RTEV, the Ruff & Tuff Electric Vehicle company, is not the first to realize that a battery-powered ATV could be a good seller (we spoke with Electric Vehicle Systems about their ATEV last year). RTEV is now ready to expand into the electric recreational vehicles market with three models - the Cruiser, the 4-wheel drive Hunter, and the Workman - and has high hopes for more EVs down the road.
RTEV's three current models are all Low Speed Vehicles, which means they're OK going 25 mph on roads designated with 35 mph speed limits. Ruff & Tuff sold about 1,000 vehicles last year and will introduce electric scooters and bicycles (branded with the Wheego name) later this year. 2009 should see car-shaped Ruff & Tuff NEVs hit the market and the company is talking about "full-size, full-speed electric vehicles" in 2010. Currently, RTEV vehicles use dry cell sealed (AGM) batteries that can move the vehicles about 70 miles between charges. Check out a video of the Hunter electric ATV in action and see more details on the currently-available LSVs after the break.
A Wall Street Journal story today highlights the promise and potential problems with plug-in cars. More accurately, it highlights the problems and shoves most of the promise to the bottom. As automakers ready plug-in hybrids and electric cars for market, the sensational headline poses a clash of the titans: "Utilities, Plug-In Cars: Near Collision?"
As gasoline reaches $4 a gallon, the benefit to consumers of transportation energy at about $1 per gallon (equivalent) is undeniable. And if one reads down to near the end of the story, one finds the studies that show the tremendous upside in terms of carbon emission and petroleum reduction. As the article makes clear, as long as most plug-in cars charge up at night, the American electrical grid can already carry the load of more plug-in cars than are likely to be produced for a decade or more. Of course, night time charging is also more convenient; most cars are parked at night and used during the day. Still, the utilities are already exploring ways to ensure cars utilize the low-cost, excess capacity existing while consumers sleep, including incentive pricing, time of use metering, and smart meters.
And the environmental benefits reported are extraordinary. If enough plug-ins were on the roads, we could see oil consumption cut by 6.2 million barrels a day and U.S. carbon-dioxide emissions cut "by 450 million metric tons annually, equivalent to scrapping 82 million cars." Where the grid is comparatively clean, as in California, switching to electricity is a no-brainer. More surprising, the story reports, "Carbon-dioxide emissions would probably fall even if coal-fired plants made the electricity, some studies have found, because they burn coal more efficiently than automobiles burn gasoline." Of course as the electric grid becomes cleaner and more renewable thanks to state and federal mandates, the cars charging actually get cleaner, too.
The head of the World Wildlife Fund has come out publicly in favor of the electrification of the world's transportation system. James Leape, director general of WWF International, has declared that cars need to get smaller, lighter and far more efficient. Leape also said that cars should be migrating to electric drive because it is more efficient than internal combustion engines. As an organization that supports preserving animal species, the WWF has a vested interest in helping to mitigate phenomena like climate change, deforestation and other environmental problems.
All the car-makers are working on a variety of electric drive vehicles using multiple technological approaches. There are of course multiple issues with all of these including cost, durability, range, etc. There is also, of course, the issue of producing electricity to power plug-in vehicles. Somewhere there's a chorus repeating the mantra that we need to work aggressively to develop sustainable methods of generating electricity.
Spark-EV's Michael Papp's future might not be looking up. As you probably remember, Papp was arrested last week for not delivering 14 electric vehicles to two companies, Electric Cars of Houston and Electric Transportation of Arkansas. Penn Live has posted an article from The Express-Times that says that the local District Attorney, John Morganelli, is checking into filing additional charges against Papp. Morganelli said that Papp has been on his radar for a while.
Papp now says he plans to refund the $100,000 he accepted from the two EV companies "but could not immediately give back the wired payments," the Express-Times wrote. Papp also said he can prove the cars are ordered and en route to the two companies. We'll see, won't we?
