BTinSF
02-26-2007, 10:44 PM
FRANCE
Electric Cars Gather Speed
Experiment in France Shows Promise,
But Cost Remains Considerable
By DAVID GAUTHIER-VILLARS
February 26, 2007; Page A8
PARIS -- In late 2005, France's state-run postal service began a trial of eight experimental electric-powered mail-delivery vans in an effort to meet a government requirement to reduce pollution.
Not only did the vans work well and prove cheaper to operate than gasoline-powered ones, but the mailmen who drove them reported higher job satisfaction. Now, La Poste is working on a five-year plan to replace the bulk of its 48,000-vehicle fleet with electric cars.
"The car works great, with almost no maintenance," says Patrick Widloecher, La Poste's director for environmental affairs. "We're ready to order more."
The companies behind the car hope their battery technology will be powerful and long-lasting enough to overcome the issues that have plagued past attempts at electric cars. The cars La Poste used were developed by Société de Véhicules Électriques, controlled by aerospace tycoon Serge Dassault, and were outfitted with a specially designed lithium-ion battery developed by a joint venture of Milwaukee car-parts maker Johnson Controls Inc. and French battery company Saft Groupe.
The auto industry is keen on electric cars because of their potential to lower pollution and so-called greenhouse-gas emissions that contribute to climate change. They also would help reduce industrialized countries' reliance on fossil-fuel imports at a time of world-wide concern over oil supplies.
La Poste's experience with Mr. Dassault's SVE is part of a recent pickup in momentum for electric cars. Last month, General Motors Corp. unveiled a prototype for an electric Chevrolet Volt. Although GM remains vague about a possible mass-market rollout, it has selected industrial partners to develop batteries. French car maker Renault SA, which tried and failed to roll out an electric van five years ago, says it wants to add such a vehicle to its lineup in 2010 as part of a wider partnership with affiliate Nissan Motor Co. of Japan.
Still, many obstacles remain before a mass-market electric car may be available. The main stumbling block is the prohibitive price of lithium-ion batteries. "Manufacturers have solved most technical problems, but they need to work further on reducing the cost," says Ahmad Pesaran, head of energy-storage studies at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, an arm of the U.S. Department of Energy.
Other car makers remain skeptical, saying electric cars will remain confined to niche markets, such as mail delivery, where the lengthy process of battery recharging can be done at night. France's PSA Peugeot Citroën SA, which made 10,000 electric vehicles in the 1990s, says it prefers to focus on hybrid solutions that combine both electric power and a gasoline engine, much like Toyota Motor Corp.'s fuel-efficient Prius.
SVE has yet to settle on a price for its electric car, and it isn't clear how much La Poste will have to pay to increase its fleet. But the car will be significantly more expensive than a traditional gasoline-powered vehicle because of the high cost of the lithium-ion battery, which La Poste says would account for about 60% of the unit price. The mail company says it will save on operating expenses because charging the electric car with electricity costs about one-sixth what it would spend to fill up the tank with gasoline.
SVE plans to make only a few cars at first. The French company expects to begin volume production toward year end with the assembly of 1,000 vehicles and, from 2009, gradually ramp up production to about 20,000 a year. That would be a fraction of the two million vehicles sold in France every year, though still more than all the other electric cars ever produced.
To widen the potential market for its electric vehicles, SVE has developed a version of its van equipped with a small diesel engine. The engine can help recharge the battery on the go or provide additional torque on highways, removing the range cap that hampers purely electric vehicles. Such cars are often called "plug-in hybrids" because they can be recharged on a plug or with gasoline.
A substantial shift to electric cars would cause only a small rise in power consumption, according to utility Electricité de France. "Even if 10% of all vehicles sold in France were powered by electricity, by 2020, they would account for less than 2% of overall power demand," says Robert Durdilly, EDF director for new-business development.
In France, which relies on nuclear and hydroelectric power for most of its electricity generation, electric cars would help achieve a drastic cut in greenhouse-gas emissions. In the U.S., where about half of electricity is produced from coal and where gasoline remains relatively cheap, electric vehicles might be a harder sell.
