Who revived the electric car? - Professor David Bibby Climate Change Research Institute, VUW
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Who revived the electric
car?
Professor David Bibby
Climate Change Research Institute, VUW
The rise and fall, and rise again, of the electric vehicle
In the beginning.....
English inventor La Jamais Contente (The Never Satisfied)
Thomas Parker Two direct drive 25 kW motors, running at 200 V, drawing
built the first 124 Amperes each for about 68 hp.
practical EV, 1884 Reached the speed of 105.882 kilometers per hour (65.792
mph) on the 29 April, 1899.
Wikipedia
Thomas Parker was responsible for the electrifying the London Underground, overhead tramways in
Birmingham and Liverpool, and developing the smokeless fuel “Coalite”
The first hybrids, the Lohner-Porsche First production hybrid car, 1900 Semper Vivus 10–14 hp, 2 or 4 hub-mounted electric Twin in-wheel electric motors, two 2.5 hp motors; driven by battery and/or petrol single cylinder IC engines, driving two 1.8 engine. kW generators, charging a 44-cell Pb acid Weight of 4WD model, about 3.5 tonnes battery “These early electric cars were designed with fiendish, steam-punk complexity by the precocious Ferdinand Porsche”. Andrew English, 2011
Electric cars rapidly became significant in the USA, mainly in the city
where they were competing with steam and IC engine vehicles
In 1900 the market share for EVs was 28%
But, by 1915 market share was down to1%
Peak sales of EVs were 6000 in 1912, produced
by 20 manufactures. That year Ford sold over
82000 Model T cars.
Despite this fall in popularity, Henry Ford,
together with his good friend Thomas Edison,
had aspirations to produce an ‘affordable’
electric car Henry Ford prototype EV, early
1914
Within a year, I hope, we will begin the manufacture of an electric automobile. Henry Ford, 1914
Four developments led to the dominance of the internal
combustion engine
Model T assembly line; a major
contributor to minimising the
Wikipedia
cost of cars, i.e. in1909 a Model T
was $850, by 1920 it was $260
Electric starter; first National Geographic Good Roads Campaign, ca 1916
production vehicle
was the 1912 Cadillac
University of North Carolina
Waldronexhaust.com
Muffler ca 1910 As car ownership
increased there were
national movements
to build improved
intercity roads
The McLean Motor Act 1898 legalised the operation of motor vehicles provided that they were lit after
dark and did not go faster than 12 miles per hour
And also, electric vehicles were marketed primarily to Women
However, not everyone
was happy with the
internal combustion
engine.
Henry Ford’s wife refused
to ride in an “explosions”
car and so in 1914 he
bought her a Detroit
Electric model 47 which
she kept until the 1930’s
“Pick a good model and stick with it”, Henry Ford talking about marriage
Electric vehicles did not disappear entirely,
(and some of us saw them on a daily basis)
Milk float The ubiquitous fork lift
Wikipedia Napaforklifts.com
In August 1967 the UK Electric Vehicle Association stated that Britain had more battery-electric
vehicles on its roads than the rest of the world put together. Almost all of these were milk floats.
However, the IC engine causes air pollution...... "There's so much pollution in the air now that if it weren't for our lungs there'd be no place to put it all.“— Robert Orben“ “Fall is my favorite season in Los Angeles, watching the birds change color and fall from the trees."— David Letterman ‘We've got to pause and ask ourselves: How much clean air do we need?"— Lee Iacocca By the 1980’s the smog in LA had become so bad that in 1990 the California Air Resources Board (CARB) passed the Zero-emissions vehicle (ZEV) mandate.
GM’s answer was the EV1
The ZEV mandate required the 7 major automobile suppliers in the US to offer electric
vehicles if they wished to continue sales of their gasoline powered vehicles in California.
The EV1 was the first mass-produced
and purpose-designed electric vehicle
of the modern era from a major
automaker
0 to 100km/h 8 sec
Max speed 130km/h
Weight 1400kg
Treehugge
r
In 2008 the EV1 made the Time Magazine’s list of the 50 worst cars of all time.
But lobbying by the motor and oil industry was successful and
everything went back to business as usual.
