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Who built the electric car?

Enthusiasts and engineers pick up where the policy makers left off
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My initial reaction meeting Colin McCubbin and viewing his latest project was the opposite of Marty McFly's reaction in Back to the Future when he first eyed Doc Brown's latest project:

"Are you telling me that you built a time machine? Out of a DeLorean?"

Because back then the DeLorean was a pretty cool car - steel construction, gull-wing doors... it was a vehicle both rare and expensive, driven by playboys and quarterbacks to all-night coke parties at Studio 54.

But McCubbin's project?

"You built an electric car? Out of a Pontiac Firefly?"

A baby blue, convertible Firefly LE no less. It's the kind of car a student drives (into the ground), or that a retired senior might tow behind a motorhome to use for day trips. The word "shitbox" comes to mind, although electric vehicle enthusiasts know there's more to it than meets the eye. In a lot of ways it's the ideal car to convert into an electric vehicle, even if it required a lot of retrofitting.

As McCubbin explains, it's extremely light and very utilitarian in design. For its size, the Firefly is also relatively sturdy (with some assistance from tie bars and reinforcements). Best of all, used Fireflys are available for cheap and (unlike, say, a DeLorean) there is no shortage of spare parts lying around in wrecking yards.

Plus, McCubbin used to have a MG Midget back in England, and when he learned there were Firefly convertibles he "had a fit of nostalgia."

"So," I ask. "Where's the flux capacitor?"

 

• • •

For McCubbin, building an electrical vehicle was never so much a question of why as how. When the opportunity presented itself he seized it.

No question McCubbin is an interesting guy. His wardrobe that day was pure Jimmy Buffett, from the flip flops to his Hawaiian shirt. And with his aviator sunglasses and grey ponytail he comes across like a cool high school science teacher.

He also does interesting things. Even spending a short period of time with him discussing his Firefly project opened up a wide variety of other topics I would have liked to explore in a lot more detail. Here's what I picked up in a short period of time:

McCubbin was born and raised in England, attending the same school as environmentalist and progressive political writer George Monbiot (who wrote the bestselling book Heat: How to Stop the Planet Burning - and who also happens to be McCubbin's cousin).

That high school, Stowe School in Buckinghamshire, is famous for its focus on environmentalism and politics, according to McCubbin, and a lot of its graduates are leaders in England's green movement. Entrepreneur Richard Branson of Virgin records, airlines, mobile etc. was also at Stowe with McCubbin.

After graduating, McCubbin went on to earn a degree in electrical engineering, something that opened a door into the music industry - another of McCubbin's interests. He cut his teeth wiring lighting and sound systems for nightclubs. In 1978 he hooked up a nightclub in Sweden with an array of17,000 lights. It took five weeks to oversee that project, after which point McCubbin crashed in the manager's office.

"The door opens, I'm woken up (to hear) 'all the lights have failed.' A full club, pitch dark on opening night. I go to the lighting console. No power. Breaker room. Power. Lights come on. I'm tearing my hair out. Lights go off again. Turns out there was a fireman's cut-off switch outside the building, and a joker was outside standing on a car to reach it."

It was through another nightclub job, at the Palace Hotel in St. Moritz, that McCubbin branched off in another direction. "I went back there on a service call, met a girl, quit the job and became a ski bum. At the end of that winter I took my first ski instructor's exams, passed and got a ski school job in Italy next winter."

He has a hobby collecting and restoring steel body or "mechanically amplified" musical instruments, popular among musicians once upon a time in the days before music was amplified - and popular now for their distinctive sound. McCubbin believes he has one of the largest collections of rare and vintage metal guitars in the world. Check out his hobby website, http://notecannons.com to get a sense of what that aspect of McCubbin is all about.

He also does some computer programming on the side. He wrote machine code for Control Data Corporation after graduating from college, and still writes the occasional website specializing in PHP - such as the issw2008.com website for the International Snow Science Workshop.

Then, in 2008 he saw the documentary Who Killed the Electric Car , which is when McCubbin decided he had to build his own electric vehicle (EV), although he had already been considering the idea for about five years.

"That movie interested me professionally, and this idea that if the big car companies weren't going to provide these vehicles that people wanted then people would have to start taking matters into their own hands and building them themselves," said McCubbin. "If this company (General Motors) that was so closely linked to the fossil fuel industry was working that hard to prevent this technology from catching on, then you know it's got to be good."

