Rumors of Electric-Car Deaths Greatly Exaggerated
The Electric Car Rides Again
By Bob Kocher
CTW FEATURES
It was the hit of the Paris World’s Fair – an electric car. And not just an everyday electric car, but one that was designed and built by Professor Ferdinand Porsche (that’s right, the founder of Porsche). Dr. Porsche landed his first job as a designer for car builder Jacob Lohner and in 1900, the “System Lohner-Porsche” electric carriage made its debut at the Paris Fair. This new battery-powered car set several Austrian land speed records, eclipsing 35 miles per hour. After the front-drive Lohner-Porsche carriage turned heads in Paris, a four-wheel-drive version was built. The storage battery weighed nearly two tons.
Just think, Dr. Porsche gave us an all-in-one electric, front-wheel- and four-wheel-drive car in the formative years of the automobile. Later, he turned that same car into a hybrid vehicle by adding a 2.5-hp Daimler internal combustion engine to extend its operating range.
Yes, electric cars were fairly common in the early days. The women of that era, who would otherwise have had to crank a gasoline engine from in front of the car to get it started, were very fond of electric cars.
Several electric cars came and went over the ensuing years, and some were quite good, like the breakthrough General Motors EV1 introduced in 1990. However, GM only ended up leasing the EV1 to a relative handful of individuals; it ceased production and the two-seat car slipped quietly from the American conscious (interest in it was resurrected by the recent documentary film “Who Killed the Electric Car”). The truth was it was quick and fun to drive, but much like the very early electric cars, the lead-acid battery had to be recharged much too often to suit mainstream motorists. The EV1 battery was not much better than the first ones that Thomas Edison built for Henry Ford when he wanted to mass-produce electric cars (though it did weigh far less).
Fast-forward nearly two decades and get ready for another electrifying experience – that is, if you have six figures to spend. Coming later this year will be an all-new, sleek, fast, high-performance, electric-powered sports car dubbed the Tesla Roadster, from automaker Tesla Motors. Be assured there will be a long waiting list even at its near-$100,000 price tag.
Electricity may be just one answer to powering tomorrow’s fleet, but it’s an especially desirable one. Closing the gap in reducing our dependence on foreign oil with cars like the Tesla is a winning step for all consumers. Electric power for cars can be generated from coal, solar, wind, hydro and nuclear sources, or a combination of them.
Tesla automaker reports that its Roadster produces one-tenth the pollution and is six times as efficient as even the best gasoline-powered sports cars. Yet the car’s peak power is said to reach beyond 13,000 rpm (a typical car “redlines” at roughly half that speed). It’s claimed to go from zero to 60 mph in about four seconds with a top speed of more than 130 mph. The automaker claims that recharging the Tesla battery to a full charge can be achieved in as little as 3.5 hours, and that the car will boast at least a 200 mile range.
Tesla Motors co-founder Martin Eberhard liked fast, fun cars, but he wanted something that also was energy efficient. Martin, along with co-founder Marc Tarpenning, started Tesla Motors to develop electric cars that people would love to drive. It looks like they have reached their goal, at least for those who can afford the Tesla.
“Our first car isn’t a plan, a pipe dream or a prototype – it exists and is for sale,” says Eberhard. “It‘s a no-compromise driver’s car that can accelerate faster than a Porsche 911 and hit a top speed of nearly twice what the law permits.”
So What’s the Big Deal?
While the Tesla Roadster‘s sticker price is almost in line with other high-performance sports cars having similar specs, it‘s way out of reach for most consumers. “At Tesla we consciously chose to develop a high-end sports car as our first car in order to develop the ‘performance DNA’ from which we could create other electric vehicles,” says Eberhard. “Our next model will leverage the Tesla Roadster‘s technology, resulting in a less expensive sports sedan that we can sell at higher volumes.”
The Tesla is not the only model coming down to road to use electricity as its main source. Chevrolet has already announced it would produce a reasonably priced plug-in car, the Volt, by 2011.
It adds a small gasoline engine to power the onboard electric generator when its compact bank of batteries lose their charge, and it’s said that most motorists will never run on anything but battery power for their daily commutes.
That may just be a car from which we can all get a charge.
