifying them as "low-speed vehicles" and requiring that they be
equipped with features including seat belts and turn signals.
A law takes effect in Minnesota on Aug. 1 allowing such vehicles on
roads with speed limits of 35 mph or less. Similar legislation took
effect in New Jersey and Maryland earlier this year and is pending in
Pennsylvania. At least 46 states now allow low-speed electric vehicles
on at least 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 to the
city 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.
July 27, 2006
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