EV is a moniker that has stuck because it refers to all types of electric vehicles, from golf carts to motorcycles, rather than just one class of cars. It's inclusive, but it also steers away from all the associations we North American have with the word "car." However you look at them, EVs are different, and in order for the latest EV movement to be successful the people have to start thinking differently about what a vehicle really is - and consider purchasing a vehicle that's perfect for 99 per cent of their trips to work and the grocery store rather than making their purchasing decisions based on long-distance road trips where you need the longer range.

EV concept in his head, McCubbin moved to Whistler a few years ago after visiting Canada several times as the U.K. agent for Mike Wiegele Heliskiing. He once attended a Level 2 avalanche course in Whistler and fell in love with the community. He purchased a house here in 1992 but only applied for his landed immigrant status a few years ago. While that application was being processed he was not allowed to work for two years - either as a ski guide or an electrician.

"I decided I wanted to do something constructive with my time, and this was my project," said McCubbin.

There were no shortage of resources to get started. Canadian Electric Vehicles (http://canev.com) sells conversion kits and chargers and provides other expertise to do-it-yourselfers. They also build and sell electric vehicles, like the might-E-truck purchased by the RMOW for maintenance work.

McCubbin's original plan was to convert a light pickup truck, like an old Chevy S10, to an EV - largely considered to be an ideal EV because of the enhanced suspension and body strength and a large truck bed that is well-suited to carrying around heavy batteries.

McCubbin discussed his options with others - there are literally dozens of different ways to convert a vehicle - and decided to go with a small car instead. The Pontiac Firefly had already been converted successfully by other hobbyists (there's even a name for them, "The ElectricFly") which convinced McCubbin to start scouring used car listings for that type of vehicle.

"A friend said if you're going to do that then you have to make it a convertible, so that's what I put my mind to," said McCubbin.

He found a cheap one in Vancouver. It had some front-end damage but nothing he couldn't replace scouting out parts on Craigslist and eBay. There was no damage to the chassis and only a small amount of rust, which was amazing considering the vehicle was 17 years old. A sturdy frame is a pre-requisite for this type of project.

McCubbin had the vehicle towed to his home and stripped it down. He removed the engine, the transmission, the doors, the soft-top, the trunk liner, the gearbox, the braking system - everything. Some systems were obviously unnecessary, while others got in the way during the build. Others, like the brakes and suspension, would have to be upgraded and improved to handle the extra weight of the vehicle once the batteries were installed.

You can find all the details of the build - the installation of tie bars, the custom construction and installation of battery boxes, etc. - online at http://pontiacfirefly.com/ecarGallery/. Vehicle specs are also online at http://www.evalbum.com/2648.

It's nickname is "baby blue," to go along with McCubbin's blue Aerostar van that he has named Big Blue. It also goes by the names "Efly" and "Electrafly."

In brief:

McCubbin's Firefly contains 11 12-volt lead acid batteries, each weighing around 25 kg (56 pounds). Together, these batteries give the Firefly a range of around 35 kilometres on one charge.

The car is highway legal (ICBC has a category for electric vehicles) with two emergency battery shut-offs and a crash sensor. McCubbin can easily get the vehicle up to 85 km/h on the highway with its 19 horsepower DC motor. Unlike a gas car, an electric motor develops maximum torque when stalled/starting, so although the motor is only rated 19 hp when it gets up to speed, the motor is rated at 87 hp when starting!

(Having sat in it I can verify that this car rips - it accelerates like a sports car and corners like a dream, the latter of which is a function of having 600 pounds of batteries under the hood and sitting over the rear wheels).

The vehicle's recharging plug was appropriately placed behind the fuel door. McCubbin uses a charger from Manzanita Micro to refuel his car. The Firefly can recharge at either 110 or 220 volts (eight hours or four hours time respectively), although McCubbin generally uses the standard 110 volt option.

The vehicle has a five-speed manual transmission. He can typically start the vehicle and cruise around the neighbourhood in second gear, while fourth gear is usually enough to drive on the highway.

Some of the technical highlights include:

• McCubbin installed disk brakes in the back and a vacuum booster for the hydraulic brake system - the only noisy part of the vehicle, giving off a loud whine as the brake vacuum reservoir is recharged between stops. The extra weight of the vehicle requires more stopping power - and a lot of brake pads.