The great majority of
the EV1s were
recalled and crushed
EV1.org
As a result of the forced repossession and destruction of the majority of EV1s, an intact and
working EV1 is one of the rarest cars from the 1990s.Except for Toyota, who stayed when everyone else had left
Between 1997 and 2003 some
1484 RAVE4EVs were leased or
sold, and in 2012 about 500
were still in use
The RAV4 EV has a top speed of
126 km/h
0-100km/h time of about 18 sec
Mariordo
Weight 1500kg
In 2012 Toyota launched a new RAVE4EV, top speed 160kph, 0 to 100kph in 7 secMeanwhile, what was happening in Japan?
In 1993 Eiji Toyoda, Toyota’s Chairman, expressed concern
about the future of the automobile.
Executive VP Akihiro Wada was made responsible for the
Global 21 project aimed at substantially improving the fuel
economy of Toyota cars. He made two critical decisions:
Lionel 141
• he appointed Takeshi Uchiyamada as the project leader, and
Eiji Toyoda, 1913 to 2013
•in 1994 he supported his engineers’ HYBRID concept against
the advice of the marketing and business managers
Leslie Kendall, Petersen Automotive Museum, described Toyoda as the Japanese equivalent of
Henry Ford.The outcome was the Prius
In December 1997 the Prius went on sale in Japan and sold 18000 in the first year
In May 1999 it went on sale in America selling 5600 in the first year and 15600 in
the second year
By 2003 Toyota could not keep up with demand
By 2013 over 6 million Prius (and Lexus) cars
had been sold
Toyota
In 2002 the Washington Post dubbed the Prius "Hollywood's latest politically correct status symbol"The success of the Prius effectively legitimised the
development of further EV and Hybrid vehicles
Today, for sound
commercial
reasons, every
significant
vehicle
manufacturer
has to have a
“The revenge of the electric car”, a Chris Paine documentary 2011
line of EV andRecent developments in electric cars by two remarkable men
Carlos Ghosn, CEO of the Renault-Nissan Alliance
The Nissan Motor Co developed the Nissan Leaf, the world's best selling, highway-
capable, all-electric car
Nissan
Ghosn's life story was turned into a superhero comic book series in
Japan; ‘The True Story of Carlos Ghosn’ in ‘Big Comic Superior’, 2002Recent developments in electric cars by two remarkable men
Elon Musk, CEO and Chief Product Architect of Tesla and SpaceX
The Tesla Roadster was the first highway-capable all-electric vehicle for sale in the
United States in the modern era.
At the SpaceX
factory there is a
statue of Iron Man,
and Musk had a
cameo
appearance in Iron
Man 2
Tesla
Musk was the inspiration for genius billionaire Tony Stark in the Iron
Man movies. According to Director, Jon Favreau (Time, 29 April 2010)Looking forward
When can we expect EVs and Hybrids to dominate car sales, again?
In 2014/2015 it is expected that EVs and Hybrids will achieve 1% of global car sales,
with sales having doubled about every two years since 1997. If this continues EVs
and Hybrids will dominate new vehicle sales in 15 to 20 years time
•Battery development is a core factor in the sale projections. This is closely tied to
the requirements for reduced weight and increased range.
•National networks of charging stations are being installed but so far most owners
have preferred to recharge at home
“Once this baby hits 88 mile per hour you are going to see some serious shit”.
Doc (Christopher Lloyd) in “Back to the Future” 1985Projected sales
?
Source: International Energy Agency, 2009
“EVs will never amount to anything”, AnonContributions to atmospheric CO2
Note that Transport is 13.1 percent of
CO2 emissions, and is a major
contributor to greenhouse gas
emissions
Hybrids have very good
fuel economy and hence
reduced CO2 emissions-
ask any Prius taxi driver
about
Consider what kind of car you buy, choose one that has the leastthe fuelenvironmentally.
impact economy Al GoreSo, who deserves the credit for the revival of the electric car?
In my view, the Toyota Motor Corporation for a start, and then?
Akihiro Wada, who supported the hybrid concept against the advice of
his marketing managers, and then approved a billion dollars of
development costs? Or;
Takeshi Uchiyamada, who led the engineering team who brought the
Prius concept through to a successful conclusion?
You choose…………………………………..
Today Takeshi Uchiyamada is the Chair of the Board of Toyota, the largest motor company in the
world.You can also read
