In the Driver's Seat

Up the Creek Without a Paddle -- or a Plug?

We've been hearing a lot about range anxiety lately.  Plug In America addresses that persistent, pulse-accelerating concern in its Top 12 Plug-in Electric Vehicle Myths.  In fact, range anxiety is listed as numero uno:

MYTH # 1:  EVs don't have enough range. You'll be stranded when you run out of electricity. 

That's an assumption that is not born out by those who actually drive electric cars. It's interesting to note, as MINI E driver Tom Moloughney states in a recent post addressing range anxiety:  "The people that stress about how they would be constantly worried about running out of charge say that because they have never owned an electric car.  The thing is, after you live with the car for a little while (a month or so) the range anxiety goes away."

Amen to that, Tom.  New technology can be unsettling because it's . . . . well . . .  DIFFERENT. One historical example of new-technology jitters:  In the 19th Century, the first vehicles on the road were viewed with such scepticism that "in 1865 the U.K. passed a new Locomotives Act which required all road-going, self-propelled vehicles be proceeded by a man walking 60 yards ahead with a red flag or lantern to warn pedestrians and horse-riders of the oncoming danger." 

The perceived danger of standing dejectedly by a dead electric car near the side of a thoroughfare evokes strong misgivings on par with 1865 moving vehicle terror. (Theme music from JAWS playing in the background) 

Tom Molougney and I agree:  Nothing calms the fabled range-anxiety nerves like actually getting behind the wheel of an electric car for more than just a ride around the block. In the still unfolding EV story, familiarity does not breed contempt; it breeds calm acceptance of the car's capabilities, its range and its usefulness.  Range anxiety cures come with a few EV commutes, a half-dozen unremarkable errands and presto -- it becomes clear to the driver that 100, 150 or 220 real-world miles will do just fine, thank you. That dawning realization is supported by the fact that Americans drive an average of less than 40 miles per day. Meaning, of course, that electric cars can meet most of the driving needs of most Americans on an ongoing basis.

Plug In America's answer to range anxiety is:  "Most new BEVs have a range of at least double 40 miles and can be charged at any ordinary electrical outlet (120V) or publicly accessible station with a faster charge."

The word "faster" naturally brings to mind my 2008 Tesla roadster.  The proof that electric vehicle range and charging capability is proceeding apace resides side-by-side in my own garage.  My 2001 RAV4 EV has a 100-plus mile range.  My 2008 Tesla roadster, on the other hand, has a 200 to 240 mile range -- depending upon how weighty my lead foot happens to be on any given day.  My RAV takes about 5 1/2 hours to charge from depleted battery pack to fully charged.  My Tesla, however,  can achieve charging nirvana in 3 1/2 hours tethered to the High-Powered Connector in my garage.  When traveling longer distances in the roadster, I carry both a 120V mobile charging cord and a 240V Universal Mobile Connector. This very practical combination allows me to plug into almost any electrical outlet. I can only charge my RAV, however, with a rather cumbersome MagneCharger weighing in at around 70 pounds. Portable?  Not so much.

Clearly electric vehicle range and charging capabilities have vastly improved in the seven years between acquiring my RAV4 EV and my Tesla roadster. Now that higher gas prices and a sense of inevitability seem to have garnered automaker attention, one can imagine the incremental improvements and charging conveniences that will likely unfold in the future.

According to the Chevy Volt Electric Car Site, range anxiety is not a focus of people who actually drive EVs.  Rather, it consists mostly of imagined scenarios and fears of the uninitiated. The study also showed that EV drivers were satisfied with their home-charging capabilities. The somewhat surprising conclusion of this study indicated that "an extensive public charging network may not be needed to encourage EV adoption."  Nice, convenient and reassuring -- but not absolutely necessary.

So I've been silently gliding into my garage and taking all of three seconds to plug in my EV (charging on an as-needed basis at night while I sleep) for nine-and-a-half years. I've been thrilling all this time to the fact that my "to do" list does not include schlepping down to the gas station to pump gas into a car.  And I want to be clear about one more thing:  I've never -- not once-- been stranded by the side of the road because of an electric car on EMPTY.

Posted by Linda Nicholes

Photo courtesy of Branden Barber

Driving Without Crutches

This is the second in our short series of potential guest bloggers (if Plug In America starts a guest blog in addition to "In the Driver's Seat"). Chad Schwitters of Seattle describes the mental conversions that happen when one starts driving on electricity.

