Thank you Chris Paine for your movie "Who Killed the Electric Car?" (available at Netflix and Blockbuster - see the movie preview link below). A major issue is the suppression of the large format nickel metal hydride battery, its patent now controlled by Chevron Oil Company. Let's hope that the next electric car breakthrough is sponsored by smart Silicon Valley venture capital rather than one bought out by oil money. In addition to oil companies, 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 as much expensive maintenance as 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 patent infringement to stop production of the car.
Since battery-electric-vehicles (BEVs) have few moving parts, they are usually very reliable and last a long time (see the photos below).The plug-in-hybrid-electric-vehicle (PHEV) 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 100 miles coming from electricity only. The Lithium Ion battery may be a "work around" but even this solution is in jeopardy with Chevron's alliance with A123Systems. If production BEVs or PHEVs 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 battery. 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".
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 (or buying only "previously owned"), let the car companies know you're waiting for it. $4.00/gallon gasoline savings quickly pays off rooftop solar panels.
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 EV-1 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 for a population that travels on average 40 miles a day. The obvious conclusion is that it really doesn't want to produce an electric car or plug-in hybrid that might seriously compete with gas models that have much more profit potential. With gas prices rising rapidly, the tide is turning though. After years of "bigger is better", SUVs and large pickups are now sitting on dealers' lots while small car sales are up.
Several times a week our local paper here in Silicon Valley, the San Jose Mercury-News, publishes a column called Mr. Roadshow by Gary Richards where readers write in asking about transportation issues and he offers some comment or explanation. Here are some of the questions I've sent him, but none have been printed. The electric car alternatives seem so compelling it's hard to imagine him not wanting to discuss it.
The car companies say the reason they don’t have a good electric car is that they don’t have a good enough battery. How about the battery used in the GM’s EV-1 and Toyota’s RAV4-EV? One of my clients loves her RAV4-EV she bought in 2002 and says it still gets over 100 miles per charge. Seems like this is the battery to be mated with the Prius! The movie “Who Killed the Electric Car?” says the patent is now owned by Chevron, a company not rushing to sell a competitor to gasoline. If so, when does the patent expire?
Do you think the California Air Resources Board has the guts force the automakers to bring back the likes of GM’s EV-1 and Toyota’s RAV4-EV electric cars? It seems that mandating 1% of new cars sold here be Zero Emissions within 3 years, using that same 100 miles per charge battery, would be the catalyst for significant consumer demand.
Why don’t we hear more about the battery that was used in the viable electric cars made by GM (EV-1) and Toyota (RAV4-EV) 6 or 7 years ago? We hear about the limitations of the lithium ion battery (cost and safety) but little is said of this 100 mile per charge nickel metal hydride battery (the EV-95). This battery could be mated with the Prius now! Any idea of what it would cost to produce these batteries in huge quantities (less any licensing fees)?
Our government seems to be in bed with Big Oil, likely a key reason for the tragedy in Iraq. If it's really interested in OUR national security, instead of security for U.S. oil interests in the Middle East, it will void Chevron's patent and release it to the public domain on grounds that Chevron has been stifling innovation to keep electric cars from competing with gasoline. That's how to improve our image in the eyes of the world! Instead the federal government is pushing the hydrogen fuel cell.... impractical, expensive and a LONG way down the pike. Meanwhile, air pollution and global warming get worse as Big Oil profits soar. With the price of crude being the biggest part of the cost of gasoline, how much money can we afford to transfer from our economy to OPEC's?
While I'm on my soapbox..... Aren't the radio and television airwaves supposed to be public resources for public benefit? As a condition of receiving an F.C.C. license and profiting from this public resource, why aren't broadcasters in the U.S. required to provide substantial free prime time for viable political candidates to express themselves like most European countries require? Instead candidates must raise huge quantities of tainted cash from the corporate interests that now seem to completely dominate U.S. government policies. Mostly what we see of the candidates are polished 30 second commercial messages (and slips of the tongue that might offend somebody) played over and over again, completely avoiding their possible solutions to serious issues. This is probably the greatest reason more talented and creative citizens don't run for public office.
Exposure to today's politicians is carefully scripted and controlled with media journalists reporting favorably given continued "access", while those critical are denied. In his book "Gag Rule...." Lewis Lapham says of his days with the White House press corps: "I could never escape the impression of a flock of ducks - plump and well-kept ducks, ducks worthy of an emperor's garden - waddling back and forth to the pond on which the emperor's gamekeepers cast the bread crumbs of the news."
Electric car links:
"Who Killed the Electric Car" movie trailer 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
............Now, why is this? Don't you think this is quite strange, incongruous, and out of character for a company that prides itself on being the most innovative technology leader and is well known to be the most responsive automaker -- the most responsive to public pressure and to its customers' wishes and demands -- that such a responsive company could be so steadfast in resisting all this overwhelming public pressure and stubbornly refusing to go down the PHEV path? Don't you think that deep down Toyota wants to do this and is actually quite eager to do so? (I, for one, do.)
Well, there is only one answer to these questions, and it is quite obvious. The answer is that Toyota does indeed want to do a PHEV but is effectively precluded from doing so by Panasonic's (now a 60% owned and controlled Toyota subsidiary) restriction in its Cobasys (Chevron) license prohibiting it from producing NiMH batteries with capacities greater than 10Ah. So as much as Toyota would like to do a PHEV and very much wants to do so, it has its hands tied behind its back by Cobasys and is even muzzled by Cobasys from explaining the true reasons due to the gag order that Cobasys imposed on Toyota, which Toyota was forced to agree to.
Wikipedia's report on plug-in hybrids
Wikipedia's report on battery-electric-vehicles
Plug in hybrid conversions - Calcars
Remy Chevalier's report on battery suppression - "It's The Batteries, Stupid!"
Video of the arrival of the first production Tesla electric car in March, 2008
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 or 50+ mile plug-in hybrid) 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 175,000 miles on it) has many more years of service ahead.
Comments? e-mail me.... jimk @koskiphotography .com (remove the spaces)