Charged Up Over Electrics - A Japanese car nut plugs his vision
By BRUCE RUTLEDGE Tokyo
Charles Pertwee for Asiaweek.
<em>Tateuchi wants more people to take electric cars as serious as he does.</em>
Tateuchi Tadashi, a successful Japanese race car designer and mechanic, was once a disciple of the internal combustion engine. That was before one day in 1994, when he decided to walk from his home in Tokyo to his work at the Suzuka race track. The journey, normally a two-hour drive along Japan's Route 1, took Tateuchi two weeks to complete. During that time spent breathing automobile exhaust, Tateuchi began to think there had to be a better way to get around. Despite the blisters that covered his feet, the trek was "a beautiful two weeks," he says. It got him thinking about alternatives to the pollutant-spewing, fossil-fuel-guzzling powerplant.
Today, that's about all he thinks about. As managing director of the 500-member Japan Electric Vehicle Club, Tateuchi, 54, is one of the nation's most vocal advocates of electric cars. He built Japan's first Formula One-style racing car in 1993 (it finished third in an electric vehicle race in the U.S.); he holds workshops to show people how to convert gasoline-powered cars to electric; and he organizes electric car races. "Some [electric racers] can easily go 200 kph," says the incurable speed freak.
Tateuchi not long ago was not taken very seriously. Electric-powered cars remain impractical because of their short battery life and long recharging times. But carmakers have gotten the message that, sometime this century, the internal-combustion engine will become obsolete. Several years ago, General Motors began selling an electric car, a first for a major automaker. Toyota has with its Prius sedan pioneered the sale of so-called "hybrids," cars that use both electric motors and gas engines. Almost every major car company is developing fuel cells to power electric cars.
Still, Tateuchi doesn't think work is moving swiftly enough. He would like to alter people's thinking. "Until now, the car has been a symbol of wealth and power," he says. "People with nice cars are seen as rich, as being on the route to success. We have to ask ourselves, should this change?"
No stranger to tortuous modes of transportation, he's decided to stage another one to make his point. He ripped the gas powerplant out of a Class A Mercedes Benz and plans to take the now-electric subcompact on a nationwide road trip beginning April 8. Called "The 2001 Trip of Recharges," Tateuchi, a college student and one other driver will take the baby Benz to the southern tip of Kyushu island, then up to Hokkaido, and back to Tsukuba outside of Tokyo.
Partly because there are few charging stations on the route, Tateuchi figures the trip could take up to six months. The crew will be forced to stop the car when the juice runs low, knock on a nearby door, and ask to borrow an electrical outlet. "If people have five minutes, we'll talk to them for five minutes. If they have an hour, we'll talk for an hour," he says. If all that chatting while waiting for the batteries to recharge sounds like agony, Tateuchi reckons the publicity stunt will be worth it. "If the people don't join forces on environmental problems, then the carmakers won't change. We can't wait for the carmakers. We have to do what we can." At least he won't get blisters.
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