AC Propulsion Home Page Archives

Home Page Archives

Electric Vehicle Demand Survey

We feel there is substantial unmet demand for electric vehicles. Some manufacturers say they keep waiting lists, but it has been impossible to tell whether you are on the list or how many people are on the list ahead of you. In the interest of gathering data to document unmet demand for electric vehicles, we are inviting all interested prospective EV buyers and/or lessors to document their preference in our survey. The results will be tabulated by vehicle model and region. Most of the known EVs are listed, along with a hypothetical 4-door sedan equipped with lead acid batteries (good for 80 miles range) and plug-in-anywhere fast-charger.

Submit your vehicle choice to the survey
Results page (updated daily)
Survey Comments page (updated 1-10-02)

Nov 21, 2000

Sand Hill Challenge

The tzero was at the epicenter of high tech venture capital on Sunday, September 24 for the annual Sand Hill Challenge, a modern soap box derby race open to high schools, national and international firms involved in entrepreneurial business, including venture capitalists, law firms and startup companies. The Sand Hill Challenge raises money to fund youth programs in the San Francisco Bay area. (pictures)

The tzero was the lead car in the parade of vehicles, and carried the Grand Marshall, Coach Ben Parks.

After the parade the tzero was on display near the hospitality tents. Many future EV drivers had a chance to get behind the wheel.

Sept 26, 2000

CARB Hearing

During a marathon one-and-a-half day hearing, September 7-8, 2000, the California Air Resources Board (above) heard testimony from more than 80 witnesses who presented arguments for and against upholding CARB's ZEV mandate. AC Propulsion's Alec Brooks and Tom Gage both testified in favor of the mandate. Brooks' testimony used real-world cost information to refute automaker claims that EVs are too expensive. Gage offered suggestions for making the mandate more flexible and market-friendly.

Despite strong opposition from the automakers, the Board passed a resolution (.pdf version) upholding the mandate policy and requesting CARB staff to prepare revisions that will improve the effectiveness of the policy when it takes effect in 2003. Over the next several weeks, CARB staff will be meeting with automakers and other interested parties, including AC Propulsion, in preparation for a public workshop in October and a Board hearing to adopt the revisions in January, 2001.

Sept 18, 2000

Tzero Takes on the Two-Seaters with Best and Worst Fuel Economy

We recently had a chance to put a new Honda Insight through its paces. In over 500 miles of hard driving, the Insight returned an average 56 mpg - an impressive figure. The Honda Insight is the top milage car sold in the US.

We put together the following comparisons between the tzero and the Insight, and to make it interesting, we included the two-seat car with the worst fuel economy - the Ferarri 550 Maranello. In order to compare with the tzero, the efficiency is quoted in BTU/mile (for the tzero, BTU is based on the amount of natural gas (or other fuel) needed to generate the energy to charge the battery. For the others, a value of 115,000 BTU/gallon of gasoline was used.)

tzero Honda Insight Ferrari 550 Maranello

Fuel economy 180 wh/mi DC 56 mpg 10 mpg

Energy efficiency,
fuel BTU/mile 2,032 2,050 13,350

0 to 60 mph 4.1 sec 12.3 sec 4.2 sec

Lateral acceleration 0.88 G 0.77 G 0.94 G

Emissions ZERO ULEV Tier 1 (highest emissions
level allowed)

The tzero has the efficiency of the car with the the highest fuel economy, and 0-60 performance better than the car with the worst fuel economy.

PREVIEW - Second generation AC-150 drivetrain!

The all-new second generation AC-150 drivetrain is nearing completing (shown at right above the first generation system).

The new system has fewer parts, is 30% smaller, lighter, and packages more functions inside the electronics enclosure. Available beginning in 3rd quarter, 2000.

