EVLN([EV1-CLUB] Ed Huestis & Vacaville on Sacramento Bee front page)

[Bruce EVangel Parmenter <brucedp@yahoo.com>]

EVLN([EV1-CLUB] Ed Huestis & Vacaville on Sacramento Bee front page)
[The Internet Electric Vehicle List News. For Public EV informational
 purposes. Contact publication for reprint rights.]
 --- {EVangel}

-[edited]
We made the front page of the Sacramanto Bee in Saturday's edition, 
July 29th. You will not be able to see the color photographs of 
course unless you are able to get your hands on the paper itself.

Thanks to Tom Dowling for posting to the EV1 List Serve and providing 
the link and the quotes, & to Jamie Knapp for referring Matthew Barrows, 
transportation writer for the Sacramanto Bee, to the City of 
Vacaville for our side of the story.

I will be out of the office until Tuesday, August 8th.  I will be 
checking my home e-mail account from my notebook computer while on
travel at ehuestis@cwnet.com

Have a GREAT Week!
----------------------------------------
Ed Huestis
City of Vacaville
Transportation Systems Manager & Enthusiastic EV1 Owner
(707) 449-5424 (Voice)
(707) 449-5346 (Fax)
ehuestis@ci.vacaville.ca.us
-


http://www.sacbee.com/news/news/local02_20000729.html

Electric cars remain a lonely breed By Matthew Barrows Bee Staff
Writer (Published July 29, 2000)

Ed Huestis wants to turn Vacaville into Voltageville. Per capita, the
town on Interstate 80 west of Sacramento has more electric car drivers
than any other in Northern California -- a whopping 13 people in all. 
But Huestis, Vacaville's transportation systems manager and an
electric-car driver himself, says he has a list of 75 antsy residents
ready to jump aboard the electric bandwagon. The demand is there,
Vacaville has plenty of recharging stations and the town offers
residents a generous incentive, Huestis says. All that's missing is
the cars.

"There are no electric cars out there," he says. "We have a waiting
list, but it will be months before we can get any of them into cars."

Huestis' problem is tied to a 10-year dispute between automakers that
see no future for electric cars and California regulators who see them
as the savior of smog-ridden cities.

Regulators say air quality concerns and rising gas costs have created
a growing market for clean, battery-powered electric cars, but claim
the auto industry has done a poor job selling electric vehicles to the
public.

Automakers counter that despite a few environmental zealots and
technophiles, there is no market for vehicles that can't travel much
more than 100 miles before they need to be recharged.

"People are not looking for less convenience," said Honda marketing
executive Robert Bienenfeld. "With electrics, you have to plan your
trips. You have to think about where you're going ... it's a hassle
and a headache."

Those arguments will collide Sept. 7, when the California Air
Resources Board meets to review its "zero-emissions" mandate, which
goes into effect in 2003.

Under the mandate, 4 percent of passenger cars and trucks sold in
California must be zero-emission vehicles, meaning they produce no
pollution from their tailpipes. Currently, only electric cars satisfy
that requirement. An additional 6 percent of the vehicles sold in 2003
must produce very low emissions.

But automakers and oil industry lobbyists twice persuaded the ARB to
alter and delay the mandate -- 1996 and 1998 -- and will be seeking
more exceptions Sept. 7.

"There is no question in my mind that they need to review the mandate
and make changes," said Steven Douglas, Sacramento-based
representative of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers. "At the
end of the day, you're still asking people to pay $10,000 more for a
vehicle that does less."

But ARB staff members are advising the board not to budge.

"We see the obstacles, but we don't see them as insurmountable," said
Jerry Martin, ARB spokesman.

Though small numbers of electric vehicles already have been released
in California, the two sides have wildly different opinions about
their success.

In Vacaville, Huestis said he routinely finds fingerprints on his
General Motors EV-1 from people getting a closer look, and he's
constantly answering questions from curious pedestrians and drivers.

"There's no marketing," Huestis said. "The only marketing getting done
is by us."

Other electric-car proponents go a step further, arguing that by
marketing mainly to fleet users -- such as utility companies or
government agencies -- requiring leases instead of outright purchasing
and producing only a few hundred vehicles, automakers have sabotaged
their own cars.

"They're very schizophrenic about it," said Dave Modisette, executive
director of the California Electric Transportation Coalition. "On the
one hand, they want to fight the regulation. But on the other hand
they want to be pushing the technology along so that one of their
competitors doesn't get an advantage."

Modisette points to Honda's EV Plus, which the company stopped
manufacturing last year after producing about 300 cars. It could only
be leased -- at $455 a month -- Modisette said.

"You can lease almost any other car for less than $450," he said. "We
think the market hasn't been tested at a price that is more realistic.
It's almost as if automakers didn't want this to succeed."

Bienenfeld said Honda took its mandate seriously, advertising in state
newspapers and magazines and placing them at eight dealerships in
major population centers.

"To say we didn't try to market it is just patently not true,"
Bienenfeld said.

When the company launched the EV Plus in May 1997, only seven
customers showed up to lease the car, he said. Bienenfeld said Honda
expected to lease more than 200 cars a year to individual customers;
instead it ended up leasing 75 a year.

Automakers say the major roadblock is the electric battery, which is
expensive to produce but gets limited mileage.

Greg McCrea, the owner of Electric Conversions in Sacramento, said the
cost factor has limited him as well. When he set up his business six
years ago, McCrea predicted there would be a huge demand for
converting gas-powered cars to electric.

He said every time gas prices go up, he gets a flood of calls. But
when people realize it will cost close to $10,000, they hang up.
McCrea said he has performed only one or two conversions a year.

"It's still just the odd person who does it," he said. "People do what
they're used to doing. People only feel secure having a gas car."

Another obstacle for electric cars is public perception. Far from
moving toward clean, fuel-efficient vehicles, car buyers today favor
sport utility vehicles and large trucks, some of the biggest gas
guzzlers on the road.

When auto industry consultant AutoPacific Inc. polled consumers last
month on whether they would buy an SUV during times of high fuel
costs, 44 percent said they would, up from 38 percent in 1999.
Meanwhile, electric proponents worry that Americans still see golf
carts or wind-up toys when they picture electric cars.

But interests as diverse as utility companies, the American Lung
Association and the Sierra Club argue that better marketing and more
research will change consumers' opinion.

"One of the things that is most damaging is the notion that we big,
tough, hardy Californians need to drive 300 miles in our cars," ARB's
Martin said. "People still think, 'What if I need to drive to L.A.
tomorrow?' "

Instead, Martin said, most Californians drive more than 100 miles only
six times a year.

Supporters believe electric vehicles can find a niche as second cars
for errands while gas-powered counterparts handle long hauls.

In Vacaville, that notion is catching on.

Huestis said the town has been able to soften the high cost by
funneling federal clean-air dollars to its residents. Now when
Vacaville residents sign up for an electric car, they get a $6,000
subsidy.

"It's been an incredibly positive experience," Huestis said. "I don't
want to ever have to go back to gasoline."
 ...
 http://www.sacbee.com/     opinion@sacbee.com
Copyright 1998, The Sacramento Bee. All rights reserved.
916-321-1903, Fax#:916-321-1109
P.O. Box 15779, 2100 Q St.,Sacramento CA 95852 USA
 ---
Bruce {EVangel} Parmenter  BruceDP@iname.com
         ____        % Use Renewable Energy to charge your EV %
      __/o|__\~        EVangel: messenger bringing good news
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Electric Vehicle List Editor      http://crest.org/ev-list-archive/
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