As profiled in "Charged Up & Ready To Roll: The Definitive Guide To Plug-in Electric Vehicles," Chad and Carrie Schwitters use Puget Sound Energy's renewable energy program to power the family's three plug-in cars -- a Toyota RAV4-EV, a converted plug-in hybrid Prius, and a Tesla Roadster. Read on for how this changed their thinking.  -- Sherry Boschert

When I first decided to buy an electric car, it was on principle. I no longer wanted to contribute to pollution, climate change, geopolitical instability, and U.S. economic and dependency problems by burning petroleum. I was willing to buy an electric car and live with the problems to do my share to correct these issues.

Now that my wife and I both have electric cars, our perspective has changed. We aren't just "living with" electric cars, we are loving them!  After driving an electric car for a while, you come to realize that a lot of things you just accept as normal in gas cars are really crutches that help make gas engines usable despite their handicaps. Gears? They are only required because the gas powerband is so narrow -- neither of our electric cars does any shifting. Muffler? Only required to remove gas noise. Catalytic converter? Only to reduce gas pollution. And on and on for clutch, transmission cooler, firewall soundproofing, oxygen sensor, lubricating oil, 12-volt battery, etc.

Aside from the "crutches" that help make a gas car more like, well, an electric car, there are plenty of other things that electric cars don't need due to a simpler drivetrain. There is no need for PCV valves, filters, fan belt, water pump and hoses, spark plugs, timing belt, gas tank, fuel lines, turbo/super chargers, etc. There are no oil changes, emission inspections, or trips to the gas station.

This all translates into a better driving experience. When you press the accelerator, you have all the torque NOW, and you start moving NOW. There is no downshifting, or waiting for the revs to increase, or the turbo to spool up. There's no shifting and powerband cycles; just smooth acceleration. Braking is partly done by regeneration, which reduces brake wear and, when integrated with the accelerator, can make for very smooth one-footed driving that is a joy. Traction control is all electronic, which means it responds much faster and works much better.

So what problems? Oh yeah, everybody is worried about range and charge time. I admit I was worried about them -- until I got an electric car. I will address the range issue elsewhere; for now I will just note that even with two electric cars, it is really, truly, not a problem for us. (That is not to say that it wouldn't be an issue for some).

Even if a cheap, U.S.-made, carbon and pollution-free gas replacement is invented, I would still want to drive an electric car. Electric cars are smooth, quiet, responsive, clean, cheap to operate, fun to drive, low maintenance...why would we ever give this up, and go back to driving with crutches?

-- Chad Schwitters

(Photo courtesy of Chad Schwitters)

Empowerment

A few weeks ago while cleaning out some hideously cluttered household drawers, I happened upon an old greeting card that my daughter Robin gave me years ago when she was a little girl.  What really struck me about this long-forgotten card, though, was the card's Hallmark message: "If You Empower Yourself, No One Can Unplug You."  That sentence didn't have much meaning or significance to me at the time.

But now as I turn it over in my hand, it touches an old activist nerve and gets me reminiscing.  I start thinking about what an absolute pleasure and privilege it's been to drive an electric car for going on ten years now. The best part, of course, is the actual DRIVING of the thing.  Once you experience the seamless, Jetson-like, powerful way an electric car moves, the lapsed trips to the gas station, the lapsed trips to ye old dealership or repair shop, or Jiffy Lube or the muffler shop -- it's then that the sly simmering smugness invariably sets in.  I don't even fight it any more.

However, the unfortunate reality is that electric cars, or plug-in cars of any sort, are still rare as hen's teeth in 2010 in America and around the globe. Simply being able to drive your own electric car into your own garage has historically taken persistant, dogged determination and a sort of come-hell-or-high-water stubbornness against the odds, the automakers and the oil cartel -- at least in this country.  

I recall yet again that once I actually got my eager green mitts on the electric car of my dreams -- a 2001 Toyota RAV4 EV -- once I convinced my husband Howard to lease that baby through his optometric business -- I had to fight like a beast from Dante's hell just to keep the darn car. And it never should have been that hard.  I also remember for the zillionth time how fortunate I am to still have "Electra" in my garage. I am grateful to have accidentally stumbled across my daughter's ancient Hallmark card. The empowering message reminds me again of how necessary it was back in 2005 to engage with automakers in a very public, even rancorous way to avoid getting "unplugged."  Take the very successful Toyota, Don't Crush Linda's Car campaign, for example. With lots of herculean help from my buddies at www.dontcrush.com. (The precurser to Plug In America) not only did I get to keep my own electric ride, but fleet managers and electric vehicle drivers all over the country did too.