• The dashboard was modified, replacing the fuel and engine heat gauge with an ammeter to measure the battery current and a voltmeter to measure the charge in the auxiliary battery that controls the car's systems such as lights, power steering and brakes. McCubbin has never run out of power or tested the range, but based on his observations he believes the range would top out around 35 km.

• Not only did McCubbin upgrade the suspension to carry the extra weight, he also installed air assist bags to firm up the rear springs - an addition that is usually reserved for racing vehicles, off-roaders and heavy duty work vehicles.

• The Firefly coasts down hills to save power, unlike other EVs that will use that momentum to re-power the battery. Installing that type of system is only practical on an AC motor based system and would have increased costs and taxed McCubbin's setup, which was based on keeping the vehicle light.

• The total cost of the vehicle, conversion kit, batteries and parts, as well as some custom welding of battery boxes, motor mounts and other features (assisted by ProTek Industries in Function Junction, was around $8,000. McCubbin also estimates that he has spent roughly 400 hours on the project, although it's still very much a work in progress.

For example:

"I've been looking at the new Thundersky lithium-ion batteries, which weigh about a third as much as the lead acid ones and will probably triple my range to around 100 kilometres," said McCubbin. "It just wasn't economical at the start. When I started this project (in 2008), the lithium ion batteries were about $2,000 each, and it would have cost $25,500 all-in. Last year the price would have been about $12,500 and this year I probably could have done it for about $7,500. In a year or two the price is going to come down even more.

"That's what's going to drive the whole switch over to electric vehicles," McCubbins suggests. "If you look at the economics of it, all of the prices that were barriers to this kind of thing are coming down right now.

"Companies that do conversions are starting to pop up all over, so even if the big auto companies ignore electric cars this time around you're still going to see more and more of these vehicles on the road."

McCubbin is also looking to put the soft-top back on so he can use the car on wet and cold days. For now it remains a fair-weather vehicle.

 

• • •

While the car is sky blue on the outside, the whole concept is obviously about green.

The environmental benefits are significant, says McCubbin. The most obvious is that electric vehicles don't require any fossil fuels aside from fluids in the braking and steering systems, and lubrication for moving parts. There is no radiator or radiator fluid required, all the cooling for the power converter comes from air flow through a heatsink that McCubbin found on eBay and cut down to size.

Operating the vehicle is also cheap. Regular gasoline is now between $1 and $1.10 per litre, while B.C. residents pay 6.2 to 8.7 cents per kilowatt-hour of electricity - among the cheapest rates in North America. The cost per kilometre is far less for electric vehicles than for conventional cars with combustion engines - between 50 and 90 per cent cheaper, depending on the EV system and local power costs. The installation of a solar panel or small wind turbine at home - another possibility as kits come available - could make it even cheaper.

McCubbin doesn't suggest a project like this to a complete layman, "but someone who has a sound understanding of vehicle mechanics and understands the implications of the voltages involved and best wiring practices should have no trouble," he said. "My only recommendation would be to start with a new, less road-weary donor car. I spent more than half my energy locating and fitting new parts. I totally rebuilt the suspension, brake system, took all the wire loom out and made a new one, etc. In a newer car none of that would have been necessary."

 

Electric vehicles past and future

In a sense electric cars have always been the future, but somehow that future never gets here. Now we're going back. Back to the Future, so to speak.

The first hobby models date back to the 1890s. In 1897 the Electric Carriage and Wagon Company of Philadelphia built the first fleet of commercial electric vehicles for a New York City taxi company.

Back then, electric was clearly the way to go. Electric cars didn't shake and rattle and bang, they didn't belch black smoke or foul-smelling exhaust, they didn't require clutches and transmissions, and you could start them with a flick of a switch rather than a hand crank. By 1900 around 38 per cent of cars were powered by electricity, versus about 22 per cent by gasoline. The remainder, and majority, were powered by coal and steam, which was really just a different kind of fossil-fuel combustion with a few large issues of its own.

But even back then there was always a question of range, which is really the age-old question of battery life. The new network of roads and highways connecting cities demanded longer ranges, and the only vehicles that could deliver that freedom of movement, without shoveling a lot of coal, had combustion engines.

The electric car industry put up some strong competition, and at one point a company called Harford Electric started a battery exchange service for electric trucks that allowed drivers to swap out their dead and dying batteries for freshly charged cells - an idea that is being revisited today.

