EVLN(Despite best efforts, media still lack EV knowledge)

[Bruce {EVangel} Parmenter <BruceDP@iname.com>]

EVLN(Despite best efforts, media still lack EV knowledge)
[The Internet Electric Vehicle List News. For Public EV informational
 purposes. Contact publication for reprint rights.]
 --- {EVangel}
EV - American Metal Market (AMM) Honda sends clear message in pulling
plug on EVs.(electric vehicles not economically viable)(Brief
Article) AL WRIGLEY 06/07/99 COPYRIGHT 1999 Capital Cities-ABC Inc.

Honda Motor Co. Ltd.'s recent decision to disconnect the life support
mechanism from its electric-car program may have stunned some people
in Washington and a few environmental activists, but it is hard to
find anyone in the auto industry who was surprised. Other carmakers
not intimidated by the "political incorrectness" of the action will
probably commit their EV programs to the same fate before long.

At first glance, this may not seem favorable to the causes of
aluminum. magnesium, plastics and other lightweight automotive
materials, but there are plenty of signs that those materials aren't
going to need EVs to gain more ground in the auto market. Almost every
other high-fuel-economy/low-emissions technology for automotive power
being developed and explored by automakers depends more on lightweight
substitute materials than do conventional gasoline engine-driven cars.
Hybrid gas/electric-, hybrid diesel/electric-, compressed natural gas
(CNG) driven-, ethanol driven- and methanol-powered cars all make
greater use--or will make greater use-of such materials than today's
family vehicles.

And conventional cars, vans, pickup trucks, sport utility vehicles
and crossover vehicles also are going to use more aluminum, light
steels, magnesium, powder metals, plastics, etc. in coming years to
meet tougher emissions standards. Automakers also are going to have to
use lighter materials to improve the fuel economy performance of
their vehicles because fuel mileage requirements are almost certain to
go up.

There are some nice things about EVs--they are quiet, there's no
exhaust smell and the driver doesn't feel the "clunking" when a
transmission shifts. Some electric cars even have some pep. In spite
of those nice features, people who like driving EVs are in a distinct
minority. The biggest problem with electrics, of course, is their
range. 

For people who hardly ever take trips of more than 10 or 20
miles, they may be fine-some could drive their EVs several times
before having to plug them in for a recharge-but for the majority of
people, who often have to make longer trips, the frequent recharging
requirements are a nuisance.

The inconvenience is particularly bad for people having to deal with
rush-hour traffic--they cannot be sure they'll still have power when
they approach home or their workplace. EVs are probably fine for
postal workers and utility employees who travel relatively short,
predictable distances and don't have to fight traffic. However, most
of those people are not buying or leasing electric cars for their own
personal use.

Producers of lead-acid, nickel-metal hydride and lithium-ion batteries
all have good business reasons for wanting EVs to succeed, but if they
didn't see the handwriting on the wall before, Honda's decision to
pull the plug on its EV program should make the message clearer. The
Japanese-based automaker, considered for quite a while as a major
contributor to the EV cause here and abroad, said it will stop
producing electric cars because they are inconvenient, unpopular and
expensive.

Battery makers can concentrate on alternate-fuel and hybrid-electric
cars as representing the future for nonpolluting, high-mileage family
vehicles, and they can be grateful that some of those propulsion
technologies will require more than a single 12-volt battery to keep
them going. Producers of light steels, aluminum and other
weight-saving substitute materials also can look forward to the
technology changes in the auto business, because they are going to
sell more of their materials per vehicle even if EVs aren't in the
picture anymore.
 ...
Capital Cities/ABC, Inc. ( Disney and Capital Cities/ABC )
 77 West 66th Street, New York, NY 10023  (212) 456-7777 
 ---
____________{Statements may not be my Employer's}  BruceDP@iname.com 
  ____         http://members.aol.com/brucedp/    EV List News Editor
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