Electric cars have failed to deliver on their promise in the past. Eleven years ago, La Poste purchased 700 vehicles from Peugeot, which it hoped would become the backbone of an electric-powered fleet of mail-delivery vans. But the batteries weren't powerful enough. In courier mode -- with close to a half ton of mail on board and hundreds of stops a day -- the range of the cars drops to about 19 miles.
The Johnson Controls-Saft venture says it has taken care of safety problems associated with the lithium-ion technology, notably fire hazards that have plagued smaller lithium-ion batteries used in laptop computers. Still, JCS Chief Operating Officer Franck Cecchi says a key area for research is temperature control because lithium-ion batteries may overheat when they are turned on, and excess temperature can harm their lifespan dramatically. "We've succeeded in making batteries that can last for 10 years, but we're working to either increase the lifespan or reduce the cost," Mr. Cecchi says.
SVE Chief Financial Officer Sébastien Rembauville-Nicolle says he has no doubt about the performance of the Johnson Controls-Saft batteries. Because all the van prototypes undergoing tests are registered in SVE's name, he says, "the mailmen's speeding tickets end up in my mailbox."
http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/images/NA-AM188_ECARS_20070225184828.gif
Write to David Gauthier-Villars at David.Gauthier-Villars@dowjones.com1
URL for this article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117245446418718915.html
CALIFORNIA
Thrifty Electric Car
Turns On One Town
By JOHN J. FIALKA
February 26, 2007; Page A9
LINCOLN, Calif. -- Electric cars are getting a lot of public-relations mileage as lawmakers and auto makers search for ways to curb vehicle emissions linked to global warming. But many of the electric vehicles being touted are pricey, years away from being ready, or both.
Not the 150 electric cars purring around the residential streets here.
The cars, which resemble souped-up golf carts, are simple, cheap and have a top speed of about 25 miles per hour. They can travel 30 miles before their power system, which is composed of six car batteries, run out of juice. This city of 38,000, located 25 miles northeast of Sacramento, is spending $1 million to change its roads and traffic signs to accommodate the cars. Several other California towns are preparing to copy Lincoln's approach.
Global Electric Motorcars LLC, which was bought by DaimlerChrysler AG in 2000, has sold 33,000 of these neighborhood electric vehicles, known as NEVs. Fargo, N.D.-based Global Electric is positioned to be among those first in line for possible new state and federal incentives designed to promote the use of alternative-fuel vehicles.
Electric cars could help meet goals set in a proposal by President Bush that would mandate increased use of alternative-fuel vehicles. That could mean new and probably larger tax incentives to buy them, replacing a tax credit that expired last year, which was worth roughly 2.5% of the price of the car. Meanwhile, in Sacramento, state regulators are studying new incentives and mandates for electric cars to meet California's new law to curb global warming.
NEVs aren't intended as full-fledged car replacements that can reach high speeds and take to the highways. Others, including General Motors Corp., Renault SA, Toyota Motor Corp. and French aerospace magnate Serge Dassault, are working on more versatile battery-powered vehicles. But the cars may not be on the market until 2010 or later, and could cost as much as $50,000 because of the high-tech batteries they will have to use.
At least four other small companies are gearing up to sell little electric cars in the U.S. Zenn Motor Co. of Toronto offers a $12,000 model that looks like a standard compact car. Friday, Mr. Bush posed next to a small electric truck parked on the White House lawn. It was made by Phoenix Motocars Inc. of Ontario, Calif., one of two companies beginning to sell highway-capable electric vehicles. The price starts at $45,000.
The strategy behind the NEV is deliberately low-tech. It has the suspension and control system of an automobile and standard safety features such as seat belts, headlights and turn signals. The price range for Global Electric models runs from $6,800 to $9,700 for the two- and four-passenger versions. The company is making a six-seat version for hotels, industries and government agencies that would replace shuttle vans.
"Our drivers are very sensitive to price," Larry Oswald, chief executive of Global Electric, said in a recent interview. "We're normally the second or third car in a household. We strive to keep our costs down and make it very simple to own."
