Where’s the EVs

My trip to the Annual DC Car Show at the Washington Convention Center yesterday began with the customary trip down I-295 and ended at the cavernous venue. The show as usual was well put together. The management staff does a great job with this event.

You know a renewable energy blogger is only looking for one thing at a car show, Electric Vehicles. Bring’ em to me; give me the keys, man! I want to zip quietly and fast through town, I want to feel those regenerative brakes under my LL beans, I want to smell batteries, baby!! Okay maybe not the batteries.



Chevy Volt

To my surprise, the only test drive being offered while I was there was from a gasoline KIA. Maybe I came on the wrong day? Okay, there’s got to be some awesome EV displays inside, right? I mean the electric vehicle is finally here, in mass production, being marketed.

I entered through the large GM display on the top floor and headed for the volt. It was not readily noticeable, but it was in a prominent location. One volt up on a turntable, I could tell right away that today was not going to be the get behind the wheel and smell the leather as in all the other cars on the floor that had multiple models of the same car.

Going through the equally large Chrysler display area, no EVs here. Just large gas guzzlers, except for one GEMCARS in the corner with no one tending to it.



Sandwiched in between GM and CHRYSLER was FIAT. They had a few compacts that looked nice and roomy, except for the yellow 1970 500L. This car was so small; it looked like a circus clown vehicle.

At the other end of the second floor was FORD with an even larger area full of cars. There was a lot of buzz here, and there it was! Finally, an electric vehicle on the floor! I couldn’t wait to get in it! But wait, the door is locked, NOOOO! From the exterior, the FOCUS was a stout looking machine, roomy with large tires, and since I couldn’t get in it, I shook it! It felt solid and heavy, maybe because of the batteries! Next to it was the CMAX ENERGI, a plug-in hybrid.

While looking at the FOCUS, I had an opportunity to speak with Regions University law professor Bruce Cameron. We talked about range and speed of electrics compared to gasoline vehicles. He had a view that an electric could not hold its own against gas, explaining that he traveled over two hundred miles at a time on trips to the family vacation home, so although he wanted to give the electrics a try, the recharge time was not feasible for him. He also commented on diesels and the mpg they are able to achieve in Europe. I agreed that electrics today are being marketed to the commuter and told him about the Better Place program being explored in Israel.



Technology Superhighway

I worked my way downstairs to the “Technology Superhighway”, an area dedicated to new technologies such as EVs. I had visions of seeing bright lights gleaming on the freshly painted electrics, with hundreds of people waiting to sign up to purchase one of these machines. I found myself salivating! I worked this area last year both as a reporter and as a volunteer for the guys at EVA of DC. I had felt the great enthusiasm as all the new companies vied for market share in an all new world. As I came down the escalator, I saw the guys from EVA who had a good presence. These guys are hobbyists who work on their conversions and also own some factory EVs.

LI-ION Motors

I had the pleasure of meeting Frank Ziegler of LI-ION Motors Corp who eagerly explained the details of the company's offering, a sexy red hotrod that he claimed was currently the fastest EV in the world, a 0-60 in five seconds Supercar with 150 mile range, Lemans suspension and advanced batteries for $139,000.



Buckeye Bullet

  Regrettably, I did not see any of the same manufacturers exhibiting last year such as the THINK and BOLDER electric vehicles. The remainder of the cars were not all that interesting except for the electric dragster named the Buckeye Bullet.  The Buckeye Bullet was built and is maintained by a student-run team based at Ohio State University's Center for Automotive Research ( CAR ) which provides facility space and support. Ohio State has partnered with Venturini Motorsports to build the buckeye bullet and the company now plans to open a Columbus office to help supply parts.Oh yeah, I almost forgot to mention that the lighting was too dim to make the cars gleam. I continued my search for the elusive EV, thinking there have to be more electrics in here.


Smart

 The Smart Center of Tyson’s Corner had three EVs on display and a total of five ready for lease. The car has a top speed of 62 mph and an 85 mile range, said Wallace Rumbarger of Smart Center.



NISSAN’s display was a partially enclosed area with a large opening in the front with the LEAF situated so it was the first car you saw. There were not a lot of gas vehicles. You probably guessed that the only LEAF had locked doors, but it passed my shake test. Solid.



Nissan Leaf

It was disappointing that manufactures such as VW, HYUNDAI, MINI, and TOYOTA didn’t have their EV’s present, not even concepts. I walked away from this year's Show thinking, if EVs are to take off, there’s got to be a better effort to promote them. More cars, various colors, doors unlocked and open, and please-- test cars! I guess we will have to wait until next year to see if things improve. Meanwhile, we just need to get to the dealerships ourselves for those test drives.



Written by George Lopez

"make green a reality" visit http://www.thesolarandwindexpo.com/

The 2010 Washington Auto Show: Let a hundred (green) flowers bloom!

The main take-away The Solar and Wind Expo representatives got from attending the 2010 Washington (D.C.) Auto Show this week was how big, diverse – and exciting – the green vehicle world is getting. (Perhaps this is what it was like 100 years ago, when there was everything from gas to electric to steam vehicles at the start of the automotive age.)

The majority of the green vehicles at the show are clustered along what was called the “Advanced Technology Superhighway”, while some other renewable energy vehicles are sprinkled throughout other areas of the show.

The first thing we noticed is that everyone’s getting into the act, from Ford, Chevy, Nissan and Honda, to BMW and Fiat. A bevy of small car companies devoted solely to electrics (such as Wheego, Think, and Columbia) to automotive suppliers such as Magna Powertrain (which is making the powertrain for the all-electric Ford Focus, among other things) also have good representation.

The next item of note is the sheer variety of electric and other green vehicles and the many ways they can be used. Small, two-passenger full electric cars (Wheego Whip Life, Think City, Mini-E), 4- or 5-passenger full electrics (Chevy Volt, Nissan Leaf, BMW Active-E), fully electric vans (Boulder) and utility vehicles (Columbia), plug-in hybrids (including Bright Automotive’s van) and non-plug-in hybrids, fuel-cell vehicles (Honda), and a system for running a vehicle only on waste (Novozyme).

Another very interesting and innovative aspect of the show is the idea that green automotive technology can be applied to other forms of renewable energy. For example, Think’s Richard Canny suggested using batteries that are no longer strong enough to power electric vehicles but still have some life left to store energy from small solar or wind installations. And Magna’s John Zalewski said their gearboxes could be used in wind turbines or as a component of solar arrays. This kind of cross-fertilization of alternative energies represents an exciting, outside-the-box example of how different forms of renewable energy could complement each other as well as extend the life of supposedly used-up components.

Now that we’ve seen the exciting and varied display of green vehicles at an industry event as important as the Washington Auto Show, we think it’s even more fitting we’re including electric vehicles in The Solar and Wind Expo. Come and see our lineup in May.

Make green a reality!
http://www.thesolarandwindexpo.com/