SEVA EVUpdate Newsletter December 1995

SEVA EVUpdate Newsletter

December 1995

Presidents Message by Mark Bahlke

Happy Holidays!

Well, it's a great time of year, and great things are happening (still) with SEVA. It's election time again, and this year we have a great group nominated,with virtually every board and service position filled with at least one nominee. It looks like we will have a really excellent group leading SEVAin '96. We have nominations for projects chair, events chair, and a full board of directors. This should get things moving and shaking all year next year. Look forward to many exciting EVents next year, as well as lots of opportunities to get out and work with SEVA promoting EVs! Please make sure to take time to fill out ballots during either the December or January meeting, or mail one in from the newsletter. Your vote definitely counts, both to elect our working officers, and to let us know you are an interested membership.

Also, congratulations are in order to Tony Cygan who has been elected to serve on the board of directors of the national EAA. Congratulations Tony! SEVA, and Sacramento will now have a voice in the affairs of the National EAA.

The EV project board has progressed as well, since last month. There are some deletions, unfortunately, due to Citi-El leases expiring, but there are about 10 more EVs on the list. We are presently collecting data on these vehicles, and the updated list will be posted at regular meetings and events. Those of you who have been contacted and are already on the list, please keep in touch to let us know what the status of your vehicle is. We still want to track monthly mileage, and progress on conversions. With a little more coordination, I would like to get a "conversion task force" going, to jump on conversions, and get them finished, and on the road.

Lastly, I would also like to offer congratulations to our vice-president, Tim Loree, who has just aquired his first EV! Tim has taken over ownership of Rick Prestell's Dodge Colt conversion, and is using it to commute to work at Sacramento City College. Tim told me that he has arranged for charging at the college, to facilitate the round trip. I have not spoken with him since he started the commute, but he sure sounded optimistic. Congratulations, and welcome to the EV world, Tim! By the way, this makes it nearly unanimous for board officers driving EVs. Steve, it's time buddy! We've got to get you into an EV now! :-) The rest of you, well, I think with the coming year's activites, we can find ways to put more EVs on the road in Sacramento in 1996 than ever before. Think positive!-- Mark

Monthly Meeting Minutes by Bill Dean

The meeting was opened at 10am by V.P. Tim Loree. He announced that SEVA elections are coming up in January, and let Bill Dean cast a call for nominations.

Cece Martin, of California Electric Transportation Coalition, brought an update on statewide activities. Oil companies and auto manufacturers are waging a $60 million PR campaign against EVs. This effort includes use of front groups and mailing of packets every week to every elected official in California. Automakers had an 800 number for people to call, but they found that EV supporters outnumbered EV opponents 7 to 2, so they quit that. Steve Smith showed the mailout he got for calling that number; he made copies for everyone present.

Cece remarked that part of the PR campaign is a claim that EV infrastructure will cost $28 billion. This inflated estimate includes automaker costs of development of EVs, etc. Lack of infrastructure is an excuse, because it can be installed in the two years before the mandate hits. Charging stations are needed first at home, second at the workplace, third at shopping malls.

Cece has read the forthcoming unpublished CARB report on batteries. It affirms that battery advances are proceeding faster than foreseen in 1990. Lead acid achieves 44 Wh/km. NiMh are ready for production; producers need contracts with auto makers.

Cece and several others shared anecdotes about the firefighters at the CARB hearing. They had scripts claiming that EVs are hazardous for rescue crews, but CARB refuted their allegations.

Cece concluded that CARB has been put in a tough situation, but has risen to the occasion. CARB has completed its series of workshops. The staff will make a proposal in Februrary. Cece encouraged everyone to continue to write letters to Governor Wilson and CARB director John Dunlap III.

Ruth McDougall passed out copies of the draft SMUD map of public charging stations. Tim announced that SEVA business cards are available for members who want them. Ruth announced that next month's meeting will be in the building next door to the regular place. Tim called attention to the Projects Board and encouraged EV owners to submit a photo for the board. Tony Cygan promised to put the photos on the Internet. Tim asked for feedback on the October tech talks. Several EV drivers shared conflicting impressions of dealing with AAA. Steve waved a stack of newsletters that came back because of change of address. Herschel Rosenbaum from Pasadena told about his experiences with applying 144 V to Curtis controllers and Advanced DC motors.

The meeting was adjourned at 1150am.

Monthly Board Minutes by Bill Dean

The SEVA board met Monday, November 13 at 7:15pm to discuss club business.

The meeting began with Tony Cygan patiently explaining the technical details of how the SEVA homepage works. The files exist on the CalWeb computer, which can be accessed whether Tony's computer is logged on or not.

