Response to a fraction of the misstatements in article:
Please forward to Bill Amburg.
nytimes.com
May 29, 1999
EXCERPT FROM NY TIMES
DON DEVLIN
Makers of Hybrid Vehicles Add Fuel to Electric Mix
</yr/mo/day/news/financial/hybrid-cars.1.jpg.html>
By MATTHEW L. WALD
EXCERPT:
Bill Van Amburg, a spokesman for Calstart, a private nonprofit group that is trying to develop a clean-vehicle industry, contrasted the choice facing buyers interested in helping clean up the environment: Toyota Motor Co.'s Prius, a hybrid already available in Japan and scheduled to go on sale in the United States next year vs. General Motors Corp.'s battery-electric model, the EV-1, which is available in California.
"Toyota is selling a hybrid for $16,000 in Japan, a four-seater with an 800-mile range, or you can buy a two-seat EV-1 for $32,000, with a 60-mile range," Van Amburg said in a telephone interview. "That's an easy choice for most consumers, I think."
N Y TIMES
************************************************************************** Don Devlin Writes:
Almost impossible to believe that Bill Amburg speaks so mindlessly.
What's going on?
1- Toyota sells the Prius for 16,000 dollars but loses over twenty thousand dollars with each vehicle sold.
2-You can't buy an EV1 for any price. It's only for lease. And there are no new ones for lease.
2 An EV1 four seater, already shown and demonstrated has never been manufactured. It would increase the potential buyers twenty fold.
3 EV1s with Nickel Metal Hydride batteries, many sitting for months at the railroad depot in San Bernardino, goes much closer to i60 miles than sixty miles.
I've tested one myself for three days. They end the problem of low range and public charging, as a second car, Commuter, suburban, or Urban vehicle. They are simply the best vehicles on the road. No consumers have received one. They are never mentioned by GM or the Auto press.
4-The EV1 is a power house attaining sixty miles per hour in less than 8 seconds while the Prius is an underpowered automobile using either ICE or electric propulsion. The Prius(all Hybrids) uses gasoline and continues to pollute.
Don Devlin*******************************************
INEEL Completes EV Performance Testing
The Department of Energy (DOE) recently announced its Field
Operations Program at the Idaho National Engineering and
Environmental Laboratory (INEEL) has completed baseline performance
testing of the new General Motors EV1 and Chevrolet S-10 electric
vehicles (EVs). Both of the vehicles feature nickel metal hydride
batteries from Ovonic Energy Products.
DOE said the EV1 is the first vehicle to have a range in excess of
200 miles. In addition, the S-10 EV with nickel metal hydride
batteries traveled twice as far as the lead acid battery-powered
S-10 model previously tested. The EV1 has a single charge range of
140 miles during the driving cycle test, 221 miles at a constant
speed of 45 miles-per-hour (mph), and 161 miles at a constant speed
of 60 mph. The EV has a charging efficiency of 2.7
miles-per-kilowatt-hour (m/kWh) and a drive cycle efficiency of 5.6
m/kWh, and accelerates from zero to 50 mph in 6.3 seconds.
The S-10 was able to achieve a single charge range of 95 miles
during the driving cycle test, 131 miles at a constant speed of 45
mph, 88 miles at a constant speed of 60 mph, and accelerated from
zero to 50 mph in 9.9 seconds. The pickup has a charging efficiency
of 1.3 m/kWh and a drive cycle efficiency of 3.6 m/kWh.
Testing was performed by Phoenix, AZ-based Electric Transportation
Applications. Contact: Jim Francfort, INEEL, phone 208-526-6787,
e-mail francfje@inel.gov.
(DOE RELEASE: 5/17) |
