Electricnick, The EV Revolution

The AltCar Expo show in Los Angeles was fantastic, and is growing in popularity and quality every year.  If you in and around LA, you will see one of our editor on CBS news Sunday evening with conversion project.

No gist here, AltExpo was jam pack full with startups, manufacturers, mainstream automakers, utilities, etc.

Since we have to start somewhere, let’s go with AC Propulsion‘s eBox, previously mentioned here.  It’s one thing to write about a car, it’s another to drive it.

The numbers, 0-60 mph in 7 secs, 95 mph, with a range of 120 to 150 miles depending on how you drive it, city or highway, etc.  The full charge is of 2hrs on fast mode, 220 volts, or 5 from a standard 110 volt socket.  The engine is AC, putting out 120Kw, about 160hp with 50kw in continuous mode.  It uses a lithium-ion battery pack that only weighs 600lbs.  The list of feature is rich, with AC, NAV, cruise control, power windows, steering and brakes and most important V2G.  We previously mentioned V2G in many posts, it is a way to send back electricity to the grid and get paid for it.  Add that to your solar panels and wind turbines, and you pay nothing for the electricity that drives you around.  Uh ho, looks like the utilities need a different business model…  Another impressive fact is that driving with the AC blasting will only take away 2 miles of the total range.

The drive. Ah, can’t explain it.  You have to drive it to understand.  What?  You really want to know?  OK.  Here is a picture first.

with Joshua Allan from AC Propulsion, Vehicle Product Engineering Manager, who let us drive this fun EV and had an incredible amount of patience.

The ride components are Scion, so no news here.  What is strange is pressing the pedal and feel the car just go with no delays.  It had a smooth start but you need to be feathered foot or else it will just go.  And go, it wants.  Release the pedal, the vehicle comes to a stop.  That’s the regenerative breaking part we’ve mentioned previously here.

Once on the road, easing in and out of traffic is easy, very easy in fact.  This is the thing no one can grasp until they actually drive an electric car, you push the accelerator and it goes.  In fact, it won’t stop rushing the car forward until you either pull back or it maxes out at 13,000 rpm in our case here.  So imagine stepping on it and it doesn’t run out of juice, all puns intended.  Imagine stepping on it, it goes, step on it more, it still goes, step in it even more, it continues to go, and on and on and on…  No, we didn’t do that in the streets of Santa Monica, though tempting.  Driving an EV means complete torque and horsepower as soon as the engine turns and that is something our gas engines just cannot do.  It’s a rush, in many ways but the eBox is civilized.

The overall impression was that this is very well engineered car.  You can feel it in the way it drives and how well integrated the electric drive system is.  It is tight, the response in instantaneous and the performances match the expectations.

The big question. Is it worth $68,000 to 78,000?  Yes.  Wholeheartedly, unconditionally, yes.  Yes, for the “cool” factor, no other Scion can boast that.  Yes, for the environmental factor, for the price of driving and operating it in the long term.  All around a very impressive piece of technology.

AC Propulsion eBox