Thank you Chris Paine for your movie "Who Killed the Electric Car?" (available at Netflix and Blockbuster or buy it at Amazon.com - see the movie preview link below). A major issue has been the suppression of the large format nickel metal hydride battery, its patent now controlled by Chevron Oil Company. Lithium phosphate batteries are a promising alternative because of their significantly higher power density and favorable safety characteristics but none seem ready for the electric car market yet. Let's hope that the next battery breakthrough is sponsored by smart Silicon Valley venture capital rather than one controlled by oil money. In addition to oil companies, over time the car companies might also lose profits if electric cars become popular because simple electrics with few moving parts last longer (some say up to a million miles) and don't require the ongoing expensive maintenance of cars with internal combustion engines.
After the California Air Resources Board killed its visionary "Zero Emission Mandate" in 2003, GM recalled and shredded its promising 150 mile range EV1, and sold its viable EV-95 NiMH battery developed by Stanford and Iris Ovshinsky to Texaco (absorbed by Chevron 6 days later) for a reported $100 million where it was promptly put in the deep-freeze. Toyota used that battery in the RAV4-EV and was successfully sued for NiMH patent infringement to stop production of the car.
Since electric cars have few moving parts, they are usually very reliable and last a long time.The plug-in hybrid has the advantage of having gasoline as a backup fuel. It appears that Toyota was able to license a low capacity battery from Chevron for use in its very popular Prius hybrid, but is prohibited from manufacturing (and even talking about) the larger EV-95 battery needed for a plug-in hybrid capable of 40 miles (average U.S. daily drive) coming from electricity only. The Lithium Ion battery continues to improve and has commodity status.... price and performance competition from many manufactures. If production electric cars and plug-in hybrids were sold for $25-35,000 and were styled like other cars in that price range, they'd be quite popular with their significantly lower operating costs and high-performance motors.
One of our clients here in Northern California drove up with her 100+ miles per charge Toyota RAV4-EV (shown below), still with its original EV-95 batteries. She loves this car! It's obvious why Chevron is threatened by the electric car, but she said she understands why the car companies and their dealers might feel the same. Since she bought it in 2002, the only service it has needed is a set of new tires! If dealers make about 35% of their profit from new car sales, and 55% from service and parts, electric cars could have a significant impact on the industry. This is especially true if they last much longer than those with internal combustion engines.
There's a story to be told here, over and over again until a lot of people demand that the EV-95 be available to anyone who wants to make or use it. This battery really works, yet, other than here on the web, the mass media seems to ignore it. Even the PBS "Nova" report on "The Car of the Future" didn't mention the battery or success of the EV1 and RAV4-EV. Have the oil and car companies threatened to cut advertising revenue to any broadcaster or publisher that mentions it? And judging by the number of times the Chevron logo can be seen on PBS, I'd say public television is afraid to "bite the hand that feeds it". Sherry Boschert has a lot of background information in her book "Plug-in Hybrids". Watch lots of "RAV4-EV" videos on YouTube.com.
If it was widely known that it is possible to build it today at reasonable cost, wouldn't most people demand a responsive car that dramatically reduces the amount of gasoline they'd have to buy, with fewer repair bills, emitting less pollution that causes breathing problems and global warming and then have lots of extra money left over to do something else with? By keeping the cars you currently have as long as possible, let the car companies know you're waiting for it.
The only electric car GM will talk about is its vaporware Chevy Volt, a far cry from the fast and responsive EV1 with nickel metal hydride batteries it made about 10 years ago in response to California's mandate. The EV1 would go zero to 60 mph in 7.4 seconds, had a top speed of 140 mph and a range of 150 miles! Certainly by now GM could have come up with a practical and popular electric commute car for a population that travels on average 40 miles a day. Beth Lowery, GM VP of Environmental Affairs, says they have a "stretch objective" to have something in the showroom by the "end of the decade"! Meanwhile, its SUVs and large pickups are now sitting on dealers' lots and GM doesn't produce innovative small cars people want to buy. Their lobbying of lawmakers to defeat tightened CAFE standards now has them lobbying for taxpayer handouts instead of selling cars not dependent on the perpetual purchase of gasoline. Bottom line is that they're not into making electric cars because they can't figure out how to make enough money at it. It will take Nissan and Toyota to show them how.
Electric car links:
"Who Killed the Electric Car" movie trailer on YouTube
Buy "Who Killed the Electric Car" from Amazon.com
Jack Rickard's last of 10 part electric car video series on YouTube
"GM & Chevron Killed the Electric Car" video on YouTube
25 minute PBS online video interviewing electric car film maker Chris Paine
8 minute video on the PHEV from pluginpartners.org
Plug in America's online videos
Wikipedia's report on plug-in hybrids
Wikipedia's report on battery-electric-vehicles
AFS Trinity 150 MPG Plug-In Hybrid videos
Plug in hybrid conversions - Calcars
Lithium phosphate battery safety video
Remy Chevalier's report on battery suppression - "It's The Batteries, Stupid!"
In case you're wondering, I'm just an average guy who would very much like to buy a production electric car (like an updated Toyota RAV4-EV) that I could recharge in my garage every night. Meanwhile, I'm holding off buying any car and trust my well cared for Volvo (only 190,000 miles on it) has many more years of service ahead.
Comments? e-mail me.... jimk @koskiphotography .com (remove the spaces)