Critics don't like the fact that the small cars can't be used on the highway. "We believe in vehicles that are freeway capable," says Ron Freund, chairman of the Electric Auto Association, a nonprofit Palo Alto, Calif., group.
But the cars have a lot of fans here. Roger E. Oldenkamp, a retired civil engineer who bought a Global Electric vehicle in May 2003, says, "Parking is a lot easier. You get to meet more people. They wave at you and you stop and chat."
Unlike golf carts, NEVs meet federal and state requirements to drive on residential streets in more than 40 states. Lincoln, which is in danger of violating federal antismog rules, is installing special lanes for them on major roads that have speed limits exceeding 35 mph. The city is also requiring shopping centers to install charging stations for the vehicles.
According to Global Electric, annual fuel costs for an NEV driven an average of 100 miles a week will come to about $58, compared with $425.63 for a compact, gasoline-engine car that gets 27 miles per gallon.
Global Electric's car was the brainchild of Dan Sturges, a Boulder, Colo., businessman and former designer for GM. He left the big auto maker to develop an NEV prototype in the mid-1990s. A product recall later sent his Livonia, Mich., company into bankruptcy. Its remains were sold to a Fargo businessman who moved the business there and later sold it to DaimlerChrysler, just as California's first electric car mandates were looming. "We were the story of how the second mouse gets the cheese," Mr. Sturges says.
http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/images/NA-AM187_JUICE_20070225184054.jpg
Write to John J. Fialka at john.fialka@wsj.com1
URL for this article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117245684999318978.html
I'm wondering how this latter vehicle would do in an American city, specifically San Francisco. For 2 decades now I've had a scooter (Honda Elite 250) in the city but no car. I really don't want a regular car--too much trouble and no place to park. But as I get older, I know a day will come when I shouldn't be riding the scooter and can't walk everywhere. I'm thinking one of these little electrics could be ideal . . . or not? Is 30 MPH fast enough? To be honest, I don't know how fast the traffic goes on a main arterial street. Are they crash resistant enough? At least it's worth thinking about.
Electric Cars Gather Speed
Experiment in France Shows Promise,
But Cost Remains Considerable
By DAVID GAUTHIER-VILLARS
February 26, 2007; Page A8
PARIS -- In late 2005, France's state-run postal service began a trial of eight experimental electric-powered mail-delivery vans in an effort to meet a government requirement to reduce pollution.
Not only did the vans work well and prove cheaper to operate than gasoline-powered ones, but the mailmen who drove them reported higher job satisfaction. Now, La Poste is working on a five-year plan to replace the bulk of its 48,000-vehicle fleet with electric cars.
"The car works great, with almost no maintenance," says Patrick Widloecher, La Poste's director for environmental affairs. "We're ready to order more."
The companies behind the car hope their battery technology will be powerful and long-lasting enough to overcome the issues that have plagued past attempts at electric cars. The cars La Poste used were developed by Société de Véhicules Électriques, controlled by aerospace tycoon Serge Dassault, and were outfitted with a specially designed lithium-ion battery developed by a joint venture of Milwaukee car-parts maker Johnson Controls Inc. and French battery company Saft Groupe.
The auto industry is keen on electric cars because of their potential to lower pollution and so-called greenhouse-gas emissions that contribute to climate change. They also would help reduce industrialized countries' reliance on fossil-fuel imports at a time of world-wide concern over oil supplies.
La Poste's experience with Mr. Dassault's SVE is part of a recent pickup in momentum for electric cars. Last month, General Motors Corp. unveiled a prototype for an electric Chevrolet Volt. Although GM remains vague about a possible mass-market rollout, it has selected industrial partners to develop batteries. French car maker Renault SA, which tried and failed to roll out an electric van five years ago, says it wants to add such a vehicle to its lineup in 2010 as part of a wider partnership with affiliate Nissan Motor Co. of Japan.
Still, many obstacles remain before a mass-market electric car may be available. The main stumbling block is the prohibitive price of lithium-ion batteries. "Manufacturers have solved most technical problems, but they need to work further on reducing the cost," says Ahmad Pesaran, head of energy-storage studies at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, an arm of the U.S. Department of Energy.
