Electricnick, The EV Revolution

It is a small, small world and one thing can lead to another, sometimes while taking unexpected turns.  The story behind AC Propulsion helped shape the future of electric cars of this world.

AC Propulsion deservedly has its place set in the history of electric vehicles, EV.  Having been around for over 15 years, they are regarded in the industry as the first ones to introduce a working electric super car with amazing and promising results, the tZero.  The best part of it, it is still functioning, a decade and a half later.  The tZero’s lightweight could propel it from 0 to 60 in 3.6 seconds, effectively blowing out of the toughest competition gas cars of its time.  Yet, its 220 horsepower electric engine behaved in a very civilized way under traffic condition.  AC Propulsion knew there were onto something.  That had reached that perfect balance.  Now they only needed to manufacture it or find someone to buy the technology.

But how did it all start? Most stories around EVs in the U.S. have something to do with GM’s incredible EV-1.  And for Alan Cocconi, it all started working on what brought about the EV-1 project.  He originally developed the drive and solar tracking systems for the GM SunRaycer.  He then designed and built the controller for the original GM Impact that was introduced at the 1990 LA Auto Show which evolved into GM’s EV-1.  After the ill-fated destiny of this incredible little car, he decided to create AC Propulsion in California in 1992 whose mission is to develop, manufacture, and license technology for electric propulsion vehicles.   Indeed, ACP designs, engineers and manufactures electric motors, inverters, battery chargers, battery monitors and other hardware and software necessary to create the complete system that makes an electric car go.

How successful are they? Guess who licensed their technology to build their other incredible electric super car that grabs the vast majority of headlines?  The Tesla Roadster?  Other companies who found their technology remarkable enough include, the Zooop from Courreges Design, the amazing Wrightspeed X1, the Attack, the Volvo 33c concept, Venturi’s Fetish, and more.  Well, you get the picture.  As you can see by now, their the track record and the logical progression makes ACP an expert in today’s electric world.  It also explains why the latest headline grabber, BMW went to license their technology for their MINI E.  After all, who has the most experience and delivers the best numbers for production?  AC Propulsion.

What does it feel driving ACP’s Technology? Some of us, at Electricnick got to drive one of their eBox, a rolling, producible platform for their electric drive system.  But, you can’t explain how it feels until you actually get to drive an electric car yourself.  You have to experience the continuous boost of an electric engine in order to understand it.  Even though it can be very civilized, it has instantaneous power and torque as soon as it moves.  None the less, we will try.  Here is what the eBox looks like.

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 platform is a Scion, so nothing much to say here.  The only visual difference inside are that other gauges have found their way on the dash, amp meters.  What is strange is pressing the pedal and feel the car just go with no delays.  It has a smooth start.  In fact, the harder you press, the harder the car pushes.  You realize you need to be feathered foot or else you can easily find yourself driving 120 miles per hour.  It’s like any performance car, in that aspect.  And go, it wants.  Release the pedal, the vehicle slows down and eventually comes to a stop.  That’s the regenerative breaking part we’ve mentioned previously here.  As you stabilize the speed of the EV, if you let go of the accelerator, it will slow down the EV by using its electric engine drive to shunt the electricity back into the battery pack.

On The Road.  Once on the road, easing in and out of traffic is very relaxing, very easy in fact.  This is the hard thing to explain, how it feels to drive such a car.  Until you actually drive one, you can’t really explain it.  You push the accelerator and it just goes.  In fact, it won’t stop until you either ease off or it maxes out at 13,000 rpm at over 120 mph, in the case of the eBox here.  Imagine stepping on an accelerator and the car doesn’t run out of juice, all puns intended.  Imagine stepping on it, and it goes, step on it more, and it still goes, step in it even more, it continues to give you an acceleration kick, and on and on and on…  No, we didn’t do that in the streets of Santa Monica, though tempting but that feeling surely took us by surprise.  For those of you who have driven golf carts, you might be familiar with the feel of accelerating and it goes.  Imagine a car that does the same thing and ups the performance level?  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 only thing it will require is that the driver rethinks of how she or he drives the car.  It is a very different feel from a gas engine.

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 Future.  What does the future hold for AC Propulsion?  No matter where the energy crises goes, the company has already received massive recognition and push by mainstream manufacturers, worldwide.  Even with the false sense of security of falling gas prices in the U.S., we can only hope the new U.S. administration will be wise enough to enact strong incentives to continue the development of electric cars, and help, in the meantime bring more HEVs out the door.  Until battery technology allows cars to go over the magic range of 400 miles, we feel companies will turn to AC Propulsion’s experience in this field.  They have worked hard to be ranked as the top contenders in electric drive system.  We can only imagine more and more car manufacturers will buy their technology.

Sources:  ACP Links.