New features include:

Integrated new bi-directional fast charger (20 kW) provides:

Future potential for battery and fuel cell electric vehicles to become part of distributed generation system selling power back to grid.
Battery diagnostic capacity check by discharging battery into the grid
Backup power and UPS functions whenever the car is plugged in
"Jump-start" capability to transfer charge to other electric vehicles

Hybrid power interface
Current measurement for propulsion power, hybrid power, accessory power
Digital interface to instrumentation
Highest power/volume and power/weight in the industry

Flash! - tzero beats Ferrari, Corvette, Porsche in drag races

AC Propulsion's tzero out-accelerated a Ferrari F355, a new Corvette, and a Porsche Carrera 4 in a series of impromptu 1/8 mile drag races held on January 22, 2000 at Moffett Field in Mountain View, California, and at Calstart's northern facility at the former Alameda Naval Air Station. (press release) (More pictures)

Ferrari race
Quicktime, 1Mb
Corvette race
Quicktime, 366Kb

New tzero accelerates 0 to 60 in only 4.07 seconds!

In tests at the Pomona drag strip on December 8, the new tzero turned in even better acceleration times than the first prototype. Zero to 60 is 4.36 seconds in the raw data. When corrected to remove the first foot of travel (for comparison to auto magazine test data), the time is only 4.07 seconds! The data were recorded by Road and Track Magazine's high resolution radar timing system.

Elapsed times:

1/8 mile 8.51 sec 86.4 mph

1/4 mile 13.24 sec 90.0 mph

AC Propulsion at NAEVI 99

At the North American Electric Vehicle Infrastructure conference in Atlanta, AC Propulsion had a comprehensive display of our Reductive integrated charging technology in the Electric Vehicle Conductive Charging Coalition (EVC3) booth. We gave lots of rides in the tzero, and between rides fast charged with a prototype Level 2+ high power wall box from EVI.

Pictures from NAEVI and integrated charging display boards

EV1 Recall

AC Propulsion commends GM on the decisive, but unpopular, recall to protect the safety of its customers. It is unfortunate that GM has not found a way to fix the EV1s. We hope that they will quickly produce more Gen II EV1's to replace the affected EV1's.

Some press reports incorrectly stated that the problem was fundamental to electric vehicles. This is absolutely untrue but, unfortunately, this is the impression that has been left with the public. Safety defects that could result in fires are often the subject of recalls of gasoline-fueled vehicles. These defects are caused by component or design issues and are usually fixed by the manufacturer and the vehicles returned to service.

While inductive charging was the subject of the recall, the recall should not imply that there is any inherent danger in inductive charging. The inductive charging system has a lot of new technology and it is therefore not surprising to see problems - but the problems are due to flawed implementation of a complex system, rather than anything fundamental with inductive charging. The recall covers only the first version of GM's inductive charging system - new EV1s are not affected. (more: EV1 Recall and Market Data)

AC Propulsion Talks Lead-Acid at Long Beach Battery Conference

At the Fifteenth Annual Long Beach Battery Conference, held January 11-14, 2000, AC Propulsion vice president, Tom Gage, presented the results of an attribute analysis of EV batteries. The analysis demonstrates that when economics are factored in, lead-acid batteries represent a more attractive alternative for electric vehicle consumers than nickel-metal hydride batteries.

The analysis also looks ahead to consider how cost reductions and additional development may affect the desirability of lead-acid and nickel-metal hydride batteries in the future.

In his paper, Gage concludes that if significant cost reductions are achieved, NiMH batteries may penetrate the EV market in the future, but that the only way to commercialize electric vehicles today is with lead-acid batteries.

AC Propulsion Urges CARB to Adopt New Policies to Support EV Market Viability

The California Air Resources Board is gearing up for the next Biennial Review of the ZEV mandate in September, 2000. A series of public workshops starting this March will precede the board review. In preparation, CARB officials will visit major automakers. The automakers claim they can't sell EVs because batteries cost too much.

Present CARB policy emphasizes NiMH or Li-Ion batteries which cost $50,000 and up. CARB has commissioned a study of battery technology and economics, but the study will ignore lead-acid batteries which cost less than $5,000. Is CARB preparing to abandon the mandate and blame it on battery costs?

In a letter to CARB, AC Propulsion asks the agency to consider new policies that will bolster the mandate by helping the EV market.

ZEV MANDATE REVIEW

SET FOR 2000.

IS CARB COMMITMENT SOLID?

Link to CARB
2000 ZEV Review

Be prepared for the CARB ZEV workshop on March 29th. Read the full text of the CARB Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with automakers here.