Thanks to our reader Mike, we have an update to share about the troubled history of Michael Papp electric vehicle company. Regular readers will remember that Papp is the man behind Spark EV, a company that has been accused more than once of shady dealings. It looks like the New Jersey law officials agree, and have decided to step in to put a stop to Papp's scam.
According to the Express Times, Papp was arrested Friday after failing to deliver 14 electric vehicles to Electric Cars of Houston (which had ordered 10) and Electric Transportation of Arkansas (four). Papp is charged with bilking them for almost $100,000, according to court records. The EVs were paid for in January and February, and Papp told the payers the vehicles would be delivered March 14. They weren't. After trying to track down what happened, the companies asked for a refund. Papp answered that he was filing for bankruptcy, so no go. Apparently, Papp is in Northampton County Prison and being held on $20,000 bail. We'll have more on this as things move forward, I can guarantee you that.
When we drove the jellybean on wheels (the Mitsubishi i MiEV) at the New York Auto Show last month, we were pretty swept away. This is one nice EV. Maybe we weren't quite as enthralled as the kids in this commercial for the all-electric car, but we're still in favor of the i MiEV making it to showrooms soon.
While my Japanese has gotten seriously rusty ever since I moved away from Japan in 2001, you don't even need my level of understanding to get something out of these videos. As our tipster Yanquetino wrote:
They are worth seeing, IMHO. The second one is especially informative. Despite the Japanese, you can still catch words like "braking," "CO2," "engine," "motor," "battery," etc. (I guess these are all imported from English). More importantly, they provide the specification numbers in Arabic numerals and symbols (14 hours full charge with 110V, 7 hours with 220, 30 minutes to 80% at charging stations, 160 km range, etc., etc.).
I wouldn't be surprised if they eventually port these movies over to English, but for now... they are understandable! Evidently Mitsubishi is committed to bringing the iMiEV to market in Japan. Let's hope that they'll bring them here soon afterwards!
(If you're in favor of the i MiEV in the U.S., don't forget to sign this petition.)
When I watched the commercial, I understood the part where the voiceover says "It's like a cell phone" when the woman plugs the car in. I think it also says "Running on zero" at the end, which means running on zero CO2 emissions. In this clip, a more technical description of what the i MiEV is all about, a vision of what driving an electric car could be like is laid out. I describe this clip after the jump.
It's been a month since we last wrote about Miles Automotive. Most of our recent coverage of the electric car company has revolved around the sounds-too-good-too-be-true XS500, a highway speed all-electric sedan that is - supposedly - about a year away. Now we have something new from Miles to write about. The 2008 Production Model MILES ZX40ST Work Truck, which was introduced today at the Green California Summit in Sacramento.
The ZX40ST (boy, that rolls off the tongue, doesn't it?) is a low speed electric vehicle (25 mph top speed) that uses six lead acid batteries (rated for 25,000 miles) and a brushless AC motor to go 50-60 miles per charge. It takes 4-6 hours to charge from 50 percent to full from a standard home outlet (so, I'll assume it takes about double that to charge from near empty?). Watch out, pedestrians, as this little guy can scoot from 0-20 mph in five seconds. These may not be spectacular numbers, but for what a vehicle like this is supposed to do, I'd say they're quite sufficient. Miles has announced that it is making 200 ZX40STs a month and is sold out through June. The truck costs $18,400. The truck will be on display at the Sacramento Convention Center through tomorrow. See more after the break.
As the California Air Resources Board meets today to vote on revisions to the ZEV Mandate, the voices calling on CARB to not kill the electric car all over again are rising. Jim Woolsey, Tesla's Ze'ev Drori, the Sierra Club and many more are telling CARB to keep the EV alive. Another voice, perhaps unexpected, has now joined the chorus: George Shultz, who was Ronald Reagan's Secretary of State.
Schultz has written a letter (PDF) to California Governor Schwarzenegger asking that the governator intervene and call on state air regulators to promote plug-in cars instead of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. This seems unlikely to me, considering Schwarzenegger's love of hydrogen cars and his Hydrogen Highway effort. Schultz said hydrogen cars are not a "near-term technology" and added that other states look to California's leadership in the alternative fueled vehicle scene. We'll have more on the CARB vote later today and there are more details after the jump.
