EV1 Rental

[detienne@ee.utah.edu (David Detienne)]

Disclaimer:  I have no financial interest in the success or
failure of EV Rentals or GM.

I had heard on the ev mailing list about renting electric
cars at LAX.  As I needed a car for my trip, I checked out
www.evrental.com.  I knew what my choice would be right from
the beginning, but was trying to maintain some sense of
objectivity.  I would be meeting my parents, so a four seater
would have some merit.  Ford Ranger?  Maybe...  Honda EV+? 
Toyota RAV4?  These all had one glaring fault:  A glacial 0
to 60 mph time of around 18 seconds!  Compare that to the sub
8 second 0 to 60 mph time of the EV1!  Plus, I rationalized,
the EV1's superior aerodynamics would help at highway speeds.
 The clincher, as if I needed one, was that the Magnecharger
stations were far more numerous than the Avcon connector the
Honda required.

Next I checked distances.  Everything I had to reach was
within 40 miles one way, which I figured to be comfortably
within the range of the EV1.  I would have about three hours
to recharge before making the return trips.

I made my reservations.  Joe was the EV specialist, and
showed genuine enthusiasm for his job.  I was pleased at the
price of $49.95 / day, especially since another car rental
company had just told me their cheapest gas car was $53 /
day.  He asked how far I had to go, and I told him how I had
checked the map and just needed to go 40 miles.  After I told
him of some of the Magnecharger locations I had looked up on
the EV1 club web page, he commented I seemed to know what I
was doing and should be fine.

Joe had told me to go to the front of the line and say I was
renting an EV1.  I elected to not do that, as I didn't want
to make anyone waiting angry that I got special privilege
just because I was driving electric.  I signed the paperwork,
and elected to pay extra for collision insurance -- I would
be driving one of the world's rarest cars, and wasn't sure
how my own insurance would handle that.  I saw 4 EV1s, 1 EV+,
and 2 RAV4s at the Budget lot (EV Rentals uses Budget
facilities).

Even though I had read alot about the EV1, I accepted Joe's
offer to explain the car to me.  He advised keeping the power
usage gauge to below 1/2 to maximize range, and to use the
air conditioning sparingly.  He suggested leaving the regen
off on the highway, and on for heavier traffic.

Now, the safe plan would have been to drive to my parent's
house, 37 miles away, and carpool with them in their gas car
to meet my brother for dinner.  I had checked my map, and
decided that with gentle driving I could reach the
restaurant.  I checked the list of Magnechargers, and Costco
2 blocks from the restaurant had one...  More on that in a
minute!

I found that keeping the power to 1/2 or less was too slow
for LA traffic.  It was agonizing to drive a car of such
potential slowly!  I compromised by keeping the power to at
most 1 bar above 1/2.  I also recalled Bill Dube saying on
the EV mailing list that hard acceleration really seemed to
eat up range.  Even so, I was able to maintain speeds of 55
to 65 mph, even up slight hills.  When possible, I coasted,
and only used regen in lieu of braking.  Being a weekend,
traffic was thankfully light.  It was pretty hot, but I was
reluctant to run the air conditioner, to save power.  I
compromised by running the air conditioner down hills only. 
I reached Costco (about 55 miles away), with the remaining
distance gauge showing 17 miles left.  I was proud of myself
for getting such good range on my first outing, and at the
amazing restraint I had shown with the accelerator pedal.

I drove around Costco, and didn't see the Magnecharger.  I
parked, and asked the two door ladies where the charger was. 
They answered, "On aisle xx."  I said no, I needed an
electric car charger.  I received puzzled looks.  One asked,
"Is your battery dead?"  After a few such sentences, it
was clear they had no clue what I was talking about.  I
looked at my Magnecharger list, and realized I had the wrong
city for the Costco I thought I was at!  I looked for other
possibilities, they all looked to be some distance away.  I
elected to drive to the restaurant, and try to find a 110
Volt plug.

I had expected (but not really wanted) to get alot of
attention driving this car.  Surprisingly to me, I was just
another car on the road.  I did get my first recognition from
a guy that yelled "How do you like that car?"  I answered
enthusiastically, "I love it!"

I couldn't find an outdoor plug at the restaurant or hotel
next door.  Then my brother showed up.  I explained I would
like to charge so I would be able to give him a ride and get
home.  He looked at my map, and deemed the Walmart charger
just 7 miles down the freeway.  He rode with me in the EV1,
and his wife followed in their gas car.

I apologized for the need to drive conservatively.  He put
down his window on the freeway.  I told him to put it back
up, that it would hurt the aerodynamics to have it down.  He
commented that putting it up would use electricity.  He had a
point!  It was a definite Captain Picard moment, requiring a
snap decision, no time to consult with Data...  "Put the
window up!" I commanded.  We hit a hill.  The range remaining
numbers ticked down like the DOW in October '87:  15, 14, 13,
...  We looked at the dropping numbers with only mild
concern, the charger should be just ahead.  I smiled and
thought to myself, "I'm having a John Wayland style EV
adventure!"  We cruised a little further, and passed an auto
mall.  My brother said, "Hey, there is a charger there!  But
I'm not sure exactly where it is, and Walmart is just ahead,
and I know exactly where Walmart is."  I said we could called
Cindy with the cell phone, was he sure?  Yes, he was sure. 
We hit another hill...  7, 6, 5, 4, 3...  My speed is down to
about 42 mph...  A truck is bearing down on me, but I don't
want to gun it up a hill...  We crest the hill, and I see a
sign "Corona, next 6 exits."  This is good, Walmart is in
Corona.  Hmm, not the first exit.  Hmm, not the second exit. 
Hmmm, not the third exit.  My brother asks, what happens when
the gauge goes to zero?  I answered, "I'm not sure, I think
the car goes into a reduced power mode."  The miles remaining
gauge goes to 1 mile, and then goes blank.  I think to
myself, "Now I'm really having a John Wayland style
adventure!" but I wasn't smiling now!  The car doesn't seem
to lose any performance, and there is the exit.  We pull into
Walmart, and I breath a sigh of relief.  It is 67 miles I
have driven!  That "7 miles" turned out to be twice that far
away!  We don't see the charger.  An employee directs us to
the car repair bay.  The mechanics direct us to the charger. 
There is a car parked there!  Argh!  Fortunately, just then
the owner arrives and pulls out.  I plug the Magnecharger in,
and it says "0%  2 H 45 M" (translation:  completely empty
battery, 2 hours and 45 minutes estimated recharge time). 
The Walmart mechanics come over and admire the car.  They ask
what becomes my most common question of the trip, "Do you
have to pay to recharge it?"  I explain that the electricity
is so cheap, it would cost more to collect the money than it
would be worth; kind of like charging for water at a water
fountain.