Mark Bahlke passed out originals for business cards. Members can take them to a copy shop and get 1000 card for about $10.

Bill Dean reported on progress toward nominations. Dennis Merritt and Rick Prestell volunteered to serve. The Board kicked around names of members to contact to fill the remaining positions. Ballots will go into the December newsletter and the election will take place at the January meeting.

Tim Loree reported on feedback that he elicited at the monthly meeting. The most common suggestions related to signs to help people find the meeting place and interest in tech talks. Someone suggested videotaping work sessions and showing it at the monthly meeting.

Mark passed out two versions of the Project Board spreadsheet, one showing EVs on the road, the other showing EVs in progress. Mark has become aware of at least 60 EVs in the area. Tony will put the Project Board on the Web page. There are enough EVs to stage an EV show. With the Project Board, the club can keep track of pollution-free miles driven. The next step is to calculate gallons of gas foregone, then to estimate tons of emissions avoided.

Steve Smith talked about the upcoming CARB meeting, and the need to write to CARB right away.

The meeting was adjourned at 9pm.

World Population Increase for 1995 from the US Census

                                       Natural
Time unit       Births      Deaths       increase
-------------------------------------------------
Year       139,667,270   52,889,287    86,777,983 
Month       11,638,939    4,407,441     7,231,499 
Day            382,650      144,902       237,748 
Hour            15,944        6,038         9,906 
Minute             266          101           165 
Second             4.4          1.7           2.8 
-------------------------------------------------

Notice: EV Workshop In January

OK EVERYONE, Get ready for an EV Workshop !
Save the 4th Saturday in January to learn how to convert your own EV !
This all day workshop will be conducted by Mike Brown and Shari Prange of ElectroAutomotive.

Watch for more info next month.

Battery Disposal Notice from SEVA

Make sure you properly dispose of your batteries when you replace them. Just from perusing the phone book, we see that the following local companies will accept old batteries. Call others battery outlets to find one close to you or ask the company that you bought your batteries from to take the old ones.

 
Local Companies that will Accept Old Batteries:
 
        Sierra Battery Sales
	930 Del Paso Blvd.
	Sacramento, CA
	(916) 925-6566
 
	Sacramento Battery Company
	3616 West Capitol Ave.
	West Sacramento, CA
	(916) 372-5580
 
	Cell Energy Inc.
	3190B Orange Grove Ave.
	North Highlands, CA
	(916) 484-7974

Editors Corner by Tony Cygan

Well it looks like I may be on the National EAA's Board of Directors very soon. While I didn't win the actual election (there were 3 openings and I came in 4th) I just found out that one of the other board members is unable to complete their term and I may end up taking their place.

I'm not really a politics type person, but feel that people need to be involved with things in order to make the world just a little bit better. I'm a firm believer in the saying "If You Don't Vote, Don't Complain" and this will allow me to complain about things with a clear concience. I'm doing the right thing, not the right thing. What about you ?

WORLD EV STATUS by Bill Yerkes

From the EV Discussion List --

Each of the major automobile companies has set their course for theCalifornia ZEV requirement in 1998. It will provide us with a wide variety of electric vehicles options from which to choose. We have almost none right now unless you make your own car. Here's the lineup from Detroit, Europe and Japan as of last week:

GM: A team is forming and now building 2 Impacts per week in the Lansing, Michigan plant, to support its field testing and growing Proving ground test fleet. GM will be ready to ship the required number of these high performance sports cars to California. Right or wrong it is a terrific car, and will have high performance sealed lead acid batteries, probably from the old Gates battery company in Colorado (350 volts DC).

Ford: building and testing pickup trucks. Minimum risk for Ford, minimum investment, capable of carrying almost any lead acid battery type and meeting all tests and gross vehicle weight rules. Ford likes to sell trucks anyway, and will supply gliders to many others. They will have a large number of Ford EV trucks so they can buy credits for California with minimum investment. Ford Sodium Sulfer battery a dead issue, expensive, thermal cycling problems. They will wait and see what happens.

Chrysler: An electric minivan with Westinghouse three phase AC motor and control along with the Horizon sealed lead acid battery. Like Ford, this approach also minimizes Chrysler's commitment until they see which way the ball bounces.

Honda: An electric Civic 2 door ev with lead acid batteries to start. Already seen in California. Remember Honda won the last Australian solarcar race, and so they really understand the issue of low rolling resistance, high efficiency motors and batteries. They can probably triple the range of this type of car with Lithium Ion batteries being developed by the Japan Lithium Battery consortium and Sony.