Once engaged in the struggle to keep Electra, I ended up in the middle of an electric storm -- one I never planned on when Howard and I first leased the RAV. I only knew I was determined not to have a personal transportation "power outage". Strange how I had always defined myself as a meek, mild-mannered court reporter (ala Clark Kent?) right up to the time of taking a "dontcrush" stand, along with hundreds of other activists, against GM, Ford and Toyota. But I've noticed that the experience of driving an electric car often does refashion people into card-carrying, persistant activists.  And maybe that, after all, is what the automakers and big oil fear the most. Because suddenly a driver really gets that there is a better way. The lights go on; the jig is up.  The automakers sense that some people (just like Howard and I) will not willingly give up superior personal transportation just because of small-print clauses buried in a stack of dusty lease papers that allow for no purchase or extended leasing terms simply because a particular car is electric.

At least that is what happened to me -- to us -- back in 2005.  My newly-found activism meant I was suddenly organizing and participating in protests in front of southern California Toyota dealerships.  My determined resistance must have been catching, too, because my normally reserved husband Howard was quoted in the Daily Breeze newspaper from Toyota's Torrance headquarters during a dontcrush protest: 

Howard: "Read my lips. This car is not going back!" 

My own "unreasonable" resistance involved following a Toyota transport full of RAV4 EVs, partially dismantled and slated for crushing, into the night and over at least four freeways the following day -- which was briefly touched upon in the film documentary Who Killed the Electric Car?

For me the personal lesson gleaned from past EV wars is that sometimes saying no to power is the right thing to do -- no matter how big the opposing force may be. Howard's defiant declaration in that Thursday newspaper edition proved to be prophetic: The car he spoke of did not, in fact, ever "go back." ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ We're still driving that RAV today.  Keeping JUST ONE zero emission vehicle on the road means that approximately 40 tons of carbon dioxide (as well as a witch's brew of other pollutants) have not gone through a tailpipe and into the atmosphere in the intervening five years.  Think of it!  And that one car is truly zero emission because it's been plugging into residential solar during that time span.

Many of us have old war stories about saving cherished electric vehicles.  Some of us have engaged in heroic efforts to keep those vehicles; GM EV1's, Chevy S10 pickups, Ford Ranger pickups, Think City cars and more.  My well-worn point is that it hasn't been easy for anyone to obtain -- let alone KEEP -- an electric car. But that's about to change. Almost every major automaker in the world is now planning on producing electric cars. There truly is electricity in the air . . .  

And that's precisely why we all work so hard here at Plug In America.  Most of us have been fortunate enough to be electric vehicle first-wave adopters.   We continue to trudge along so that our friends and our kids and their kids will be able to walk into dealerships, simply point and say, "I'll take THAT one. Yes. That EV over there", write a check or present plastic and drive a reasonably affordable car running on electrons right off the lot and keep it to end stage.

Clearly, Robin's tattered greeting card had more meaning than either of us could possibly have imagined at the time she gave it to me.  "If You Empower Yourself, No one"  --   not all the Toyotas or Chevrons in the world --   "Can Unplug You."

Robin Empowered

 

Posted by Linda Nicholes

Photos Courtesy of Stefano Paris and Robin Lieberman

News Deluge for Plug-in Vehicles

One way to measure progress in our efforts to get plug-in electric vehicles (EVs) back on the market is this: Five years ago, Plug In America's founders were trying to attract media attention to the demand for EVs and plug-in hybrids (PHEVs). Today, the electrification of transportation is so much in the news, it's hard to keep up with it all.

Here's a pot pourri of examples that crossed my desk just today.

The Chinese automaker BYD and German automaker Daimler have joined forces to co-develop EVs for the Chinese market, Business Week reports. BYD signed a separate agreement with Volkswagen last May. (Photo of BYD's e6 prototype electric car from Wikipedia.)

Speaking of Volkswagen, the company plans to put 500 electric Golfs on the road for testing in 2011, and by 2013 offer three models of EVs or PHEVs,treehugger reports from the Geneva Auto Show. The Volkswagen announcement predicted they'd be selling 300,000 EVs per year by 2018, but it's unclear whether they included conventional gasoline-dependent hybrids in that number.