We ate and collected the car after 2 hours and 30 minutes. 
True to its word, the Magnecharger said 95% full and 15
minutes remaining.  I gave my brother a ride.  A young boy
and his father watched us take off.  I gave them a little
show, and gunned it past them (I had been dying to go faster
than "1 bar above 1/2" in the worst way!).  My father was
standing there and later reported to me the kid said "Wow,
look at how fast it is!  It sounds like a car at Disneyland!"
 My brother exclaimed, "Whoa!  This thing is fast!"

We stopped at a light with a fixed up minitruck.  He jumps
his car forward a bit.  I roll forward a bit, indicating I
would, ahem, accelerate faster than a city bus.  It was no
contest.  By the time he crossed the intersection, the EV1
was two car lengths ahead.  My car savvy brother is very
impressed.  Dan then spotted a Honda Integra (He said "Type
R").  I said let's go get him!  Dan said, no way you
could beat that!  But the Honda was stopped to get gas.  I
passed the gas station by, beating the Honda in other ways.

I drove the car 265 miles in 48 hours.  I won't detail every
mile, but here are a few snapshots and impressions of the
rest of the trip:

GM doesn't really want you to use the 110 Volt charger.  It
is easily stolen (I would use a bike cable lock if I owned
the car).  It is also very slow.  The Magnecharger is about a
30 mph charger (30 miles of range per hour of charging).  The
110 Volt charger is about a 4 mph charger.  I like the
Magnecharger, and the safety factor.  I'm glad GM "did it
right."  On the other hand, I think Al Cocconi's (I hope I
spelled that right) controller / charger to be a more elegant
setup.  Another thanks to the EV list:  I remember several
posts about cords getting hot during charging.  I knew to use
a good cord, but even this heavy duty looking cord had a plug
too hot to hold after about 15 minutes!  We switched to
another cord that stayed cucumber cool.  A side comment on
the charger slot is that it would freeze solid here in Utah
during a winter storm.  Cold weather operation would probably
need it relocated to behind the license plate or something.

The EV1 has a precool feature that will start cooling or
heating the car while still on the charger.  I couldn't
figure out how to get it to work, not a really big deal.  The
only comfort complaint I had about the car was the air
conditioner (actually a heat pump) was weak.  I was pleased,
though, that using it didn't seem to hurt the range, unlike
hills.

I realize regen braking adds only maybe 10% to the range, and
for my freeway driving probably it was much less.  However,
it is extremely psychologically satisfying to know you are
pumping the energy of slowing down back into the batteries,
rather than just heating brake pads.

The EV1 seems to be a very well built, stiff car.  If you
lift one wheel higher than the rest (by turning into a steep
driveway, for example), you can hear many cars creak as the
chassis twists.  There is no creaking on the EV1.  For that
matter, no squeaks or rattles at any time.  The other neat
thing is no detectable drivetrain slack.  Many cars, stick
shift in particular, will "clunk clunk" if you tap and
release the gas pedal.  I'm not sure if it is the electronic
ramping, or the fact there is just one tightly meshed gear
(shifted gears need slack to change gears), but there seems
to be no free play in the EV1 drivetrain.

The car had outstanding acceleration, and cornered, and
braked well.  I'm sure it could smoke the tires, except for
its seamless traction control.  The only driving performance
quibble I had is the car seems to gently fishtail a tiny
amount back and forth under heavy acceleration.  It is
nothing dangerous or difficult to control, and perhaps
unnoticeable to most drivers.  The test drive I took a year
ago had the same effect.  The saleperson said that other
drivers had commented on the same effect.  She thought it was
due to the fact the rear wheels have a 9 inch narrower track
than the front.

People rave about the quiet of electric cars.  The EV1 is
quiet, but really only average at highway speed.  Most modern
cars are quite quiet, and road noise is the loadest sound,
EV1 included.  The lack of vibration, however, is nice.  You
don't realize how used you get to that slight tingle four
cylinder cars give you in the steering and shifter.  

I had to plan ahead just a bit (distance and Magnecharger
locations), and drive a bit carefully, because of range
worries.  It looked like I would typically get 60 to 70 miles
per charge (per the range remaining gauge).  Caveat:  This
was a weekend, YMMV with heavy rush hour traffic.  My car had
5000 miles on it.  The Generation II EV1, with NiMH
batteries, is supposed to have twice the range.  That would
have made my trip completely carefree, and robbed me of my
"John Wayland style adventure."

I estimate I have driven 300 cars in my life.  The EV1 is
truly one of the world's greatest cars ever.  One of the best
compliments I can give it is "forget it is an electric car!" 
Anyone could just hop in and drive it.  The Magnecharger is
idiot proof.  If there was only some way I could smuggle one
here into Utah...  And afford that lease price...