THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, September 13, 1995 TAG: 9509130396
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DAVE MAYFIELD, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Long : 116 lines
``Keep up with the Jetsons. And the Joneses. And the Smiths. Come see what your neighbors will be driving in the next few years, not the next millenium.''
So begin newspaper ads for one of the nation's largest electric-car expos, this week at Virginia Power's Innsbrook Technical Center.
Laughable, right? The nation that put men on the moon within a decade has spent three times as long trying to develop a reliable, practical car you could charge up in your garage overnight.
Maybe it wasn't meant to be.
Think again.
The talk of the nearly 500 auto-industry executives, engineers and designers who piled in for the first day of ``electroexpo '95'' in suburban Richmond was earnest, optimistic and, above all, businesslike.
Electric vehicles, long restricted to the realm of the exotic or the prototypical, soon will be hitting Main Street. And that's changing the mix of delegates at shows like ``electroexpo.'' Gearheads sporting decal-smattered racing jackets are giving way to marketing executives in blue suits and wingtips.
Meanwhile, some auto-industry heavy hitters have taken up the cause - none heavier hitting than Robert C. Stempel. The former chairman and chief executive of General Motors Corp. dove into the electric-vehicle field shortly after being forced from the driver's seat of the world's largest automaker in 1992.
Now he's a board member of GM Ovonic L.L.C, a joint venture of GM and a small Detroit-area outfit called Ovonic Battery Co.
Stempel's long face radiated enthusiasm as he kicked off the Richmond-area expo Tuesday with an upbeat review of recent progress in his new field. ``This past year,'' he said, ``has seen the development of viable business plans for vehicles, components and batteries that are confirming the vision of making EVs a real business.''
EVs, short for electric vehicles, clearly are coming. Tens of thousands of them will roll out of Big Three auto factories each year starting in late 1997. A number of foreign makers are also planning factory rollouts of the vehicles.
Government mandates to cut air pollution are forcing the introduction. California, Massachusetts and New York all have set EV sales quotas. Meanwhile, federal laws will require an increasingly larger percentage of fleet vehicles and, in some cases, personal vehicles to be powered by gasoline alternatives.
Stempel and other auto executives would rather not be forced into the electric-vehicle business by such mandates. They worry that the industry could lose hundreds of millions, maybe billions, of dollars in the early years of EV sales because the public isn't ready to accept vehicles that, frankly, may not be up to snuff.
At the same time, however, they enthusiastically tick off rapidly advancing technologies they say help electric vehicles go faster and travel farther per charge. Regardless of government policies, they say, these advances will make EVs legitimate alternatives to gasoline-powered cars and trucks within 10 years.
GM has invested more than any other automaker in EV development: an estimated $500 million since 1990. It expects the investment to pay off, said Bob Purcell, executive director of the automaker's electric-vehicle business unit.
But before moving from the ``realm of research and development into the realm of marketplace reality,'' as Purcell put it, the company still has much work to do.
Its prime electric-vehicle ``test bed,'' a two-seat coupe called the Impact, has been able to meet the needs of commuters only 85 percent of workdays in four cities where it has been tested. Limited range, 70 to 90 miles per charge, is the main reason.
Stempel and others in the industry believe that, at a minimum, electric cars should have a 100-mile range per charge. At 150 miles, even though it would be only a half or even a third of typical gasoline-powered cars, other selling advantages of electric vehicles - quietness, reliability, greatly reduced pollution - will tilt the balance for many buyers, they say. That's as better and faster home and public charging stations are installed.
A dozen or more major battery-development programs - utilizing everything from nickel metal hydride to zinc bromine - are under way to tackle the range problem.
Other obstacles?
Potentially conflicting methods for charging EVs is one of the most serious.
Cost is another hurdle. Ford Motor Co.'s Ranger pickup - the only EV that any of the automakers have so far earmarked for factory rollout in late 1997 - will be priced at about $30,000. That's about double what a comparable gasoline-powered model runs now.
Eventually, as EV production rates increase, auto executives say the price difference will narrow or even disappear altogether.
Stempel said the biggest potential problem for EVs is consumer expectations. Electric cars will be held by consumers to the same standards as calculators, portable telephones, VCRs and other highly reliable electronics products, he said.
``The system needs to be perfect,'' he said, ``or it's not acceptable.'' ILLUSTRATION: LAWRENCE JACKSON/Staff color photos
Virginia Tech students converted a Dodge Neon into a hybrid vehicle
powered electrically or by alternate fuels such as natural gas.
Robert C. Stempel, a former General Motors chairman, is now a key
advocate for electric vehicles.
Virginia Power plans to have more than 200 electric vehicles in its
fleet by 2000. Here, a Chevrolet S-10 pickup is being charged.
Color photo
General Motors has spent more than $500 million since 1990 on
electric-vehicle development, principally the Impact. This modified
version set a speed record for electric vehicles last year,
exceeding 183 mph.
by CNB