But it was a lost cause. By the 1920s the electric car business was in decline and by 1930 it was gone. The new game was all about power - larger vehicles that offered a faster and more comfortable ride, as well as unlimited range as gas pumping stations bloomed across the landscape.

But now, on the heels of record gas prices and with nothing but bad news on the human-caused climate change front, electric cars are making a comeback. Tesla Motors is releasing a line of luxury electric Roadsters; Nissan is debuting The Leaf electric vehicle this year; General Motors - after a false start with their EV1 vehicles (a story told best by the documentary, Who Killed the Electric Car ?) - is preparing to release the Volt, an electrical vehicle with an onboard combustion engine that quadruples its range by recharging the battery. Mercedes, Volvo, BMW, Peugeot, Toyota, Mitsubishi and others are also testing models that could be market-ready in the next year or two.

Hybrid gas/electric vehicles are now fairly common, with Toyota, Honda and Ford leading the way. In a hybrid, batteries assist combustion engines and control the transmission to make idling a thing of the past.

There are other examples of electrical vehicles in our own backyard. The Resort Municipality of Whistler uses an electric "might-E-truck" to pick up trash and recycling around the village. The three local golf courses (and golf courses around the world) use electric carts to ferry golfers around. Twenty buses in the Whistler and Valley Express (WAVE) fleet use hydrogen fuel cells to power their way around town, which are similar to electric vehicles because there is no combustion involved - all the hydrogen does is essentially recharge the buses' fuel cell batteries, which in turn power their electric motors.

But while electric vehicles are making a comeback - particularly e-bikes and e-scooters in urban areas - it's also a challenging field right about now. Toronto-based Zenn Motors sold 360 vehicles in two years, but their costs were about four times their profits. The company only exists now to develop ultra-capacitor batteries that will hold more power and charge faster than other batteries.

The Chevy Volt will retail for around $45,000 in Canada in 2011, which puts them out reach of many consumers. The Nissan Leaf will cost about $35,000, but unlike the Volt there is no onboard gasoline generator to solve the range issue.

More promising, a company by the name of Better Place is working to create a system that can swap out batteries in a matter of minutes, potentially giving vehicles an almost unlimited range. The problem is that this system would require a standard side-loading EV chassis for every type of vehicle, and the big auto manufacturers aren't ready for that. Mercedes has already turned Better Place down.

But while it seems like the industry is at best divided, governments uncommitted and infrastructure non-existent (although the Resort Municipality of Whistler has installed an electric vehicle charging station in the Whistler Conference Centre parkade), the march to electric vehicles is gaining momentum.

Why? Pick your reason: rising gas prices and peak oil. Climate change. The return to urban (rather than suburban) living. Cheaper and better batteries. Government grants and subsidies to the industry. New investments in renewable energy. The rise of the middle class in China and India and their need for vehicles. Smarter power grids that would use electric vehicles as a distributed battery to serve peak demands. Incidents like the recent BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

This time it appears to be for real. Electric cars are out there and doing some amazing things.

For example, in June the Racing Green Endurance Team (www.racinggreenendurance.com) passed through Whistler on their quest to drive the entire Pan-Am highway, from the northern tip of the Alaska Highway to the southernmost tip of Argentina, to show what is possible with an electric vehicle and to draw attention to the technology.

McCubbin has gotten into the EV community in a big way, meeting with Racing Green on its way through Whistler. He even provided some seed funding for a student project at UBC to convert a classic Volkswagen Beetle to electric. That vehicle, fitted with Lithium batteries, claims a staggering 500 kilometres between charges. The UBC Beetle began a cross-country trip on Aug. 21, which you can follow online at www.ubcecc.com/blog/category/news/.

McCubbin says there are roughly 20 do-it-yourself custom EVs in B.C., a category that doesn't include souped-up golf carts, fleet vehicles, e-bikes or prefabricated cars. However, the Vancouver EV Association (VEVA at www.veva.bc.ca) is growing all the time, and hosts monthly meetings where dozens of enthusiasts gather to discuss their projects and learn about the latest development. They host regular rallies and show-and-shines, and participate in tradeshows and other forums to encourage a shift (back) to electric vehicles.

Still, McCubbin believes the technology has a long way to go despite all the progress made in recent years.

"If I had the loot I'd buy a Tesla Roadster tomorrow," jokes McCubbin.

"My main current concern is I still think the battery technologies have a long way to go. No one really seems to have a handle on the lifespan of the current offerings' battery packs...