Consumers certainly seem ready to scoop up that many plug-ins and more, according to a new survey by Ernst and Young. Automotive News reports that more than 10% of U.S. consumers would consider buying an EV or PHEV. That adds up to 20 million vehicles. If even a fraction of those follow through, demand will far outpace supply for years. Also in the survey results: 34% of consumers are willing to subsidize local charge stations.

Two other news items today reported programs underway to build charge stations in Kansas City and in Northern California. Kansas City Power & Light Company is installing 10 charge stations and planning an educational campaign to prep consumers for the introduction of plug-in vehicles, the Kansas City Star reports. (Keep in mind, that region is not one of the early-rollout locations targeted by automakers -- making the Kansas City utility's effort all the more impressive.) In the San Francisco Bay Area, the Bay Area Air Quality Management Board announced $428,000 in grants to multiple cities, counties and companies to install 226 charge stations in the region, the San Jose Mercury News reports. See the list at the end of that story. (Photo of one of the existing public charge stations for the last generation of EVs, by Tom Dowling.)

EVs grab many of the headlines, but PHEVs are just as hot. General Motors is honing its focus by dropping plans for an electric Cadillac Converj to focus on PHEVs (or as it calls them, extended range electric vehicles), Hybridcars.com reports. The electric action at the Geneva Auto Show inspired The New York Times to report that the car industry really is moving plug-in vehicles from prototypes to showrooms.

Those are just the highlights of the plug-in news that my computer brought me today. A tip o' the hat to EVworld.com for drawing my attention to the Ernst & Young survey and the New York Times article.

Considering that this year is just the beginning of the new era of mass-market plug-in vehicles, it's safe to say that the news drought we labored against for years has broken, and the perfect storm for plug-in vehicles in the years ahead will produce a news deluge.

-- Sherry Boschert (@sherryboschert on Twitter)

Helping to Shape a Model Ordinance

During the last two weeks a team here at Plug In America has reached out to nearly thirty cities and government agencies across the United States and Canada seeking samples of EV-specific model ordinances. Specifically we’ve been searching for codified language that shows a city is serious about welcoming plug-in electric vehicles from an infrastructure perspective.

How have cities looked ahead and started mandating the placement of conduit below new city sidewalks when they are being replaced in commercial districts? How have cities started knocking down barriers to setting up charging stations, such as when condo associations say no?

Plug In America  is fortunate to be working with a talented team to help develop a model ordinance. The project is led by the Washington State Dept. of Commerce and the Puget Sound Regional Council - a group of four counties in the Seattle metro area. The project manager is a Seattle-based law firm Gordon Derr, and the other team member is a San Francisco Bay Area consultant Jim Helmer who served as the Director of Transportation for the City of San Jose.  The interest of the Puget Sound Regional Council is reflective of a greater state-driven priority to make sure that Washington is well ahead of the curve.

From a big picture perspective, federal and state tax incentives and rebates for consumers and drivers are important.  Just as important is what happens at the local level, behind the scenes, so to say. Although local ordinance initiatives may be more in the background, they are crafted to make life easier for the lives of EV drivers and establishments welcoming EV drivers. 

Stay tuned to a Plug In America spring newsletter where I will report more about what we have found.

~Jeanne Trombly

Gas Prices More Volatile Than Electricity Rates

"In the Driver's Seat" brings you news and commentary from Plug In America's board and staff. We're considering creating a guest blog as well, which would feature posts by a selection of Plug In America's most active volunteers.

Over the next few weeks, I'll be posting some samples of the kinds of posts that might appear on a guest blog. If you like them, leave a comment to let us know that you'd like to see a guest blog from Plug In America -- and if you have a good idea for a name for the guest blog, post that too!

First up -- some thoughts from Plug In America co-founder (and actress) Alexandra Paul:

"In the middle of January the United States’ average price of gasoline jumped 8.6 cents per gallon from the week before, to $2.75. This is 97 cents a gallon more than the same time last year, despite 8.3 million more barrels of gasoline available  nationally, and a lower demand overall!

 

"Hmmm…if I were the driver of a gasoline powered vehicle, the unpredictability of this would  make me nervous. According to Fadel Gheit, senior oil analyst for Oppenheimer and Co., this is 'a good example of prices disconnected from market fundamentals of supply and demand, as was the case 18 months ago when oil prices peaked above $147 a barrel.'

