RE: Retain ZEV mandate for RAV4-EV

Hon. Alan Lloyd, Chairman of the Air Resources Board:

Here we are, at the conclusion of the grand adventure of trying to induce auto companies to produce non-polluting Electric Vehicles. Now, the auto and oil companies are poised to kill the EV program, and California seems helpless to stop them.

It was at the 1994 meeting that Western States Petroleum, operating as "Coalition against hidden taxes", claimed that EVs were not possible because the range would be too short, and what a Mr. R. Craven claimed was "dangerous" batteries would potentially "explode". Even if they were possible, they claimed that no one would want them, and the cost would be too great.

In that much more difficult time, a strong Air Resources Board insisted on the ZEV mandate at that rather raucous, unruly meeting, sticking to your contention that EVs were possible, and the auto makers better get busy and start making them.

You were right. It was possible, and ZEV worked.

In a long series of crying false starts, auto makers rose to the occasion. For less than $1 Billion, General Motors stirred its dusty creative juices to cobble together the mismatched and rather Frankensteinean EV1, which was nevertheless a fun car to drive, if you like to beat anything else on the road in a sixty mile race.

Amazingly, considering GM's inertia, this only took 10 years.

There was time to plot "NEC625", which, under the guise of "safety", effectively separated EVs from the electric grid by requiring a separate, expensive and failure-prone big box in order to charge them.

The GEM electric vehicle, and the Honda EV Plus, just plugged into a 110 or 220 outlet, showing that this so-called "safety" concern had more to do with making it difficult to charge up an EV. To clinch the issue, despite the small number of EVs, 4 or 5 incompatible charging plugs were created by clever engineers, so that even if an EV found a "charging station", it probably could not charge there, by the law of averages.

To show that they were not as stodgy as GM, Toyota and Honda, for about a tenth the money and in less than a year, produced much more functional 5 and 4 passenger luxury EVs which cost less to build, ran twice as far, and were easier and more practical to drive than the ergonomic nightmare that was the GM EV1.

Cleverly building on what are often perceived as GM's failures, Toyota and Honda used existing auto platforms, cheap, long-lasting NiMH batteries that were carried under the vehicles, and incorporated luxury features like anti-lock brakes and much more regenerative braking.

I am told that the battery pack in the 1997 Toyota RAV4-EV, even without improvements, will last at least 150,000 miles, perhaps as much as 300,000 miles, and still have utility in other applications prior to recycling. I am also informed that the "small paddle magnecharger" in the RAV4-EV can be taken out and replaced with a simple AVCON or other plug at a reasonable cost.

Now this seems to indicate what you already know from its fleet usage: the RAV4-EV is a viable, multi-function vehicle which is capable of fulfilling the mission for which it was designed. That's commuting and route service of less than 200 miles per day, with slow charging at night.

Indeed, the experience of RAV4-EV drivers is the same. We have found the EV to be what we want.

More importantly, we are constantly barraged by requests about how passer-by can get one of these RAV4-EV (and, of course, drivers of other models have the same experience).

Just 2 days ago, a driver pulled me over on the 10 freeway in L.A., demanding to know how I got one, and how he could get one. All I could say was that the oil companies would not let him have one, and that "they" had confiscated 3 of our EV. That GM, in particular, was confiscating our EV1 vehicles, taking them out of our hands, and would be breaking them up, having sent back and refused our checks.

These motorists nodded sagely, as many others, having no trouble believing this to be true, because it is true.

People, despite all the propaganda about "wait for fuel cells", understand about how one can live free from oil dependence.

We explain about the demand cycle for electricity, how in the daytime, our solar rooftop system reduces peak power demand. How at night, when generators go unused, we charge our EVs. How this enables us, with existing technology, to live without oil.

How little repair and maintenance EVs require is easy for people to understand, and they think that may be why the auto and oil companies conspire to kill the program. But motives, and whether they conspire, are not as important as the undeniable fact that EVs are virtually trouble free, unless sabotaged. They just do not break down.

Even if you act today as our enemies predict, to kill the ZEV mandate, the courage of past CARB decisions will never be forgotten.

Now, you are threatened by lawsuits, unfriendly administrators, past cleverness of the Auto Manufacturer's Alliance, and a huge public relations machine that threatens to cancel obvious facts.

The AMA, you might remember, bragged that the MOU they signed did not require, as we thought, that they make an honest effort to build up an EV industry. That's why they never followed through, never improved the models, never created a vibrant program of changes, mass production, and lowered costs, as we expected. Instead,
as they bragged, they only had to adher to the letter of the MOU, and put out a certain number of vehicles which later could be forcibly taken back and destroyed. Let us not lie to ourselves, whatever happens today. Let us admit that the EV was a big success, and it was due only to CARB. It was forced on reluctant, tricky, better funded auto makers, their allies in the oil industry, and their snide and well-funded henchmen, paid allies, and academics whose professional ethics were put up for purchase.