Dr. Gloria Duffy is the President and CEO of the the Commonwealth Club of California, the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum, bringing together its more than 18,000 members for over 400 annual events on topics ranging across politics, culture, society and the economy. Dr. Duffy served as U.S. Special Coordinator for Cooperative Threat Reduction and Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense in the Clinton Administration. Her column in the April issue of the Club's magazine, "I Miss My EV1," is a timely reminder of what could have been. Dr. Duffy believes "GM could have scaled the EV1 up to full production and been ahead of the game in producing a relatively affordable zero-emission vehicle."
She and her husband each leased the GM electric car, which they dubbed Red Sparky and Blue Sparky. She reminisces about how her "long commute turned into a dream - affordable, quick and non-polluting." Recently she met with some GM execs and was shocked by what she heard. She writes, "I nearly fell off my chair when one of them apologized for the way GM handled the EV1 episode. He said GM should have sold the cars to the people who leased them." You can read the entire article here.
In typical fashion, Zap has responded to the critical exposé that was published Wired recently with, you guessed it, more press releases. The releases, of course, do nothing at all to address any of the issues raised in the article about the company's business practices. Zap has heavily promoted several amazing new vehicles, none of which have been delivered even in prototype form. One of the press releases does point to an article in Popular Mechanics titled "5 Electric Cars Making History, Not Hype." The author of that story apparently did little research on the vehicles. The first two are of course among our "favorites" here at ABG, the Xebra and the G-Wiz. None of the five vehicles come anywhere close to meeting U.S. automotive safety standards and only the Xebra is available here. As a three-wheeler, the Xebra is classed as a motorcycle and is thus not subject to the rules that apply to cars. We've seen videos of the G-Wiz being crash tested as well. A version of the Elletrica is available in the U.S. produced by American Electric Vehicle as the Kurrent. That vehicle is a neighborhood electric vehicle limited to 25 mph and subject to far less stringent safety standards. Ironically, that vehicle may actually be the safest of the bunch.
Zap's CEO Steve Schneider did a very interesting audio interview with CEONEWS.Tv recently where he talked about the Zap-X, the Zap-Coke deal and the future of the company. On Zap-X, Schneider says Chinese automaker Youngman owns 51 percent stake in the Detroit Electric joint venture, while Zap owns 49 percent in the company. Schneider explains Detroit Electric will sell higher speed electric vehicles while Zap continues to sell the lower speed vehicles. Schneider says the Youngman relationship is unique because, according to his understanding, there are only a handful of licenses given to Chinese companies to make cars inexpensively (Zap can sell buses for half the price, for example). On the release of the Zap-X, Schneider says it's a 36-month project but did not say when it started (it's been at least 14 months). Schneider did say the Alias is a 18-month project and they are six months into it. Remember that Zap has been talking about the Alias since June 2007, which was eight months ago.
On the recent deal with Coke (Coca-Cola is using thirty of Zap's compact trucks in Montevideo, Uruguay) Schneider says it was spawned from the UPS deal. Schneider explains the UPS deal came from one brave UPS rep that "risked his career" to use Zap trucks and a tractor trailers hub model. The hub model showed bottom line savings for the company and what do you think happened to that UPS rep? He was promoted to a much "larger capacity" position at the San Fran UPS branch! "Quite a few" companies (Schneider won't give out names) have contacted Zap, looking to repeat the model, since that brave UPS rep started the ball rolling.
Schneider also talked about a trip to Dubai and said the Middle East is more interested in electric cars than you might expect. Schneider was asked about the Daimler lawsuit and while he could did not say much, he did say Zap's lawyers tell him it should be settled in three months. Things are changing like the climate Schneider jokes and "the market is finally catching up (after 14 years) to what ZAP has been preaching." Schneider expects Zap to have 100 dealers by the end of this year, up from 56 at a recent meeting. AutoblogGreen is not a stock investing website but we have to admit we are really impressed by this interview and Zap's CEO Steve Schneider responses. He talks a good game, at least.
