The Electric Car Dream Started 8 or 9 Years Ago

Aug 16 - Providence Journal

Modern gasoline or diesel/electric hybrids can trace their origins to the dream of all-electric vehicles, according to Bob Kurilko, vice president of marketing and operations at Newgen Results Corp., a San Diego, Calif.-based auto dealer services company.

"It all started with electric cars eight or nine years ago," he said, citing one example, the Nissan Electra, which was designed to meet anticipated low- to zero-emission regulations.

And that would appear to be the logical - albeit far off -- destination for the current generation of hybrid vehicles.

Kurilko said the Electra was never brought into production because it was not considered economically viable. "The problem with electric cars is that they were very, very expensive," he said, with the main challenge being the ability to make batteries that are both capable of storing enough energy to give the vehicles a viable range, but are small and light enough not to overwhelm the vehicles in terms of both space and weight.

Brad Berman, editor of Oakland, Calif.-based Hybridcars.com, said the future lies in lithium ion batteries, as used in laptops and cell phones, compared with the current nickel metal hydride variety.

Certainly in terms of efficient, clean fuel, all-electric cars are the way to go.

"All electric is the gold standard for zero emissions," said Kateri Callahan, president of the Washington, DC-based Alliance to Save Energy. "The more electric power you put in, the greater the benefit overall."

"There's better Sox and Nox," she said, referring to emissions of sulphur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide. "And the beauty of it is that electric grids are getting cleaner," she said.

"I drove an electric vehicle for two years and I loved it," said Kurilko, referring to the days when he worked for Nissan and drove a prototype of the Electra. "There's no noise, just the wind; great for listening to the radio."

But he added that while it was capable of 110 mph, its range was only 80 miles and it needed about five hours to recharge.

Callahan said the ideal would be to have plug-in electric vehicles being recharged at home and/or the workplace, noting that the electricity would be cleaner and more economical than the current burning of fossil fuels in gas or diesel engines.

Looking out to the future, Berman said the electricity could be generated on a house-to-house level through solar panels, substantially reducing energy costs. "Today (electric) hybrids are less than 2 percent of the car market," he said, but "the game is on."

Kurilko went even further with his vision. "There's a growing ability to transfer electricity through the air," he said. "It's absolutely possible to do that."

pelsworth@projo.com / (401) 277-7403