The Westinghouse Rebellion

Motorists will probably never be tempted to sing "See the U.S.A. in a Westinghouse," but before long they will be able to take one for a swing down to the local shopping center. In Los Angeles last week, Westinghouse Electric Corp. President Donald C. Burnham announced plans for production of "a small electric vehicle for around-town transportation."

Called the Markette, Westinghouse's boxy little (1,730 Ibs.) electric car will carry two passengers at speeds up to 25 m.p.h. Its twelve conventional six-volt lead-acid batteries will drive it for 50 miles at a cost of about 10 a mile, can be recharged in eight hours through a cord plugged into ordinary house current. Many motorists may balk at joining the Westinghouse rebellion, since the car, which will sell for "under $2,-000," will need $300 worth of new batteries every two years. Still Westinghouse claims that it already has orders in hand for the minimum 500 Markettes it will produce this year.

Even if its little car promises to start off with quick sales, Westinghouse admits that the Markette is at best a "transitional" car, not likely to replace internal-combustion engines in enough numbers to begin to solve the auto-caused air-pollution problem. As for its power source, it is only a little more advanced than the lead-acid electrics of the 1920s--or the golf carts Westinghouse already builds at its Marketeer Division plant in Redlands, Calif.

Advanced work on electric cars still centers around cheaper, more powerful batteries. General Motors, for example, is continuing work on high-capacity silver-zinc batteries, though they are still inordinately expensive. Ford has designed a sodium-sulphur battery that could drive a Falcon-sized car up to 130 miles at 50 m.p.h. Scientists agree that a production car using a version of either battery is still five to ten years off.

Meanwhile, the search for new, non-polluting power sources grows ever more active. Speaking at Columbia University in Manhattan last week, Dr. Richard S. Morse, head of a Commerce Department team studying motor vehicles, said that the Government was interested in "any possible means of moving people and goods around," including "fuel cells, batteries, turbines and steam engines." In fact, said Morse, "we're looking at everything from rubber bands on up."

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