automotive trend center: Electric Cars Making Great Progress

Saturday, September 15, 2012

Electric Cars Making Great Progress

Two years ago I attended the Green Drive Expo in Richmond, CA. I was excited to talk to many electric car enthusiasts and I learned a lot. But at that time most of the vehicles on display were conversions--either of the Prius or other internal combustion engine vehicles. There was no Volt, no Toyota, and no major car manufacturers that I can recall (although I think Nissan may have been there taking names for a waiting list for the Leaf).

What a difference two years has made! Toyota, Volt, Leaf, and Coda were at today's Green Drive Expo displaying brand new plug-in vehicles.

I was greeted by a small army of Toyota representatives offering test drives. I drove the all-electric RAV4, and was very impressed. The car is scheduled for sale before the end of this year. It has a 41.8 kwh lithium ion battery (compared to about 16 kwh for the Volt). My Toyota co-pilot on the test drive told me that the normal full battery charge would be around 33 kwh (compared to 11 kwh for the Volt). He said that the range for those 30 kwh would be around 100 miles. If that proves true, that would be 3.3 miles per kwh, which is about the same as the 3.1 miles per kwh we got on the Volt during the first full year (although we've been getting more like 3.5 miles per kwh lately). Since the RAV4 weighs a hefty 4,032 pounds, that's not bad (the Volt weighs 3,781 pounds/1,715 kg). I like it that EVs are breaking out of the compact market. I hope soccer moms learn about all the advantages of electric vehicles and start buying.

I was impressed to learn that Green Car Expo is the brainchild of Eric Powers, and is the product of Eric, Becky Powers (Eric's wife), and Linda Weidemann. They put on a great show with a small staff. I encourage people to get on their email list by contacting Eric at: eric@greendriveexpo.com

I also got a chance to talk to keynote speaker Chelsea Sexton, a long time advocate for electric vehicles who was featured in Who Killed the Electric Car. We talked about PG&E's recent rate hike for EVs, but Chelsea, who is from Southern California and not in the PG&E territory, said that we in California are lucky to have off-peak rates at all. She can charge her car for $30 a month, which is a bargain compared to buying gas. She said that we need to campaign to get all utilities in the U.S. to offer rates that favor both electric cars and solar panels.

Some photos from the event: