July, 2008
EV Village - tough questions from cash-strapped consumers needed at Brit Motor Show!
Can it beat the RAV4 EV benchmark of 100,000+ miles on original batteries, up to 120 miles/charge, 75 mph...?
Quiet Car 2: the right look and the right size at the right time - and wheel motors should mean even more interior space.
(PS. does "quiet" also mean the invention of unslammable doors...at last ?)
Whilst there is obviously a part of us that would like to unabashedly shake the hands and kiss the feet of (almost) all of the participants at the inaugural EV Village, tough questions need to be asked: after all, price competition and the pace of technological progress always ultimately depend on how informed, discerning, demanding, sceptical, assertive, pernickety and downright impatient consumers(once known as "people"..) are !
Toughest Question(perhaps) : How many of the EV's on display would pass the 1998 Toyota RAV4 EV benchmark test for instance - now, in the real world...in the sci-fi year of 2008 when "partying like it's 1999" means a retro-bash 24 years after 1984 ?
Remember we're talking here not about concept promises or rolling prototypes but about 10 years of proven electric RAV4 benchmark performance as in: well over 100,000 miles of battery life expectancy, up to 120 mile range, 75 mph, regenerative braking - with around 400 RAV4 EV's still on the road in the US.
And the amusing fact is that if the unmentionable(still taboo in the EU) RAV EV was on display now in the middle of the Green Pavilion at ExCel it's likely that only the Tesla and Lightning would turn more heads.
And even more amusingly - almost all visitors would assume the electric RAV4 to be an all-new concept from Toyota !
Yes, it's a sad fact that even now - with the truth for so many years just a curious Google click away - most casual visitors to the EV Village will still be of the relatively clueless EV newbie persuasion - as in...
"Wow - things have come along way since the Sinclair C5 and the old milkfloat - eh? Ha ha !"
(Though it has to be said that levels of EV ignorance & silence are even more exasperating in Mediterranean, Eastern and "New" European countries - where the corporate, political and media establishment have been able to lose in translation bury, ignore most of the EV developments and news reports in English emanating from the US, Japan and latterly from Northern Europe, India, China ...)
So if you are visiting the Motor Show and the EV Village - please don't hide that brilliant electric light under a bushel of English politeness and restraint. Let rip and keep up the pressure!
We always find it particularly good fun for instance - naturally always incognito - to begin any tete-a-tete with EV company reps by initially selling a dummy and pretending to be just another wide-eyed, average know-nothing "milkfloater" - then gradually, out of the blue, letting slip a few annoyingly informed comments or questions - try this at the NICE Car stand perhaps:
"So - lead acid batteries are the standard option on the Ze-0 ? Hm - so how would life expectancy of those batteries compare say, to the NiMH batteries in a 1998 Toyota RAV4 EV We're talking decade-old technology there of course."(Sprinkle comments & questions with multiple "Of courses"....)
(Continuing ..)
"Many RAV4 drivers in the US say they've managed well over 100,0000 miles on the original batteries of course. In fact I was checking the original Toyota specs just yesterday: 1200 full recharge cycles at up to 120 miles per charge.
So they could reach 140,000 miles if they're well looked after - and we're basically talking 1996-1997 technology. "
(Keep pressing - think of all those journalists and "milkfloaters" who won't ...)
"I mean - if you have to replace the Ze-0's lead-acid batteries after just 20,000 miles - for the best part of £ 2000 - that works out at 10 pence a mile just for the battery."
"It's not such a good deal really is it - in 2008 - 11 years after the RAV4 EV was launched ?! "
(Now really rubbing it in...)
"Don't suppose you went over to the Channel Islands to try the RAV4 when it was in Jersey did you ? I can tell you it's a great drive - no surprise that it was so popular with the police and car rental customers there."
"I drove one in Hollywood in '98 too. Tom Hanks' favourite car until he swapped it for an AC Propulsion eBox of course - an EV with the Tzero pedigree that Nissan have now imitated with the li-ion Denki Cube of course. Adds a whole new twist to the phrase "thinking outside the box !" (ie. two years after AC Propulsion)
NICE Ze-0 : if priced at £12,000 for the li-ion version the competition might be quietly concerned...
"Now if the NICE Ze-0 cost £ 12,000 with lithium batteries we'd be blown away - as would the competition. Might even worry Mitsubishi come 2010. But Tata will likely undercut everyone on the block !"
How long before the price of lithium finally drops ? And how on earth can NICE (et al) realistically hope to compete with the Big Boys - on price, performance, battery life come 2010-12 ..when the men-from-the-boys shake-down begins in earnest?"
And - just for fun - why not try these titillating little "Talking Points" at the Tesla stall
: 