 

"Electricity rates fluctuate too, and  it can be hard to understand why, so  I would be disingenuous if I didn’t acknowledge that, as an electric vehicle (EV) driver who does not make my own solar power, I am vulnerable to the whims of my power provider, the L.A. Department of Water & Power (LADWP).

 

"Certainly, the complexity of their bills irritates the heck out of me, and electricity  prices do not stay the same. But my provider is local (so local, in  fact, that I ran into LADWP general manager David Freeman in  the  airport recently), which means that, not only am I supporting a community company that buys energy from within the United States, I also  have more of a say if I should be unhappy with some aspect of my electricity provider. In fact, I have shown up at their headquarters with other Plug In America activists when the LADWP wanted to cut its in-house plug- in fleet and I had the  opportunity to be speak my peace directly to the LADWP board.

 

"No transportation option is perfect, but a plug-in car gives drivers the option to power their vehicles from their own solar panels, and therefore not be beholden to oil or electricity conglomerates. For those who don’t have rooftop panels, Plug In America  is working towards a U.S. grid  powered by renewable sources like wind and solar.  Until then, electric utilities still provide a cleaner, domestic fuel than oil companies."  

Pictured:  Alexandra Paul

 

Revenge of the NiMH Batteries?

Nearly all the talk about batteries for electric cars has focused on lithium-ion batteries in recent years, but the battery champions of the last generation of electric vehicles -- nickel-metal hydride batteries (NiMH) -- may be poised for a bit of a comeback.

That's the suggestion in Paul Weissler's excellent article in Automotive Engineering International Online, published by SAE International (formerly Society of Automotive Engineers). He gives the simplest, clearest description that I've seen in a long time about how NiMH patent issues (with half control owned by Chevron) helped choke the last generation of electric vehicles to death.

I was surprised to read that Chevron sold its share of control last year to a joint venture between Bosch and Samsung. Weissler writes, "Under the new ownership, there might be more access to and use of large-cell NiMH technology." So it's conceivable that at some point consumers may have choices not only in the type of plug-in vehicle but in the type of batteries under the hood.

I want to believe what's in the article, but I have to point out at least one significant error. The article says that a Toyota spokesman reports that many of the remaining 800 Toyota RAV4-EVs have driven 170,000 miles with few or no battery problems. Either the Toyota person didn't know what he's talking about, or some other kind of error occurred, I think. As a RAV4-EV driver who's on a listserv of other drivers, I know of no one who has reached 170,000 miles with no battery problems. (We do still love our RAV4-EVs, though!) If any engineering or battery experts are reading this and spot any other flaws in the article, please let me know.

I don't expect NiMH to replace lithium-ion or newer batteries in vehicles, but if NiMH makes a comeback in some electric vehicles, it could parallel the title of film director Chris Paine's sequel "Revenge of the Electric Car" and become Revenge of the NiMH Batteries.

-- Sherry Boschert (@sherryboschert on Twitter)

Photo of Panasonic EV-95 NiMH battery, the kind used in Toyota RAV4-EVs, courtesy of evnut.com.

BMW will build electric cars in Leipzig

BMW will build electric cars in Leipzig

It's been crystal clear for some months that BMW would be making more EVs after getting nothing but high praise for its little 500 car MINI E experiment. Not so much for the logistical foul ups in their haste to deploy the fleet in time for valuable CARB credits, but for the giggle-inducing speedster they unleashed on the world.

Thanks to Tom Gage and Alan Cocconi's world-class motor/controller combo, the famed ACP 150, BMW proved that a mid-priced electric pocket-rocket could be made. With what they learned burning a hole in their corporate pocket, the Bavarian engineers are busily refining designs for multiple electric BMWs.

They plan to build them in Leipzig with the initial cars hitting showrooms around mid-2013.

The first to market will be a subcompact they dubbed the "Megacity" car. It will approximate the MINI E in size, and while I doubt it'll be powered by ACP motors, one can hope.

Considering how many cities the world over are crushed with clogged arteries coursing with pollution-spewing internal combustion vehicles that continue to pollute while sitting in traffic, the thought of a small, easily maneuvered and quick off the line, city car that doesn't pollute at all, will appeal to millions.

Remember, it's never about who can't use a car like that, it's about those who can. Turns out, there are tens of millions who fall into that category.

Tens of millions.

