EVs are fun to drive,
but not too practical

As a kid, in then-peaceful Northern Ireland, I used to wake up to the clatter of milk bottles being dispensed from an almost silent electric-powered milk truck. I didn’t think then to ask why all cars and trucks were not electric, but I decided to make up for it during the three-day 1996 North American Electric Vehicle and Infrastructure Conference held recently in the Harbor Island Sheraton Hotel.

    Test drives were the order of the first day, so I drove the first production electric vehicle in the world, the General Motors EV-1. This car is the product of a genuine, full-bore effort by GM to introduce a production electric car to the marketplace before the deadline set by the California Air Resources Board. The board has decreed that 2 percent of all automobiles sold in California in 1998 must be totally non-polluting.

    Easier said than done. In his new book, "The Car That Could" (Random House), Michael Shnayerson details the long and challenging task that faced the GM team to produce such a car. The problem is that a full lead acid battery pack has the equivalent energy of one and a half gallons of gasoline. In my car, that would transport me about 40 miles before my next fill up.

    So, the GM team did a lot of things to the EV-1. To reduce friction, careful attention was paid to the design of the ball and roller bearings in the drive line, and the air pressure in special tires was pushed up to 50 psi. To reduce weight, aluminum was used for the car structure. And to recover some of the energy used in acceleration, the braking action now helps charge the batteries.

    Driving the EV, my first impression was of quiet and smooth motion as I glided through the hotel parking lot. Once out on the street, the acceleration was impressive up to 50 mph (already over the speed limit), and felt like it could go to 100. This car is fun to drive, although the interior space is limited. The dash is exhilaratingly modern with lights, keypad (no ignition key) and a bright electronic speedo and fuel (electricity) gauge.

    The real world EV-1 range is around 60-to-70 miles, although Motor Trend magazine testers on one trip drained the pack in 40 miles. The EV-1 can be leased only on a three-year basis, for around $500 to $600 a month.

    The Honda EV, like the GM EV-1, was designed as an electric car from the ground up. In May, Honda plans to start leasing 300 of these cars, with a view to learning more from real-life customer experience with the cars before going into mass production. The Honda is a two-door, four-seat, small car with a surprising amount of room inside. It is powered by a pack of advanced nickel metal-hydride batteries that will provide a real-world range of around 60 to 80 miles.

    The Honda was whisper quiet, even quieter than the EV-1, and felt good on the road. The acceleration, while not exhilarating like the EV-1's, was uniform and adequate. The battery pack that sits underneath the passenger compartment costs about $20,000, bringing the price of the car to around $53,000. The car can be leased for three years for $499 per month. A full charge, including cool down, takes eight hours, whereas the GM EV-1 with a lead acid (just like today’s car batteries) battery pack can be fully charged in three hours. The charger is on board the Honda so all you need is a 110-volt receptacle to refuel. The EV-1 requires a special inductive type (no metal contact, charged through an air gap) charger, which costs around $2,000, probably more like $3,000 installed in your garage. SDG&E will install an off peak meter, which will reduce charging costs to about one fifth the cost of electricity available through a normal house meter.

    What do I think? These cars are a lot of fun, but with the short range and high lease costs, they are not yet entirely practical. The good stuff is your fuel cost is one third that of gasoline, there are no tune-ups, no oil changes, no gears. The bad stuff is you need a new battery pack every three years, and the cars don’t work well in cold weather, which is why they are only offered in the Southwest.

    The GM EV-1 is available now in San Diego at all Saturn dealers.

    Motoring since 1952, Austin Lynas has owned 54 cars and at one time raced mini-sedans in England. An aerospace engineer, he was instrumental in developing the anti-skid systems used in British military aircraft that preceded today’s ABS systems.