NEXT MEETING: Friday, April 16th 7:30PM in Room K-141 at the College of DuPage SW Corner of 22^nd Street & Lambert Road in Glen Ellen.

DISCUSSION TOPICS - 1. Guest speaker John Wayland will present a program on electric drag racing (See below). 2. Status of our meeting room future assignment.

MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION

Any person interested in electric cars is welcome to join the FVEAA.  The cost for a full year's dues is $20 which will entitle the member to receive our monthly Newsletter that contains useful information about electric car components, construction, policies, and events.  Dues for NEW members joining in March will be $14.

To obtain information about the FVEAA, you may contact either President Woods or Vice President Shafer:

1. The April meeting will feature John Wayland from Oregon.  John is assisting the members of the race team in electrifying a dragster.  New Member kevin Zak arranged for this program.  Their first competition is expected in may in Joliet.  I hope many of our members can show our support.

2. A progress report will be given on our future meeting place options.  We had an inconclusive meeting with the new room assignment administrators last month.  We have requested a future meeting with the COD Board of Trustees to discuss their policy change.

3. The April meeting location has been CHANGED TO ROOM M-141 by COD.  The M building is South of the K building.  To avoid a lot of walking from our usual parking lot I suggest parking in the M lot, on the west side of Lambert Road and the first entrance SOUTH of 22nd. Street.  This lot serves the tennis courts.

KEN

The meeting at COD was called to order by president Woods at 7:36PM. Eighteen members attended and new member Lynn Prine joined the FVEAA.

President Woods arrived and announced that Cindy McFadden who was scheduled for the third time to present a program on the FUTURE CAR challenge was again a no show.  He brought along and introduced Hans Detweiler, the public information person from the Environmental Law and Policy Center in Chicago.

The minutes and Treasurer Corel's report were approved.

There was a report by Ken Woods on the Clean Cities programs held in March.  The first meeting at the Chicago Lung Association provided a general overview of the program.  The second meeting at Argonne Lab was essentially an alternative fuel vehicle trade show.  About 250 attended.  Argonne charges $350 for exhibit space and $15 for the lunch.  The major manufacturers each made presentations and had vehicles available for inspection and test driving.  

Alternative fuel vehicles used compressed natural gas, methanol, ethanol, and propane.  Although the FVEAA was not invited, two members drove their converted vehicles and showed them off in the parking lot.  Member Ed Meyer reported that when he drove into the lot, he kept the Curtis controller in the 3khz chopping mode.  Spectators thought the Nissan was turbine-powered.  Member George Krajanovich was again there with his converted Omni.  The FVEAA needs to make an earlier effort to get on next years's Argonne program.

The rest of the meeting was concerned with a location for future meetings.  The COD has started enforcing a 1994 COD Board policy of a $15/hr meeting room charge, beginning in July.  This would cost the FVEAA $540.  Everyone agreed it would not be wise to raise the FVEAA annual dues an equivalent amount.  Currently about 85% of annual dues goes for newsletter copying and mailing.

Several alternatives were listed and discussed:

      1.  Discuss the policy with COD, including the Board of trustees and ask them either to eliminate the charge as a                   community adult education activity supported by taxes or to reduce the charge.

      2.  Cut our meeting time to 2 hours and hold informal discussions after the meeting.  This would reduce the monthly               charge to $30, an amount that would be acceptable.

      3.  Find another meeting location.  There is an advantage in COD location.  It is centrally located in the Chicago                  area.  Several members offered to check North Central College and others.

      4.  Go to an every-other-month meeting.  There was no support for this suggestion.

These options will be examined by the FVEAA Board and a report made at the April meeting.

Member Jerry Mitchell talked about the FCC current considerations of licensing low-power FM stations.  Jerry has forty years behind the microphone at NBC, ABC and currently at Infinity Broadcasting FM Station WYLL  He noted the benefits of this move that will allow limited community radio services not now provided.  He also noted that one company owns eight broadcast frequencies and there is similarity of program format that tries to maximize listnership by "dumbing down" content.  He asked members to write letters in support of the concept to their local U.S. Congressional representatives.