AC Propulsion's AC150 drive train propels
White Lightning to record 245.524 mph

Dempsey's World Record Associates set a new electric vehicle land speed record of 245.524 mph on Oct. 22, 1999 with the White Lightning. The vehicle was powered by two AC Propulsion AC150 drive trains, modified to operate at higher voltage.

New tzero Prototype Completed, Shipped to Atlanta for NAEVI

A new tzero prototype was completed in November and shipped to Atlanta for the North American Electric Vehicle and Infrastructure Conference (NAEVI). The tzero will be participating in the ride and drive, and demonstrating the new high-power charging capabilities of Level 2+ conductive charging.

Improvements and changes in the new tzero include:

-Stainless steel frame
-Safety glass windshield
-Standard conductive charge port inlet
-Cabin heating with powertrain waste heat
-Revised wiper system
-Faster steering ratio
-revised suspension geometry

The new car (on the right), being loaded for the trip to Atlanta (11-9-99)

tzero road trip. We recently took the tzero out to Willow Springs race track for a Toyo Tires event. The LongRanger hybrid trailer made it easy to complete the 240-mile round trip with only a short fuel stop. The LongRanger's 22-kW continuous output provided plenty of power for climbing over the San Gabriel mountains on the Angeles Crest Highway as well as fast cruising on the highway in the desert. Cruise speeds of 70+ mph in a 35 mph crosswind on the way back were no problem. Typical fuel economy is in the 35- to 40-mpg range. Click here for more pictures.

Alec Brooks recently spoke with EV World about the tzero. Here is a link to the interview.

Automotive News Editorial. Replying to the wave of media misinformation about electric vehicles following Honda's recent announcement that they had completed the production of the EVplus, Alec Brooks submitted an editorial to the industry newsweekly, Automotive News, which was published in the May 17, 1999 issue. Read the unabridged version here.

EFV World Expo. Big crowds saw a variety of electric vehicles at the Environmentally Friendly Vehicle World Expo on April 24 and 25, at the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica, CA. AC Propulsion showed the tzero prototype plus a tzero rolling chassis.

Volkswagen showed their Golf Electric concept vehicle, fitted with AC Propulsion's 200 hp electric drivetrain and Reductive charging system.

Click here for more pictures.

Get the new tzero brochure!

Click on the image to the right. (Adobe Acrobat .pdf format)

AC Propulsion's tzero was recently tested at the drag strip at the LA county Fairgrounds. Click the picture to see a QuickTime 3 video of the tzero ripping off 0 to 60 in 4.68 seconds and a 13.7-second quarter mile. The state of charge was about 80 percent. For accessible high performance at legal speeds, very few cars accelerate faster than the tzero. (get QuickTime)

More Photos

AC Propulsion's Powertrains Win in Arizona. At the recent Annual Arizona Electrics Race, AC Propulsion powertrains powered first and second places in both the ABB Spec/Formula E class and in the Street Stock class. AC Propulsion's powerful, reliable, efficient, and lightweight powertrains are the ones to beat in electric vehicle racing. Get the details here

AC Propulsion's Alan Cocconi and Tom Gage were quoted in this April 1999 Scientific American article about the PNGV program.

Alan Cocconi and AC Propulsion recently received CALSTART's Blue Sky Merit Award, for outstanding contributions to clean air, energy efficiency and to the advanced transportation industry. Click here for details.

AC Propulsion took a road trip in the prototype tzero to mile-high Mount Wilson. The tzero can make the 90-mile round trip from AC Propulsion's offices in San Dimas to the top of Mount Wilson and back with ease. Click on the picture at right for a QuickTime 3 video (1.2 Mb)

(get QuickTime)

	tzero	Honda Insight	Ferrari 550 Maranello
Fuel economy	180 wh/mi DC	56 mpg	10 mpg
Energy efficiency, fuel BTU/mile	2,032	2,050	13,350
0 to 60 mph	4.1 sec	12.3 sec	4.2 sec
Lateral acceleration	0.88 G	0.77 G	0.94 G
Emissions	ZERO	ULEV	Tier 1 (highest emissions level allowed)