Toyota: They have shown the Prius small hybrid sedan prototype at theFrankfurt show recently, they also won this year's Scandinavian Electric Car Rally with an electric RAV4 vehicle. I don't know if they have made up there minds what to do.

Nissan: Latest Tokyo Auto Show revealed a lighter weight FEV II with the Sony Lithium Ion Battery, which they said "are three times more powerful than lead acid, giving FEV-II a 124 mile range". This looks like a more producible electric car.

Volkswagen: At the Tokyo Auto Show VW also revealed the latest Concept 1"retrobeetle" as it nears production (in Puebla, Mexico). Their work at VW with hybrid/electric using direct electronic injection diesels is already well advanced. The VW developed Daug/Hopke fiber nickle cadmium batteries are probably the best in production at 50 whr/kg energy density and 200+watts/kg power density. These batteries, also made by ACME in Tempe, AZ will last the life of the car and provide 95% power at 0 degrees F. unlike lead acid.

Daimler Benz: Mercedes testing electric and hybrid/electric and fuel cells in their new type "A" small sedan. Batteries would be under the floor of their new van type car. The Swatch microcar will be built in France as a Mercedes and be sold as a "city car" like the Tulip. It will be available as an electric and can be brought to California so MB can sell large powerful sedans. Each Swatch would count as one ZEV.

BMW: These guys need electric cars to sell in California and are developing the ultimate small EV. The prices and technology in both the MB and BMW's electric vehicles will be high.

Peugeot: Not coming back to America, but commiting to production of the"ION" small EV for Paris "taxi service". With France 85% powered by nuclear energy, they are going to small electric cars in the cities.

FIAT: Not coming back to America, but producing small numbers of new electric Cinquecento's in Poland, and Panda Electrica's in Italy.

This is the competition a government sponsored venture like CALSTART is facing. I happen to think the Japanese are taking the California market requirements for ULEV's and ZEV's seriously, witness Honda's qualification of a ULEV by changing to a 32 bit microprocessor on the engine controls.They are quietly doing their homework, and the invention and production, bySony, of the Lithium Ion battery will make the California Electric Car (ZEV) a real event.

EV News Bits

Hyundai claims lead in the race for long range

ULSAN - Hyundai claims to have taken a world lead in the development of a practical, five seat, family sized electric car, with a target range of 300km (180 miles) on one charge up well within sight. Running examples of Hyundai's ECV, based on the old model Sonata body style, are already covering 240km (144 miles). By the time Hyundai's electric car goes on sale at the start of 1997, the drive system will be mounted in a new shape Sonata.

Hyundai's ECV is powered by a 30PS electric motor that has a top speed of more than 130kmh (80 mph). The nickel-metal hydride batteries have been developed in conjunction with Ovonics of America and are mounted in a space under the floor and along the car's central tunnel, leaving passenger and luggage space largely unaffected. The batteries have a life span of more than 100,000km (60,000 miles). The challenge for Hyundai's research and development team based in Ulsan in southeast Korea is to improve the packaging and reduce weight.

World Resource Institute Showcase EVs

During October, a WRI-sponsored program called, "Today's Environment" is show casing electric vehicles. "This is a crucial time," said Shirley Geer of WRI. "We're hoping this will contribute a little more to the public's understanding of how important EVs are to a clean environment." The show will air on the SciFi and VH1 channels, then go into syndication.

Renault Wins Order For Electric Cars

French automaker Renault has won what it claims to be the world's biggest single contract for electric cars with the sale of 150 vehicles to Nutek, a Swedish public sector organization. An electric version of the company's Clio hatchback will be tested by a 25-strong group of local authorities and public and private sector companies. Larger orders have been made for electric utility vehicles, such as rubbish disposal and delivery vans, but electric car orders have been for small batches. Each car, which has a top speed of about 59 m.p.h.and a range of 52.8 miles, will cost about $30,307. (Los Angeles Times11/2)

Upcomming EVents

SEVA Activities

o  General Meeting, Saturday, December 9th at 10am.
o  Board Meeting, Monday, December 11th at 7pm.
o  General Meeting, Saturday, January 13th at 10am.  SEVA ELECTIONS
o  Board Meeting, Monday, January 15th at 7pm.
o  General Meeting, Saturday, February    10am.
o  Board Meeting, Monday, February    7pm.

Bay Area/Modesto EAA Activities

o WESCON, December 7-9 in San Francisco at the Moscone Center

National/International EV Activities

o  North American EV Infrastructure Conference, Dec. 12-14
o  Phoenix APS Electrics, March 1-3, 1996.