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Getting Charged Up and Ready to Roll
Two SLO Firms Try to Crack Electric Vehicle Market
by Anne McMahon

[Copied without Permission.  From the San Luis Obispo, California free weekly
newspaper:New Times.  Sept. 10, 1992 edition.]

By the year 2003, one of every 10 vehicles being sold in California must be a
"zero emission" vehicle--thanks to regulations enacted by the California Air
Resources Board in the 1990s.

Pollution-free electric vehicles are no longer just the figment of a futuristic
imagination.  The prototypes of the new generation of electric vehicles--EVs to
those in the know--are already being developed, and it's not only Ford, GM,
Chrysler and Japanese automakers that are building them.  A San Luis Obispo
firm is one of several small start-up companies that are already marketing EVs.
And another local EV enthusiast is working on transformer-related projects and
trying to develop a smaller and more portable battery charger.

Lyle Nighswonger, owner of Diamond Magnetics, an electronics firm in SLO,
started tinkering with the transformers and batteries after a friend contacted
him about some problems he was having with his battery-powered Volkswagen
truck.  The truck belongs to Nipomo resident Francis Howard, who is on a
humanitarian mission to Nicaragua.  He left his truck with Nighswonger who is
monitoring charge cycles of the truck's 20 6-volt batteries.  Seventeen are
located in the truck's bed, the other three are under the hood.

Nighswonger hopes to come up with a marketable product that will meet the
increasing demand from the growing interest in electric vehicles.  He may have
a future customer just a few miles away.

Rick Doran, owner of Doran Motor Company in San Luis Obispo, is hoping to find
a niche in the electric vehicle market for his battery-powered car and
scooter--and the financing needed to secure it.  The former Cal Poly [San Luis
Obispo] professor entered the market by designing and building a three-wheeled
electric car, but he thinks the future of his company may be in his "Eco-
Scoot," the only American-made electric scooter on the market.

"We built the car first, and tried to get the world interested in it and
attract some investors," say [sic] Doran.  "We tried to raise some money, but I
don't think the world is ready for electric cars."

At least not this part of the world, says Doran.  "Part of the problem here is
the price of gas being subsidized by the government.  It doesn't cost $3-4 a
gallon, like in the rest of the world," he says.

[Hmm, I don't think it's "subsidized" by the govt., per se.]

Even though the initial cost of EVs may seem expensive, Doran says their
seemingly-cheaper gas-powered relatives have hidden costs that need to be
considered when comparing the two.

"We should be factoring in the health and environmental costs of pollution,"
he says.

His car, which can go as fast as 80 mph and travel about 60 miles before being
recharged, costs two to five cents per mile to operate.  He says that with the
right financing, he could produce the cars for sale in the $10,000-$15,000
range.  The Eco-Scoot has a $1,995 price tag--batteries not included--and an
operating cost of less than one cent per mile.

Doran and his two full-time employees have already built and sold several of
the scooters, which when fully charged can take you 20-30 miles depending on
your weight, the terrain, and the temperature.  The Eco-Scoot's maximum speed
is 30 miles per hour--for efficiency's sake and to allow it to be registered as
a motorized bicycle, which means a one-time-only licencing fee of $6.  You can
check them out locally at Broad Street Bikes.

With regulations like those bing imposed in California, the future of EVs looks
bright.  But Doran is unsure where his company is headed.  Though he knows
where he wants it to go, finding financing for the venture has been
frustrating.

"In one year, I'm hoping to be selling about 500 scooters a year," he says.
"But local banks have not been at all supportive, and the Small Business
Administration should be shut down in my opinion."

Doran says he'd like to stay in San Luis Obispo, but he knows that there are
other states and cities offering attractive tax incentives and work and
training programs that can lower the cost of doing business.

Doran says he has a friend marketing the Eco-Scoot in Seattle who would like to
see the company relocate there, where people are "clamoring for the scooters."

"But you want to stay near your market, and the marked should be in
California," he says.  "People in Los Angeles talk and look, but they don't do
anything.  I can't explain it.  I don't know what the difference is."
--
---King Claudius---                                   claudius@zeus.calpoly.edu


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