Consortium’s Electric-Car Campaign Charges Ahead : Automobiles: A year after it was formed, Calstart is proud of its efforts to promote the vehicle of the future. But bigger challenges loom.
The idea was nearly unheard of: Unite more than 40 companies, utilities and public agencies to work side-by-side to kick-start an advanced electric-vehicle industry in Southern California.
If successful, the endeavor would create thousands of jobs for aerospace and defense industry workers idled by defense cuts.
With the help of some prominent business leaders and government officials, the effort was launched when a public-private consortium called Calstart opened a year ago this month in a vacant Lockheed Corp. building in Burbank.
On the consortium’s first birthday, those responsible for setting it up and running it say they are proud of their accomplishments, especially in getting government agencies and private businesses to pull together for a common goal.
The nonprofit consortium has met several ambitious goals, such as building a “showcase” electric car that is currently touring the world to positive reviews, and amassing $20 million in grants and donations to fund projects over the next two years.
Earlier this week, Calstart was awarded a $193,000 grant for a first-of-its-kind project testing two electric school buses in the Goleta and Santa Maria-Bonita school districts. Calstart participants say the grant from the California Energy Commission will lay the groundwork for widespread use of electric school buses.
The partnership has been joined by an additional 25 firms, public agencies and universities, including San Dimas-based AC Propulsion, Los Angeles Trade Tech College, Cal State Los Angeles, Los Angeles International Airport and Green Motor Works, a North Hollywood electric-car dealership.
The consortium has been hailed as a model for public-private partnerships by a host of government officials ranging from U.S. Secretary of Transportation Federico Pena to Gov. Pete Wilson to Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif).
But Calstart still faces its greatest challenge: to get major automobile manufacturers to commit to using California-based companies to supply parts for electric cars to be sold in the state.
State air-quality standards require that by 1998, 2% of all cars sold in the state--an estimated 40,000--produce no tailpipe emissions. The figure rises to 10% of all cars in 2003, expected to total 200,000 cars.
Calstart officials estimate that about 55,000 new jobs could be created by the year 2000, if Calstart can supply one-third of the components necessary to meet the expected worldwide demand for electric vehicles.
While Calstart is still in its infancy, participants say they are proud of its accomplishments in its first year.
“I think we have fared amazingly well, and that is not to say we have not had rocky times, because we had,” said Calstart President Mike Gage, former head of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.
He said the greatest difficulty has been keeping the lines of communication open among the various firms and public agencies.
“I have to tell you that for the first few months, keeping people happy was difficult,” he said. “We are all good at competing, but we’ve not had a lot of experience at collaborating.”
But sending out the message that private firms and public agencies can cooperate on a common goal is Calstart’s greatest accomplishment, said U.S. Rep. Howard L. Berman, who represents Burbank and wrote the legislation that helped get Calstart a $4-million federal grant.
“Calstart’s creation has stimulated a massive amount of interest by people on the issue of defense conversion,” said Berman, adding that he is routinely asked by private firms for information about the consortium.
But Calstart is most interested in stimulating interest among the major auto manufacturers who will soon be required to market the electric vehicles.
General Motors plans to spend $300,000 on Calstart’s infrastructure program, which is aimed at preparing the state for widespread use of electric cars by installing 140 recharging stations statewide, battery recycling facilities and electric-vehicle maintenance stations.
Bethany Young, a GM senior analyst, said Calstart is the only public-private partnership in which GM has invested, primarily because California has jumped ahead of other states in the effort to put electric vehicles on the road.
“It’s all happening at lightning speed in California,” she said.
But Young said GM plans to use its current suppliers for the major parts of its electric vehicles, such as batteries and motors. She said, however, that Calstart companies can compete to produce other components, such as seat belts and seat brackets.
“Our policy is to look for high quality, low cost and good service,” she said. “If California companies meet all those criteria, they have the best chance for being chosen.”
The Ford Motor Co. also plans itself to manufacture many of the major parts for its electric vehicles, but will seek bids from other companies to provide some components, said John Wallace, Ford’s director of electric vehicle development.
“There are certainly plenty of challenges in developing the electric industry,” he said, adding that he has had many discussions with Calstart officials and plans to keep an eye on developments at the consortium.
His sole criticism is that Calstart has been reluctant to accept some of Ford’s ideas for solving the vehicle’s problems.
For example, Ford has specifications for a recharging device for its electric cars, Wallace said. But Calstart instead has offered its own recharging devices with different specifications, he said.
“What we’ve seen so far is: ‘So, here is what we have. Don’t you like this?’ ” Wallace said.
The Calstart recharging mechanism was designed by Hughes Aircraft, a subsidiary of GM.
Gage said Calstart will consider all ideas and have them reviewed by Calstart’s technical advisory board, a panel of experts that will soon include a Ford representative.
In reviewing Calstart’s first year, Gage said he is proud of the consortium’s development of a showcase electric vehicle and a prototype bus, both of which were created to test electric-vehicle components sold by Calstart participants.
In December, Calstart introduced the car, a light-blue teardrop-shaped vehicle, at auto shows as far away as Geneva and Tokyo to demonstrate its various high-tech components.
The components include a lightweight aluminum frame, a lead battery that can power the vehicle for up to 140 miles, and an energy-management system that monitors voltage, current, temperature and speed to extend driving range.
Last month, Calstart unveiled a 22-foot bus to test parts and systems on the streets of Santa Barbara. The most promising components will be incorporated into a larger prototype bus to be built later.
Calstart has recently applied for $6.5 million in federal funds to develop an electric-car chassis that could be used for different types of electric vehicles, such as cars and light trucks, with few modifications, thus dramatically reducing cost.
Other Calstart goals include:
* Development of an advanced electric bus/mass transit program to develop advanced prototypes for light- and medium-duty vehicles. This program is managed by Southern California Edison.
* Creation of a prototype neighborhood electric vehicle for short trips. This program is managed by the Institute for Transportation Studies at UC Davis and Amerigon Inc., an electric-vehicle firm.
* Development of an electric-vehicle testing program managed by Amerigon Inc.
* Starting a high-tech transportation research program tied to Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, UC Davis and UCLA’s Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies.
* Creating a research and development program to support small California companies developing new advanced transportation technologies.
Said Gage: “One of the greatest points of satisfaction is the expanded number of programs and areas we are working in. It started with three programs. Now we have about 10 large key programs.”