Other car makers remain skeptical, saying electric cars will remain confined to niche markets, such as mail delivery, where the lengthy process of battery recharging can be done at night. France's PSA Peugeot Citroën SA, which made 10,000 electric vehicles in the 1990s, says it prefers to focus on hybrid solutions that combine both electric power and a gasoline engine, much like Toyota Motor Corp.'s fuel-efficient Prius.
SVE has yet to settle on a price for its electric car, and it isn't clear how much La Poste will have to pay to increase its fleet. But the car will be significantly more expensive than a traditional gasoline-powered vehicle because of the high cost of the lithium-ion battery, which La Poste says would account for about 60% of the unit price. The mail company says it will save on operating expenses because charging the electric car with electricity costs about one-sixth what it would spend to fill up the tank with gasoline.
SVE plans to make only a few cars at first. The French company expects to begin volume production toward year end with the assembly of 1,000 vehicles and, from 2009, gradually ramp up production to about 20,000 a year. That would be a fraction of the two million vehicles sold in France every year, though still more than all the other electric cars ever produced.
To widen the potential market for its electric vehicles, SVE has developed a version of its van equipped with a small diesel engine. The engine can help recharge the battery on the go or provide additional torque on highways, removing the range cap that hampers purely electric vehicles. Such cars are often called "plug-in hybrids" because they can be recharged on a plug or with gasoline.
A substantial shift to electric cars would cause only a small rise in power consumption, according to utility Electricité de France. "Even if 10% of all vehicles sold in France were powered by electricity, by 2020, they would account for less than 2% of overall power demand," says Robert Durdilly, EDF director for new-business development.
In France, which relies on nuclear and hydroelectric power for most of its electricity generation, electric cars would help achieve a drastic cut in greenhouse-gas emissions. In the U.S., where about half of electricity is produced from coal and where gasoline remains relatively cheap, electric vehicles might be a harder sell.
Electric cars have failed to deliver on their promise in the past. Eleven years ago, La Poste purchased 700 vehicles from Peugeot, which it hoped would become the backbone of an electric-powered fleet of mail-delivery vans. But the batteries weren't powerful enough. In courier mode -- with close to a half ton of mail on board and hundreds of stops a day -- the range of the cars drops to about 19 miles.
The Johnson Controls-Saft venture says it has taken care of safety problems associated with the lithium-ion technology, notably fire hazards that have plagued smaller lithium-ion batteries used in laptop computers. Still, JCS Chief Operating Officer Franck Cecchi says a key area for research is temperature control because lithium-ion batteries may overheat when they are turned on, and excess temperature can harm their lifespan dramatically. "We've succeeded in making batteries that can last for 10 years, but we're working to either increase the lifespan or reduce the cost," Mr. Cecchi says.
SVE Chief Financial Officer Sébastien Rembauville-Nicolle says he has no doubt about the performance of the Johnson Controls-Saft batteries. Because all the van prototypes undergoing tests are registered in SVE's name, he says, "the mailmen's speeding tickets end up in my mailbox."
http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/images/NA-AM188_ECARS_20070225184828.gif
Write to David Gauthier-Villars at David.Gauthier-Villars@dowjones.com1
URL for this article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117245446418718915.html
CALIFORNIA
Thrifty Electric Car
Turns On One Town
By JOHN J. FIALKA
February 26, 2007; Page A9
LINCOLN, Calif. -- Electric cars are getting a lot of public-relations mileage as lawmakers and auto makers search for ways to curb vehicle emissions linked to global warming. But many of the electric vehicles being touted are pricey, years away from being ready, or both.
Not the 150 electric cars purring around the residential streets here.
The cars, which resemble souped-up golf carts, are simple, cheap and have a top speed of about 25 miles per hour. They can travel 30 miles before their power system, which is composed of six car batteries, run out of juice. This city of 38,000, located 25 miles northeast of Sacramento, is spending $1 million to change its roads and traffic signs to accommodate the cars. Several other California towns are preparing to copy Lincoln's approach.