I don't know about you, but I can't wait till the day when it's rare to see an internal combustion car. At some point, they'll be anachronistic reminders of a day when people didn't think twice about spewing poisons into the common airshed. Like smoking in line at the grocery store, you won't believe people used to do it everywhere. 

Paul Scott

Wall Street Journal Schooling Its Readers

The journalistic bastion of the business world is spreading confidence about the new era of plug-in electric vehicles through a quiz for its readers. While I could quibble with a few of their questions and assumptions, this quiz is nothing but good news.

Sure, they confuse electric vehicles with plug-in hybrids by adopting GM's terminology for the Volt instead of recognizing a series plug-in hybrid when they see one. And they got my back up by grouping the Think electric car with non-car three-wheelers and low-speed vehicles in one question (insert Munch's "The Scream" emoticon here).

But the quiz sends a clear message to Wall Street Journal readers -- if you don't know the answers to these questions, you haven't been paying enough attention.

--Sherry Boschert (@sherryboschert on Twitter)

Photo by flickr user Paull Young (Creative Commons)

Zan and Paul test the Mitsubishi iMiEV

Last Friday, Chelsea Sexton dropped off the cute little   Mitsubishi iMiEV(pronounced I-meev) test car. She and her husband, Bob, had been driving it for a week, and now it was our turn.

This version is a right-hand drive built for the Japanese market. Driving from the right side of a car isn't that hard to get used to, but remembering the turn signal vs. windshield wiper switch took concentration.

According to Mitsubishi, this Smart-sized EV will be aimed at the commuter market which, given the sub-80 mile range, is a perfect fit. The 16 kWh LiIon pack, located under the passenger compartment, keeps the center of gravity low. One of the benefits of having a smaller battery pack is that the overall weight of the car is just a bit north of 2300 lbs.

The driving experience was very good. Acceleration was comparable to our RAV, which is to say, it's not going to beat a Tesla Roadster, but it had no problem accelerating up to speed on the freeway. I particularly liked its cornering ability, and the small size makes it very easy to park just about anywhere. Their engineers must have been listening to us since they incorporated a creep mode into the software. This mimics how a gas car will roll forward when you take your foot off the brake. It's helpful when you're on a hill so you don't roll backward, and it's something you expect, so the experience is very close to what you're used to. The iMiEV is also very quiet, much like the RAV.

There are two modes of regenerative braking, accomplished by shifting into "eco mode". There is no "freewheeling" which will disappoint RAV drivers who like to use this coasting method forhypermiling. When you are in full power mode and lift your foot off the accelerator, the regen is always there at about the same level as that found in a Prius. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I prefer the option to freewheel since I can get better efficiency when driving in heavy traffic.

The instrumentation in this near-production prototype was spare. I want to see a digital readout of my state of charge (SOC), not some approximation from an analog bar. One of the great things about electric vehicles is their ability to travel a predictable distance per kWh. Zan and I don't hesitate to drive the RAV all the way down to the bottom if we need to, because we know precisely how far we can go given we have RAV Info, an after market Palm Pilot program that taps into the RAV's main CPU where all the car's info is. We can see to a tenth of a percent how much SOC we have. All of the EV companies need to adopt something similar, but make it part of the standard instrumentation, not an after market thing.

Charging the iMiEV was simple, we just plugged it into one of our standard 120V outlets in the garage. It's a slow way to charge, but we had the whole night, so that's plenty of time. The Level 2 charging cord set wasn't available, so that's all we could use. Once the car is ready to sell to the general public, we'll see 240V Level 2 charging which is plenty fast for a commuter car.

The iMiEV is a lot roomier on the inside than you would expect from looking at it. Seeing it parked here behind our gas-guzzling Honda Insight, you can see that it's a bit larger than that tiny two-seater. Sitting inside the car, I got the feeling it was even roomier than our RAV.

Pricing is unknown, but rumor has it that they'll be well under $30K. I think it'll sell fast if they can price it about $4K-$5K under the Nissan Leaf. There are millions of people who commute to and from work in huge, inefficient vehicles that are grossly over sized for the task at hand. I think Mitsubishi will get a good share of these people to switch once they get this to market some time in the fall of 2011.
************

One very sad note, as I was completing this blog, word comes over the net that a small plane piloted by one of Tesla's chief engineers, and carrying two others, crashed just after takeoff from a Palo Alto airport. From what I hear, all the engineers were working on the Model S program. They were on their way to meet with Elon Musk here in LA. The EV community mourns this terrible loss.

Paul Scott