"The exchangeable battery pack system offered in select world regions by Better Place may well be the way forward."

 

Viva la VEVA

John Stonier, a director at VEVA, is proud of the role their organization has played in promoting electric vehicles.

"VEVA has played an active role in raising awareness of the value of electric vehicles for our environment, and for consumers, as well as supporting local governments in bringing in electric vehicle infrastructure," he said.

In particular, VEVA played an active role lobbying the Resort Municipality of Whistler to install EV charging outlets at parking stalls. As of January, there are four electric vehicle charging stations on the first level of the Whistler Conference Centre parking lot.

At the time, Mayor Ken Melamed commented that "the charging stations are a small step on a much larger journey toward sustainability; however, they demonstrate that Whistler is continuously willing to explore and support new opportunities for progressive energy and emissions management."

The charging stations are free, given the fact that installing a cash and credit card metering system would cost more than simply providing the power. That will likely be revisited as EVs become more common and the cost of providing that power goes up.

VEVA has also achieved a coup working with the City of Vancouver. Since 2008 EV charging infrastructure has been a requirement for single family homes with garages. Condo buildings require 20 per cent of their parking stall to be wired for EVs.

Every year VEVA also hosts Electrafest for EV enthusiasts, with this year's event taking place on Sept. 12. The event has expanded into a week-long event with a national tradeshow and conference taking place, and the support of major automotive companies preparing to release their vehicles to market.

 

The might-E-truck

The Resort Municipality is on its second electric vehicle. The first might-E truck they purchased was better suited to warehouses than the outdoors and was decommissioned in its third year. The second vehicle, also built on Vancouver Island, has offered better battery life and easy recharging through standard outlets. It's been on duty for the past four years.

"It's in operation seven days a week inside the village making garbage runs, doing village clean-up - we have a dumptruck and scissor bucket adaptation so we can use it to get up and do work on light poles and trees," said Curtis Smith, lead hand of the RMOW's village maintenance department.

The RMOW has also looked at other EVs for different applications. It will be sending someone to Electrafest to look at various vehicles that are available.

While the truck is dependable and an improvement on the first EV truck, it also has a few shortcomings:

"We generally get a full day of use during the winter but in the summer we're working from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. and we don't get a full day's use out of the batteries. They usually go until 5 p.m. or 6 p.m.," said Smith.

Snow isn't an obstacle, says Smith, but it does pose some challenges.

"It's not four-wheel drive, but that doesn't seem to be a problem because of the weight of the batteries," he said. However, Smith says he would like to see the vehicles get a little more advanced as well as given a longer range. For example, on cold and rainy days the use of defoggers and heaters drains the batteries faster.

"They are very good vehicles to work in village, they're quiet and exhaust-free, but they need to improve a little before we could switch over entirely," said Smith. "I hope they do."

 

In conclusion:

McCubbin is not done when it comes to cutting his environmental footprint. He has his next project lined up: building a 100 per cent solar home on a piece of land he purchased in Osoyoos - the warmest and driest region in all of Canada, and the perfect site to experiment. McCubbin has already started, although he said that project could take a few years to complete. He has taken training to become certified in installing Insulating Concrete Formwork, as well as a certified geothermal installer and designer.

"It's an enjoyable challenge," says McCubbin. "It's all out there on the Internet, on Craigslist, on eBay, on electrical sites, all you have to do is figure out how to put it all together. It's a hobby, but it's also something that I really believe in and one day it could be more than that.

"I get so many questions about the car while I'm driving around, and I know a few others in town that are now looking at getting kits and building their own vehicles.

"This is really the future, especially in a province like B.C. where so much of our power is from renewable sources. We should be leading the way."

 

Links:

 

Production electric cars:

• Nissan Leaf - www.nissan.ca/LEAF

• Chevy Volt - www.GM.ca/Chevrolet/Volt

 

To purchase an electric vehicle:

• Canadian Electric Vehicles - www.canev.ca

• E-SUV - www.e-suv.ca

• Rapid Electric Vehicles (converts Fords for fleet use) - www.rapidelectricvehicles.com

• Dynasty Motorcar - www.itiselectric.com

 

To convert an electric vehicle:

• Electric Autosports Inc. - www.electricautosports.com

• Canadian Electric Vehicles - www.canev.ca

• Rapid Electric Vehicles - www.rapidelectricvehicles.com

• Excel Autocare - www.veva.bc.ca

 

 



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