Global Electric Motorcars LLC, which was bought by DaimlerChrysler AG in 2000, has sold 33,000 of these neighborhood electric vehicles, known as NEVs. Fargo, N.D.-based Global Electric is positioned to be among those first in line for possible new state and federal incentives designed to promote the use of alternative-fuel vehicles.
Electric cars could help meet goals set in a proposal by President Bush that would mandate increased use of alternative-fuel vehicles. That could mean new and probably larger tax incentives to buy them, replacing a tax credit that expired last year, which was worth roughly 2.5% of the price of the car. Meanwhile, in Sacramento, state regulators are studying new incentives and mandates for electric cars to meet California's new law to curb global warming.
NEVs aren't intended as full-fledged car replacements that can reach high speeds and take to the highways. Others, including General Motors Corp., Renault SA, Toyota Motor Corp. and French aerospace magnate Serge Dassault, are working on more versatile battery-powered vehicles. But the cars may not be on the market until 2010 or later, and could cost as much as $50,000 because of the high-tech batteries they will have to use.
At least four other small companies are gearing up to sell little electric cars in the U.S. Zenn Motor Co. of Toronto offers a $12,000 model that looks like a standard compact car. Friday, Mr. Bush posed next to a small electric truck parked on the White House lawn. It was made by Phoenix Motocars Inc. of Ontario, Calif., one of two companies beginning to sell highway-capable electric vehicles. The price starts at $45,000.
The strategy behind the NEV is deliberately low-tech. It has the suspension and control system of an automobile and standard safety features such as seat belts, headlights and turn signals. The price range for Global Electric models runs from $6,800 to $9,700 for the two- and four-passenger versions. The company is making a six-seat version for hotels, industries and government agencies that would replace shuttle vans.
"Our drivers are very sensitive to price," Larry Oswald, chief executive of Global Electric, said in a recent interview. "We're normally the second or third car in a household. We strive to keep our costs down and make it very simple to own."
Critics don't like the fact that the small cars can't be used on the highway. "We believe in vehicles that are freeway capable," says Ron Freund, chairman of the Electric Auto Association, a nonprofit Palo Alto, Calif., group.
But the cars have a lot of fans here. Roger E. Oldenkamp, a retired civil engineer who bought a Global Electric vehicle in May 2003, says, "Parking is a lot easier. You get to meet more people. They wave at you and you stop and chat."
Unlike golf carts, NEVs meet federal and state requirements to drive on residential streets in more than 40 states. Lincoln, which is in danger of violating federal antismog rules, is installing special lanes for them on major roads that have speed limits exceeding 35 mph. The city is also requiring shopping centers to install charging stations for the vehicles.
According to Global Electric, annual fuel costs for an NEV driven an average of 100 miles a week will come to about $58, compared with $425.63 for a compact, gasoline-engine car that gets 27 miles per gallon.
Global Electric's car was the brainchild of Dan Sturges, a Boulder, Colo., businessman and former designer for GM. He left the big auto maker to develop an NEV prototype in the mid-1990s. A product recall later sent his Livonia, Mich., company into bankruptcy. Its remains were sold to a Fargo businessman who moved the business there and later sold it to DaimlerChrysler, just as California's first electric car mandates were looming. "We were the story of how the second mouse gets the cheese," Mr. Sturges says.
http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/images/NA-AM187_JUICE_20070225184054.jpg
Write to John J. Fialka at john.fialka@wsj.com1
URL for this article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117245684999318978.html
I'm wondering how this latter vehicle would do in an American city, specifically San Francisco. For 2 decades now I've had a scooter (Honda Elite 250) in the city but no car. I really don't want a regular car--too much trouble and no place to park. But as I get older, I know a day will come when I shouldn't be riding the scooter and can't walk everywhere. I'm thinking one of these little electrics could be ideal . . . or not? Is 30 MPH fast enough? To be honest, I don't know how fast the traffic goes on a main arterial street. Are they crash resistant enough? At least it's worth thinking about.