From the notes of Bill Shafer.

FILL 'ER UP, AT LEAST IN CARACAS.  AUTOWEEK,  March 29, 1999, Page 29.  Here's what a gallon of gasoline costs around the world, at least before the recent price hikes:

Most-Expensive Places	Least-Expensive Places
Hong Kong               $5.04	Venezeula                   $0.48
Oslo                            4.57	Nigeria                           .49
Paris                            4.47	Kuwait                           .51
Amsterdam                  4.35	Indonesia                       .61
Bermuda                      4.32	Saudi Arabia                 .62
London                         4.27	Bahrain                         .82
Milan                            4.21	Abu Dhabi                    .85
	United States                .96

The difference is largely due to taxes.  A future gallon of unleaded gasoline on the NY Mercantile Exchange is listed (without taxes) for about 50 cents.

Carmakers finding it's not easy being green. Columbus Dispatch, March 5, 1999 Page 4J. (Los Angeles Times)  With cheap gas costing less than bottled water it hardly seems a logical time to write off the internal combustion engine.  Today's driving force behind "green cars" is the California Mandate that by 2003, 10% of the vehicles must be emmision-free.  Automakers are exploring a wide range of options to meet this mandate.

"The cheapest solution wins" says Delphi President Donald Runkle.  Comparing concepts include electric cars using elctrochemical battery systems, hybrids combining two or more powertrains, and fuel cells.  the problem with all of these approaches is higher costs, something that the manufacturers are skeptical the American public will accept.

The 1999 Tour de Sol will be held May 22-28 from Waterbury CT to Lake George NY.  Fifty vehicles are expected to compete.  This will be followed on May 26-27 when the SAE and NESEA will host an International Conference on Hybrid Electric Vehicles.

Fill er up with hydrogen.  Chicago Tribune 2/7/99.  Liquid hydrogen went on sale to German motorists in Hamburg last month.  This was the first filling station in Europe to offer the fuel.,, Early business was slow, but backers insist it is only a matter of time before their station will be crowded.  (Editor's note - I wonder where they get the liquid hydrogen?)

Part II. Chicago Sun-Times 3/7/99.  Three of Europe's largest companies, DaimelerChrysler, Royal Dutch Shell, and Norway's Norsk Hydro, have teamed up with an Icelandic consortium to replace petrol and diesel fuel there with hydrogen that can be used by fuel cell buses, cars, and boats.  They aim to create the worlds first hydrogen economy.

CLEAN POLITICS, The MErcedes NECAR, Autoweek March 29, 1999, Page 4.  DaimlerChrysler has been promoting its fuel cell car, the NECAR, that runs on a hydrogen fuel cell, in Detroit, Geneva, and Washington.  It is essentially a political lobbying tool because the first models due out in 2004 are likely to run on methanol, not hydrogen.  They will be costly, at least as "overpriced", as GM's EV-1 is today.  Chairman Bob Eaton admitted that today, a NECAR would sell well into the six figures.  The methanol-fueled cars will still require development of a fuel infrastructure.  Tax incentives are at the heart of the lobbying effort.

Run with the sun. HomePower. Feb/Mar 1999, Page 8. Alaska, away from any power grid, is an unlikely place for electric cars, but Ed LaChapelle in McCarthy, Alaska writes about his electrified Bombardier Neighborhood Vehicle.  the little two-seater has been modified to charge its batteries from a series-connected solar panel.  Their home is separated from the road system by a river and they use the car to drive five miles to the river.  There is a 800-foot climb from house to river but the return trip is almost all downhill.  Their BP Photovoltaic panel on the house roof charges the vehicle for 2-days, adequate to make the trip every other day.

The vehicle weighs 1275 pounds.  It has six GNB Champion 12-volt batteries.  The car's max speed is 25 mph and has a design range of 30 miles.  The vehicle was modified with a canvass hatch and door sealers that use liberal amounts of duct tape to seal out the dust.

