Electric Car Will Debut in Southland : Pollution: The mass-produced Swedish car has both electric and gasoline engines and is designed to reduce smog in the region.
The first mass-produced electric car to be sold to Southern Californians since the early days of the automobile will be displayed today in Los Angeles by its Swedish manufacturer.
The LA301 four-passenger vehicle will be built and sold by Clean Air Transport Inc., the U.S. marketing arm of Swedish parent Clean Air Transport AB. It expects to put the car on sale in this country by 1993.
For the record:
12:00 a.m. Sept. 11, 1991 For the Record
Los Angeles Times Wednesday September 11, 1991 Home Edition Business Part D Page 2 Column 6 Financial Desk 1 inches; 34 words Type of Material: Correction
Electric Car--An article in Tuesday’s editions said a new hybrid electric car designed for sale in the Los Angeles area would be unveiled Tuesday in Los Angeles. The Swedish-built vehicle, the LA301, actually debuted at an auto show in Germany.
As a hybrid electric car--equipped with both electric and gasoline engines--it is largely designed to help the ordinary driver adapt to the feel of electric driving after a lifetime of gasoline-engine vehicles.
“People will feel safe with the gasoline engine--they will not get stuck. They have the range,” said Lars Kyrklund, president of Clean Air. “But people will notice after having this vehicle for the first few months, ‘Hey, I’m using the electric engine more.’ And they will feel comfortable. And that’s what we feel will open up the market here.
“We need to get away from this golf-cart image, to be able to compete with other vehicles in the lower luxury market,” Kyrklund said.
According to Clean Air, a battery charge estimated to cost about $1 will power the car for up to 60 miles, a modest achievement compared to other electric-car prototypes. But promoters said this would still accommodate more than 90% of the daily driving in the Los Angeles area. Another 90 miles could be added to that range by turning to the car’s four-cylinder internal combustion engine, designed to run on reformulated gasoline.
Clean Air won the only contract in a 1988 worldwide competition sponsored by the Los Angeles Electric Vehicle Initiative, founded by Los Angeles City Councilman Marvin Braude, to spur the practical introduction of 10,000 non-polluting electric cars to the region by 1995. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, the lead agency for the initiative, and Southern California Edison have pledged $7 million to the effort.
