Electric-Vehicle Firms See Spark of Hope Ahead : Technology: Companies are optimistic although the cars, trucks, buses, scooters and bicycles now don’t make much money.
In Los Angeles, it is often said, you are what you drive.
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So what if you cruise around in a Danish-built Kewet, powered by a 7 1/2-kilowatt electric motor with a 60-volt battery pack?
You would then be a member of the small, pioneering, ecologically conscious consumer group with an adventurous spirit and $12,900 to spend on a somewhat impractical second car. And, you’d represent the future consumer base of a diverse group of San Fernando Valley-area businesses that are developing, converting or importing electric vehicles, sometimes known as EVs, and related technology for cars--and trucks, bikes, scooters and buses.
In short, you’d be somebody like Dan Swietlik, who recently leased a Kewet for $400 per month from Green Motorworks Inc. of North Hollywood.
“I want to find out how this can fit into my life,” said Swietlik, who commutes less than 10 minutes to work each day from his home in the Hollywood Hills. “This mixes things up a bit. The question is, can this car get me up the hill back to my house every day?”
William Meurer, owner of Green Motorworks, thinks it can. With a top speed of 40 m.p.h. and a range of only 35 miles between charges, the tiny, wedge-shaped vehicle is no muscle car. But it’s perfect for short- to medium-range commutes to work or for buzzing to Blockbuster or the grocery store, Meurer said.
As the exclusive U.S. distributor of the Kewet, Meurer has sold more than 40 of the cars since he began importing them from Denmark in 1993. But he has not made much money on them. The cost of importing the cars, the exchange rate, providing warranties and limited demand means Meurer isn’t ready to give up his bread and butter--air-conditioning and brake service for regular, internal-combustion cars.
But, like his counterparts dealing with EVs in the Valley, there are glimmers of revenues ahead.
“We’ve had some months of profit” on EV sales, Meurer said. “We expect to be profitable by Oct. 1. We’ve got a few good contracts coming through,” such as a recent deal with San Francisco’s Bay Area Rapid Transit system to import, distribute and maintain 40 Norwegian electric cars, to be used in a special two-year commuter pilot program at three BART stations.
“We’ve carved out a niche supplying municipal fleets with replacement vehicles,” Meurer said. “With this BART deal, we’ve turned the corner financially, and we’ll make some money. But we don’t want to start applying capital toward manufacturing until the market is better defined.”
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There are varied predictions as to when, or if, that will ever happen.
The leaders of small companies such as Meurer’s--an electric-bus firm, APS Systems in Oxnard, and two electric-bike concerns in Burbank, Battery Automated Transportation Inc. and the Electric Bicycle Co., for example--believe a market for electric vehicles will emerge within the next five to eight years.
A report released in late June by the Institute of Transportation Studies at UC Davis found that if electric cars could run faster and longer than the current prototypes do, 46% of those surveyed might choose an EV over a gasoline car. But, of course, that’s a big if .
As for the major auto makers, they say it will be at least 10 years before they can offer affordable, viable EVs to the public. They have railed against California’s controversial requirement that 2% of all showroom vehicles offered for sale by large auto makers be emissions-free by 1998.
Obviously, future government mandates for sales of “zero-emissions” vehicles will decide much of the fortune of this industry. But there remain small firms developing the technology.
“If you’re looking at the long term, and looking at the market, we’re the companies that are going to be supplying that market,” said Uzi Cantoni, vice president of marketing, research and development for APS Systems in Oxnard. “We’re the ones driving it.”
When APS incorporated in 1983, it developed aviation test equipment for military and commercial aircraft operators. With the defense downturn, in 1991 APS began researching development of advanced battery-powered transit vehicles and components.
With individual contracts ranging from $500,000 to more than $1 million, the company has converted diesel-powered buses to electric for the city of Santa Barbara, a Mexican bus line, the California Energy Commission and the Department of Defense. It is also developing “hybrid” buses, which combine natural gas and electric power, for other potential customers.
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“With a backlog of about 23 orders for electric buses and hybrids, we’re looking at millions of dollars in contracts, enough to keep us busy until well into the second quarter of next year,” Cantoni said. Though most of the contracts are government-related, with only a slight profit built in, they represent incentives to continue developing the technology more than anything else, he said.
But the market for electric-powered buses is growing as cities and other fleet owners move to meet federally imposed rules to convert to cleaner-burning fuels in their vehicles.
One firm that claims to spurn government funding for development of its product is the Electric Bicycle Co. in the technology “hatchery” at Calstart, a consortium of EV companies in Lockheed’s old “Skunk Works” headquarters near Burbank Airport.
The company’s racy, futuristic-looking bike, called the EV Warrior, is powered by a pair of 12-volt lead-acid batteries that drive the rear wheel with a roller. The two-wheeler represents much of the technology and premise behind EVs as safe and fun to use and better for the environment than gas-powered vehicles.
The company is headed by a car-oriented entrepreneur, Malcolm Bricklin, who started his own ill-fated sports car company in the 1970s and later imported Subarus (and the problem-plauged Yugo). His partner is Malcolm Currie, former undersecretary of defense and ex-chairman of Hughes Aircraft Co.
“After trying to develop an affordable electric car, these guys decided America would accept an electric bike sooner,” said Richard Mayer, a high school shop teacher who developed the motor and battery system that powers the bike. “This is a way to get plugged in. It’s the first step.”
With a starting price of about $900, the bike has a battery-powered motor with a range of about 20 miles; it is designed only to be used conservatively when riding--say, to provide a short burst of power when tackling a steep hill. With a flick of a switch, the motor torques up and powers the rear wheel.
The company won’t release projected earnings, but a spokesman said that after an initial shipment of 4,000 bikes to dealers in September, production would increase to 10,000 in the next four months.
Another company working on EV technology at Calstart is Battery Automated Transportation, formerly based in Utah. The company has also developed an electric bike, and it contends that its electric bike concept is best. For $1,000, it will sell two rechargeable and removable battery packs that can be mounted easily on any bike frame.
“You never have to wait for your bike to recharge,” said the company’s president, Joseph LaStella, because each of the packs is good for 20 miles. “You just pop on the reserve battery.”
But developing and converting electric cars are the priorities at Battery Automated Transportation, LaStella said.
Nearly all the proceeds from sales of the handful of converted, electric-powered Geo Metros and Ford Ranger pickup trucks have gone back into research and development, LaStella said.
LaStella said that two weeks ago, the company signed a major agreement with Acme Electric Corp., an Arizona manufacturer of fiber-nickel-cadmium batteries. By the end of the year, he said, the sophisticated batteries will be adapted for use in the firm’s cars and pickups.
The batteries, the company claims, will give EVs a range of up to 150 miles per charge--quadruple the range of small, commuter-oriented cars such as the Kewet. And, more important, the cars can be recharged up to 50% capacity within five minutes, LaStella said. Most electric vehicles take hours to recharge.
“We’ve got the car. We’ve got the battery. We’re satisfied this industry is for real,” LaStella said.