Seven BP 75-watt solar panels are connected in series to deliver 120 volts, 4-amps in full sun, to the vehicle.  They also have switches to connect six panels in series and apply 72 volts directly to the battery.  When not used for vehicle charging, the panels are connected in parallel to charge the house 12-volt battery bank.

Last summer they drove the vehicle 100 miles.  If you want more info, you can contact Ed via Email - edlach@aol.com.

Powertrain panel sees green future.Chicago Sun-Times, 2/99.  "Green" cars were a discussion subject at Automotive news World Congress.  IC engines with a direct injection, improved catalysts and electronic control of valve trains will reduce engine emissions.  Mass production of fuel cells are likely to reach their cost goal of just $30/kw and encourage use of this power source.  Battery powered vehicles and hybrids will have an extended range with NiMH batteries.  Belt-driven Continuously Variable Transmissions (CVT) and six-speed automatics for loads up to 190 foot-pounds of torque will become popular and increase mileage.  All these are likely to be on the market by 2005.

Listen, Detroit: You'll Get a Charge Out of This. TIME. February 28, 1999.  This article is about two individuals involved in electric cars; Stanley Ovishinski, inventor of the  Ovonic NiMh battery, and Geoffrey Ballard, the ex-geophysicist who is the moving force behind fuel cell development at Ballard Power Systems in Vancouver.  NiMH battery cost has declined 40% in the past two years.  In 1983 Ballard and his two collaborators reduced fuel cell price by reducing the amount of expensive platinum needed.

Back To The Future. Suburban (Chicago) LIFE Newspapers.  January 1999.  The first electric vehicle built in 1890 was a battery-powered tricycle.  A six-passenger electric car was an important exhibit at the 1893 World's Fair.  The ELECTROBAT was introduced in Philadelphia in 1895.  It had a 100 mile range with a 15 mph top speed.

Auto Makers Are Racing to Market "Green" Cars powered by Fuel Cells.  Wall Street Journal, March 15, 1999, Page 1.  In the automobile world, five years hence is "tomorrow".  This article is a description of the DaimlerChrysler (DC) work to have a fuel cell car on the market by 2004.  DC has concluded that fuel cells are a leading contender to dethrone the century-old dominance of the internal combustion engine.  Not long ago auto companies were touting the electric car as the successor to the IC engine, but the cost and disappointing marketing performance of GM's EV-1 has cooled their ardor.

DC has a joint effort with Ballard Power Systems.  In 1997 Ford spent $420-million to buy into the joint DC-Ballard work.  "Tomorrow" the consortium expects to have a methanol fuel cell car and fuel supply infrastructure in place.

Operation Supercar. Newsweek, January 15, 1999.  This is an article about the work going on at Argonne to test the Toyota PRIUS and other high-tech future cars.  The term "Supercar" was coined by Amory Lovins to describe a vehicle that could carry four passengers with a fuel economy of 80 miles per gallon and almost zero emissions.  Diesel and propane fuel, electricity, and hydrogen are key components in reaching this goal.  Lately a consensus has been forming around hybrid vehicles that utilize power averaging combined with small-capacity batteries.  Another possibility is the fuel cell.  CM Chairman Jack Smith used to think this power source wouldn't be ready until 2020.  Now GM plans to have prototypes ready by 2004.

Supercar development is being assisted with an infusion of government cash that funds the Partnership for New Generation Vehicle (PNGV).  Sierra Club President Dainil Becker views this as a "scam designed to fend off new regulations".  He is echoed by Ralph Nader who observed, "Until the vehicles are on the showroom floor, its nothing more than razzle-dazzle, R&D flimflam".

Amory Lovins of the Rocky Mountain Research believe that fuel cells will beat other approaches, hands-down.  To put a fuel cell in a car, automakers face the challenge of putting a mini-refinery on the car to extract hydrogen from methanol fuel.  GM's Smith notes "We have one running but it looks like a chemistry lab experiment - the equipment fills up the entire back of the test vehicle".

In 1997, auto makers sold 12,000 alternative-fueled vehicles.  Most used compressed natural gas and were bought by fleet owners.