Green Drive Expo Report
I flew to San Francisco last weekend just to attend this expo. It was definitely worth it. I’ve never seen so many electric, hybrid, and alternate fuel vehicles assembled in one place. But the best part of the expo was getting to see the prototypes for the upcoming vehicles such as the Nissan Leaf, Toyota Prius PHV, Ford Focus EV, and others. I won’t waste time going over details we’ve discussed in other articles. So here’s what I found out:
Nissan Leaf
First of all, it was difficult to get near this car during most of the show. There was always a crowd of people looking at it, climbing around inside it, etc. I noticed the cargo area was smaller than I was expecting, but at least the seats fold down and that creates a lot of usable space. Also in the rear they provide a small pouch that includes a charging cable with the standard J1772 connector. I was also able to see under the hood for the first time. Most of the people who looked at it agreed that it resembled a gasoline engine because of the way all of the components were arranged and it had what resembled a valve-cover like a regular car. They did not have one available to drive.
Ford Focus
Ford had a prototype of the Focus EV on display, as well as a cut-away version of the car where you could more closely examine the drive train. In the case of the Focus, it was obvious that Ford was using the existing gasoline vehicle as its starting point because I could see a lot of familiar parts on the frame of the car that are unique to gasoline powered vehicles, such as the exhaust channel and even hooks for holding the catalytic converter and exhaust system in place. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but I do prefer a car that is purpose-built to be an EV or hybrid. I also did not like the instrumentation. It was all analog and if you sat down in this car and didn’t know any better, at first glance you wouldn’t even realize there was anything different about it. Again, nothing wrong with that per se, but I prefer a vehicle that looks high-tech inside, if it is high-tech under the hood. They did not have one available to drive.
Ford Think
I was able to see a Think up close and they were offering test drives, but I was unable to drive one. The exterior of the Focus is a double-edged sword so to speak. It is made of an opaque plastic that resembles something made by Rubbermaid or Fisher-Price. Still, I kind of like it because it would be very dent, rust, and scratch proof. In fact, maybe instead of using armour-all on the tires and the dash, you could use it on the whole body of the car! On the other hand, it looks cheap to a lot of people so that might affect its perception.
Toyota Prius PHV
Toyota had several of these at the show. They were giving test drives, but you had to sign up and get a time-slot. By the time I went to sign up, only an hour after the event started, they informed me that all of the slots were full for the day. Still, it was one of the best looking cars there, and possibly will be the most successful when it goes on the market. I say that, despite the low EV range of 13 miles, because Toyota has a great reputation already and people trust the Prius brand. Combine that with the fact this product will be much cheaper than other competitors (such as the Chevy Volt) and more practical that some of the little EV’s like the i-Miev or Think, then you have a real winner. I just wish we didn’t have to wait until 2012 to buy one.
Toyota Highlander PHV
News to me, I didn’t even know they were making such a vehicle. I don’t have anything to report on it, other than it exists and I saw people driving it. I need to research some more on that and find out about the range, speed, estimated time of availability, etc.
Toyota Fuel Cell Hybrid
Yeah, that is right. It said “Fuel Cell Hybrid” right on the side. I asked the Toyota spokeswoman standing by it what was meant by “hybrid” and she informed me that it used the standard Hybrid Synergy Drive (just like the Prius or Camry) only instead of gasoline, it used hydrogen. Now, I was left very confused by that statement. If the hydrogen were being burned in a combustion engine, I could see this possibility. However, it specifically said it was a fuel-cell so that means the vehicle has to have an electric drive train. So how do you have a “hybrid” when you have an electric drive train combined with……. an electric drive train? My best guess is that the lady had no idea what she was talking about. More than likely they are just calling it a hybrid because it also has a Lithium battery pack for regenerative braking and extra power. But so does the Honda Clarity FCX and they don’t refer to theirs as a hybrid.
Toyota RAV-4 EV
Since I live in Texas, I’ve never seen one of these except on the internet and in movies such as “Who Killed the Electric Car?” So it was pretty cool getting to see one up close. What would have been better is if somebody had brought a GM EV-1, but they would probably be afraid somebody might come tow it away and crush it. There were at least 3 of those on display. Also worth noting is that Toyota is supposed to be making a new all-electric RAV-4 with the new body style, but they did not have one of those there.
Tesla
There were 3 Tesla Roadsters on display. But Tesla did not have an official presence at the show, as these were just enthusiasts who brought in their cars. It would have been great to get a look at the Model-S prototype.
Plug-in Kits
There were several companies there which build and/or install plug-in kits. Green Gears was there representing the A123 Hymotion kit and I was able to get a quick interview with one of them. Also Jack Chen of Enginer was there and I was able to talk to him briefly, although the only Enginer kit they had on display was an older model. I asked both of them questions that were a bit unusual, based on the common questions I heard other patrons asking, such as the usual “how much, how far, how fast, etc” I was more interested in how they saw the competition from Toyota’s own PHV they are building. Enginer felt that it was not a threat because it would help raise awareness of plug-in hybrids and help sell their product more to people with existing models. Hymotion doesn’t feel threatened because Toyota’s product is over a year away and they foresee designing a new product that will enhance the range of the PHV Prius. I also saw kits from Plug-in Supply and a few others.
Home-Built
There were a few home-built models on display. My favorite was the Mazda Miata using a bunch of Optima blue-top batteries. I liked how he had a charging indicator next to the charge-port so that you can see if it is done charging right there where it plugs in.
Missing in Action
I thought it was Odd that Honda didn’t come out to show their Insight, Civic Hybrid, Civic CNG, or CR-Z. All of those would have interested the patrons of this expo. Also GM didn’t show up with their Chevy Volt. Maybe they didn’t want to be assaulted by all of the people who hate them for crushing their EV-1′s?
[...] Re: Green Drive Expo is coming to California; Free admission through PriusChat I made an entire video episode about the expo. I probably ran into several people from Prius Chat, but I wouldn't know what any of you look like. Maybe some of you made it into the video? Green Drive Expo Report | evtalk [...]
Nice report and video. Thanks!
(I think there may be a typo in the Ford Think paragraph which referred to the Focus.)
For those who like these types of events, EV Fest is happening in Toronto this weekend. See evfest.ca for details.
“What would have been better is if somebody had brought a GM EV-1, but they would probably be afraid somebody might come tow it away and crush it.”
Kind of hard to bring something that doesn’t exist anymore. If you saw the movie, I believe they crushed all of them accept for one which they removed the drivetrain and let the Perterson Car Museum in Los Angeles keep the shell. Saw it there, though not much to see and it’s not like you can even touch it much less sit in it.
As for the Toyota Fuel Cell Hybrid, I drove it last week at the 5th annual Alt Car Expo http://www.altcarexpo.com/ held in Santa Monica. It was fast, quiet and just a wonderful piece of Vaporware. They said the range on it was over 400 miles.
I believe there are still 100 or more in existence.
[...] Click bellow to see a video review of the show from EVTALK.org [...]