An Electric Challenge

Silent, exhaust-free and otherwise kind to the environment. Powered by a simple motor that is 90% efficient. Easy to handle. Inexpensive to maintain.

Does this description fit some future vehicle that is still beyond man's technological grasp? It does not. Last week twelve shiny versions of this ideal car were lined up for public inspection at the first International Electric Vehicle Symposium in Phoenix, Ariz. Some of the models were familiar Volkswagens and Renaults, converted to run on battery power. Others were brand new and strange-looking. General Electric unveiled its squat, three-door "Delta," which looks like a stylized descendant of the Jeep. Not to be outdone, Westinghouse showed off a sleek "Lotus Europa" sports car. Ford had a streamlined "Lead Wedge" that has whirred across Utah's salt flats at 138 m.p.h. Two Japanese electric cars were on display along with a British minicar costing about $1,000 and already in production.

The new era in transportation that such vehicles promise will be somewhat delayed. The one obstacle that keeps the electric car little more than a conversation piece and unable to compete with conventional automobiles is not the motor but the battery. As many as 16 expensive, low-energy-density batteries are needed to make an electric car go. Together they weigh the car down and completely fill what is now trunk space. More serious, no electric car can cruise much farther than 80 miles or longer than a few hours without having to stop to be recharged.

To create a new battery that would enable the electrics to match the performance of conventional cars, says Dr. J.H.B. George of Arthur D. Little Inc., would take "hundreds of millions of dollars in a crash research program, or 50 to 100 years." As an alternate solution, G.E.'s Bruce Laumeister reckons, it is now possible to recharge today's batteries in a few minutes--but only with heavy-duty circuits and chargers that cost far more than the car itself.

Such glum speculation about electric cars is brightly optimistic compared with the realistic analysis of Economist Bruce C. Netschert, director of National Economic Research Associates. He bluntly points out that the U.S. economy is geared directly to the mighty internal-combustion engine. Conversion of the nation's 101 million vehicles to electricity, even if possible, would cause nothing less than an economic trauma.

The automobile industry could probably adapt to electric cars, but it would be a painful and costly process. For one thing, since electric cars tend to be extremely durable, "planned obsolescence" would itself become obsolete. For another, the new cars, to minimize the drain on their batteries, would have to be light, small and free of many of today's high-profit accessories. As for the oil industry, Netschert figures that it would lose fully half its market.

Does the combination of technical and economic problems mean that the electric passenger car will never come to be? Manufacturers do not seem to be discouraged. They are trying to develop better batteries while producing more and more electric golf carts, lift trucks, minibuses, industrial sweepers and postal delivery vans.

Meanwhile, the advantages of electric vehicles are being gradually recognized. Even better, the oil and automobile industries, aware of the rising tide of anti-pollution sentiment, and hearing the gentle sound of electric motors (and possibly steam engines) in the future, have already started projects to stay ahead of the competition. Ironically, by the time the electric car becomes competitive, the conventional car will probably be silent, fumeless, durable, small and less harmful to the environment.

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