The Electric Runabout, made by Columbia, was the first electric car ridden in by a U.S. President. That historical event happened over 105 years ago, in case you were wondering. The 1903 Columbia Electric Runabout had a 40-mile range and, like most electric cars of the era, was very popular with female drivers. While that 40-mile range sound wicked good compared to today's electric cars (and concept cars), the Runabout was really more like a Walkabout since its top speed was a solid 14 miles per hour - downhill.
The car was powered by a 40-volt, 30 amp motor from General Electric and cost $850 back at the beginning of the last century. While Columbia went out of business in 1911, you can see the Runabout this coming week as part of the historical display corner of the Chicago Auto Show (this is the 100th show, after all) hidden way in the back of the show floor.
Gallery: Chicago 2008: Columbia Electric Runabout from 1903
Before proceeding with this post you might want to peruse the interview I did with Malcolm Bricklin at the Detroit Auto Show. Are you ready? Good, let's proceed. First let me say I like the premise of Bricklin's idea. There are plenty of little entrepreneurs out their with ideas to build EVs and PHEVs. But as I've discussed here on numerous occasions, the auto industry is one of the most capital intensive in the world. There are a lot of really great cars on the road today that have set an extraordinarily high standard for safety (this in large part due to regulation), reliability, durability and customer service. Sure cars have plenty of flaws but truthfully how many high-tech devices produced by the mavens of Silicon Valley can you point to that regularly run for 15-20 years in all kinds of operating conditions?
Although there are those of you who are willing to sacrifice a lot for environmentally-friendly transportation, the reality is that most people in developed auto markets are not. In the U.S. market buyers have a plethora of choices and although newcomers have jumped into the market at various times over the years, the ones that just aimed for the low end of the market have typically fallen by the wayside such as Daihatsu and of course perhaps the most infamous example, Yugo. Continue reading after the jump.
As I was cleaning out my digital files and getting ready for the Detroit Auto Show that starts for us media folks this weekend, I noticed I have a few EVS23 items left to process and post. I'll try to the them all up before NAIAS overwhelms us, but the one I have for you now is an interview I did with EDTA head Brian Wynne just as the show was ending. Wynne was quite pleased with the giant electric drive conference and expo, something you can hear for yourself here (9 min, 6MB). We were interrupted briefly during out talk, and you'll notice where it is on the recording by the way it jumps at one point.
You can also get an idea of what Wynne thought about the symposium by what he said in an email following the end of the event:
The success associated with EVS-23 was also unprecedented. More than 1,500 electric drive experts from around the world came together to share the latest information regarding technology and market developments. An additional 700 visitors joined us for public day to view 125 exhibits on the show floor and hear from local mayors, as well as from a forum of leading authors on energy policy.
With more than 37 countries represented, EVS-23 was truly global in its scope. Media coverage was extensive, with more than 90 accredited media working the show. If you were not able to attend, but would like to get a sense of the high-voltage energy that was in the air, please check out our wrap-up video, which was shot at the event.
All in all, let's just say that everyone's looking forward to EVS24, which will be in Norway in 2009.
Note: The picture above shows a plastic cup that was part of the breakfast tablesettings. I thought it was a nice touch.
The video above is a look at GM's fuel cell E-Flex model on display at CES 2008. The model is a "cut-away" which allows you to get a close look at E-Flex's lithium-ion battery, the hydrogen containers, and the electric motors. It doesn't look like much has changed since the last time we showed you the concept from the Shanghai Auto Show. The video does include a good close up of the "quick start" button which lets the car drive the motors directly from the fuel cell tanks instead of the batteries. GM's fuel cell mode button kinda reminds me of Toyota's EV mode button. Except Toyota's button changes the type of motor driving the car while GM's FC button just changes the fuel. Who mighy care? I guess all those hydrogen purists in the next decade. I hate them already.
A Wall Street Journal story
Dr. Gloria Duffy is the President and CEO of the the 
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