Electric Car Picks Up Some Fans : Technology: Auto developed in Burbank is featured at a trade show in Washington.
Making its East Coast debut, a showcase electric car developed in Burbank by Southern California companies was hailed Tuesday at a national convention as exemplifying the potential to convert aerospace technology to cutting-edge civilian programs.
The sporty blue vehicle, built through a partnership between industry and government called CALSTART, is being featured at the annual Armed Forces Communications & Electronics Assn. show in the nation’s capital. The three-day gathering is expected to draw about 30,000 buyers, makers and consumers of such high technology as satellites, advanced computers and avionics.
Proponents of CALSTART--which also includes initiatives to develop a state-of-the-art electric-car chassis, electric buses and electric infrastructure such as recharging and service stations--tout the program’s potential to put tens of thousands of laid-off aerospace employees to work manufacturing smog-reducing high-tech transportation systems.
“This is the first demonstration of what California has to do,” said Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Panorama City), a driving force behind CALSTART. “We have tremendous competitive advantages in the area of advanced transportation projects. Here’s a prototype electric car with its components almost exclusively Californian. To me, this is the road map to the future of manufacturing in California.”
The CALSTART effort seeks to capitalize on California air quality standards that require that in 1998, 2% of all cars sold in the state each year produce zero emissions; the figure rises to 10% annually in 2003. That translates to 40,000 clean-air vehicles in five years and 200,000 in a decade. Electric vehicles are the only cars that now meet such strict emission standards.
At this point, electric vehicles are considered best suited for government fleets, bus routes, daily commutes and around-town driving because of their limited range and relatively modest pickup. The two-door CALSTART hatchback has a range of 100 to 140 miles between chargings and reaches a top speed of 80 miles per hour. It takes four to six hours to charge.
The one-of-a-kind vehicle is not yet being marketed. It is considered a prototype to highlight and promote its components to other auto manufacturers while simultaneously pursuing further advances in electric vehicle technology. The Armed Forces show, which has 486 exhibits, is the most recent of many forums through which CALSTART is seeking to display its vision and progress.
“There’s a good audience here of aerospace companies that might be interested in learning more about CALSTART or joining it,” said Paula Finnegan, project director of the showcase electric vehicle and a designer-engineer with Amerigon Inc., the program’s lead firm. “We’d like to increase awareness of what California’s doing in advanced transportation.”
CALSTART, which has more than 40 public and private members, has raised $20 billion from the state and federal governments, private businesses and utilities. Since June, 1992, its headquarters has been in a 155,000-square-foot office and manufacturing facility in Burbank that Lockheed has loaned for a minimum of two years.
Even as the vehicle was spotlighted at a news conference Tuesday, CALSTART’s principals were putting the finishing touches on an application for $6.5 million in federal funds from the Advanced Research Project Agency to develop a running electric-car chassis. The lack of an automated process to make such a frame from lightweight composite materials has been a major hurdle to more widespread development of affordable electric vehicles.
Despite some skepticism about its limited range and small size, initial reaction to the car at the Washington Convention Center was generally favorable.
“I want one now,” said Charles Krohn, a defense technology consultant from Burke, Va. “There isn’t a thing about it that doesn’t make sense. . . . If we can’t capitalize on this technology to grow our economy, then I don’t know what we can grow on.”
Adam Drielts, president of a Venezuelan company that represents American firms, paid the car what may be the ultimate compliment: “It looks so nice you might think it was Japanese.”
