EVMaine: So you like the old step relay arrangements?
Tom: I do. I like contactor controllers because they’re simple, I’ve built several from scratch and if they’re done right they’re very smooth. Charley MacArthur had a 1918 Detroit electric that had five forward speeds on it, and you couldn’t tell from one step to the other. With a good contactor/controller with relays instead of just a big drum switch, the only way you know you’re shifting speeds is hearing the contactor go ‘clunk.’ And some people think that’s not acceptable, but I kinda do because I know that there’s not much there to go wrong. Having been stranded with a vehicle with electronics that have gone over the years, having a contactor or something that you can take a screwdriver and pliers and fix it at least enough to get home is a very attractive proposition to me.
EVMaine: Have you worked with two-wheeled electric motorcycles?
Tom: Not directly, I had a, Lou McNalley, you know, from MPBN, his daughter got in touch with me. She was a senior engineering student a few years ago. She was doing a project making a motorcycle and I got her set up with the motor and the controller and we got the thing running and, ah, I didn’t do it directly though. She did a good job, until her boyfriend wracked it up on something. But it went fast, it was a very fast vehicle. You know I would like to, ah, my idea of a motorcycle is a motorcycle and sidecar, and loading the sidecar with the batteries. I guess motorcycles with a sidecar aren’t very stable, but I like the idea of having a two-wheeled vehicle that has that extra wheel because I can see myself falling over if I had a two-wheeled vehicle.
EVMaine: What do you think of the new Chevrolet Volt concept car?
Tom: I think its nice to see that Chevrolet/GM is paying attention to the bad press that they got with the EV-1. I’m not sure its too little, too late. Being the first in the marketplace isn’t necessarily a great thing, as Toyota and Honda are. I’m optimistic, I feel a little nationalistic that I’d like to see our car companies catch up. Of course the concept vehicle is basically a concept body with just a standard electric motor that you or I could buy, and it only goes about five miles an hour right now, but I’m sure they have a lot they don’t want to show at this point. I’m sure they’re paying attention. The EV-1 was such a well-engineered vehicle, of course it wasn’t engineered in-house very much with GM. It’s also a little more complicated than I, as a tinkerer, would be interested in with an AC motor and the rest, but it certainly stood on its own two feet, and it certainly had very loyal customers.
EVMaine: Do you think that Toyota or Honda will come out with a pure electric car in the near future?
Tom: I would imagine so, the marketplace is asking for it, although a pure electric is just so much simpler and so much safer in terms of the consumer not having problems with it, but they might not because the hybrid has so much more going for it in terms of service issues. There’s some security there. I think car dealers make a lot of their money in service, they don’t necessarily make it in selling the vehicle, they make it after somebody owns it. So I wouldn’t be surprised if they didn’t produce an electric vehicle because the dealers would scream. I hope that they would produce one. And the range is certainly another issue. I think that the Tesla and the T-Zero and companies like that, Phoenix Motorcars, are all proving that the lithium-ion battery is probably going to be here to stay. If you can get a couple hundred miles range with a pure electric, the idea of getting a hybrid is not as appealing.
EVMaine: What about the batteries? There’s a shortage of available batteries using the new battery technologies, so do you think the battery companies will come online fairly quickly with those?
Tom: Yes, the lead-acid batteries are certainly a great technology. They’re nothing phenomenal, but they’re here, we have recycling in place, there’s a lot of manufacturers in place, but they do have limitations. Nickel-Metal-Hydride batteries are locked up; a lot of the patents are locked up by GM, although I guess one of the Japanese companies is using them. Ni-Cad batteries, I think, are a little bit dated at this point. I think the lithium-ion is really going to happen. We’re seeing a lot of manufacturers coming online, I think, and there’s a lot of breakthroughs, so all we need is for the price to come down. And I’m sure that’s a function of volume. The lead-acid batteries are cheap because everybody makes them, so I think similar things will happen with lithium-ion.