Thanks for your past courage, and thanks for the example of EVs, which can never be forgotten. And, formally, let me ask you to continue the RAV4-EV program, get rid of all those confusing "PZEV", "advanced" and "quark" ZEV credits. Keep the EV program alive, using Toyota's excellent RAV4-EV. Let the other auto companies perform their ZEV responsibilities not by fuel cell pipe dreams, but by partially funding RAV4-EV for lower income purchasers. And for regular purchasers, let them buy the vehicle if they have the price. Toyota was honorable with us, not playing games and fighting us off, but letting us buy the RAV4-EV during one magical 6 month window of opportunity, unlike others who played games and refused to sell or lease EVs.

I formally ask you to do this, having been informed by Toyota that their line is simply closed down. Toyota is capable of restarting the line at any time, and resuming production. All that is needed is the incentive to do so, and you could do that.

If you cannot, I will understand, and not think less of this board for its perceive lacking; instead, we EV drivers, those of us fortunate to have an EV, will struggle on, showing that it can be done, and that it is fun to drive an EV, and that the conspiracy cannot overcome facts.

And why are we so determined? What is in it for us? Why do EV drivers love their vehicles so much, that they tend to build their lives around them?

Why do so many of us travel half across the state to support the ZEV?
Why don't auto makers exploit a market with such determined buyers?

I leave you to ponder those interesting questions. Please keep the ZEV mandate, and keep the EV program alive. Please standardize on the RAV4-EV, and get rid of the complaints by other makers. Let them pay a small fee for each polluting vehicle. Use the money to provide cheaper RAV4-EV for those impacted by refinery gasses, air emissions, brake linings and oil pollution, and other hidden costs of the oil industry.

This concludes my comments, and requests.

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Here, then, is my parable of praise to the genius public relations and marketing smarts of what might be called "The Oilies", those who are so dedicated to continuing our oil dependence anemia:

"The auto makers have FAILED ABYSMALLY at figuring out how EVs can create massive pollution streams in their wake. "Some early suggestions that were torpedoed by regulators were 'smudge pots' (very smoky, but not toxic enough) 'Munitions' (loud enough, but no lasting carcinogens) and, finally, 'Horse Manure' (satisfying bacteriological content, but disappointingly low NOx and SOx contamination).

"Nevertheless, CARB must *FORCE* reluctant car makers to figure out how EVs can be made to burn as much gasoline, or, alternatively, dispense as much toxins, as regular, normal SUV and luxury SUT vehicles.

"The second troublesome issue is reliability. The National Association of Family Owned and Run Friendly Automobile Repair Companies, a PR arm of Defenders of the American Way, has links with Western Civilization Petroleum.

"Their point is that EVs are distressingly trouble-free, and threaten an important small business segment of the American Economy, and thus pander to our enemies.

"Early attempts to introduce periodic maintenance devolved into little more than tire-rotation sessions. Elaborate 'EV Repair Stations' set up with precautions for the unique gasses released battery powered and potentially explosive EVs went largely unused, except for manual turning festivals.

"An early pioneer effort to introduce battery reliability problems by former far-seeing General Motors Management used Delco-Remy semi-resistant battery ensembles. Ingenious 'rotating outages' in battery packs drove some naive technicians to early seats in the funny farm as they tried to resolve the complicated internal wiring
and 'multiple non-redundancy' (r) Battery Defect System put out on the original EV1. Unfortunately, this effort was torpedoed, too, when annoyingly trouble-free Panasonic battery packs were installed.

"Despite emergency safety recalls and exploding battery warnings, the entire GM battery sabotage program came to naught, and the battle moved on to the Court Room and 'war of the bank vault'.

"Without some immediate regulatory action, the entire fate of Western Civilization is doomed by the distressingly reliable, cheap to make, and alarmingly efficient Electric Vehicle.

"Instead, we need to focus on creating massive Hydrogen plants, possibly via solar power, to free clean, safe, cheap hydrogen gas from its Oxygen bonds in normal water, so that this omnipresent fuel can power future fool sell vehicles when they become available at the turn of the century..."

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Thanks, CARB.

Respectfully, and sincerely,

Doug Korthof
562-430-2495
714-496-1567

1997 Honda EV+ (confiscated by Honda for "lease violation")
1997 EV1 lead acid (60 mile range became 100 mile range when defective batteries were replaced with Panasonic. To be confiscate July, 2003)
1999 EV1 NiMH (confiscated Dec. 2002, refused to sell for residual value)
1997 RAV4-EV (purchased!)

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