The Race For The Electric Car

Competition To Build A Viable Electric Car Heats Up, As Silicon Valley Gets Into The Game

(CBS)  The price of oil is up, gas guzzling cars are out, and a race for a fuel-free, practical electric car is on.

It includes the usual suspects: Detroit, Japan, and Germany. But as correspondent Lesley Stahl reports, a surprising newcomer with no experience at building cars has entered the race: Silicon Valley.

The jury is still out on whether electric cars can ever be really practical, but the computer geeks in California are betting that their inventiveness can beat out Detroit's cumbersome bureaucracy in producing a viable e-car.

One of the reasons electric cars have never taken off has been battery technology. A few years ago, someone wondered: why not use the batteries they put in laptop computers called lithium-ion batteries? That's when the environmentally-conscious hi-tech industry in California jumped in.

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The first all-electric sports car is called the "Roadster" and is made by Tesla Motors, a small start-up in Northern California.

The chairman of Tesla, Elon Musk, says the Roadster can accelerate from zero to 60 in four seconds. It is propelled by over 6,000 finger-sized lap top batteries, and not a single drop of oil.

Musk made his fortune by inventing PayPal, the online banking service. He launched Tesla five years ago, with no experience at all in the car business. Now he has over 1,000 orders for the Roadster from people like George Clooney and Gov. Schwarzenegger. They can afford it.

Musk says the Roadster sells for $109,000, and tells Stahl, with a smile, that the car is "a deal." "And our car's twice the efficiency of a Prius. So a Prius is a gas-guzzling hog by comparison with our cars," he says.

Musk says the Roadster can go over 200 miles before you have to plug it in to any ordinary wall outlet. It can take anywhere from four to 30 hours for a full charge.

"It’s very easy. It’s like plugging in a hairdryer. It’s so simple," Musk explains.

From the beginning, Musk wanted to prove that innovative and nimble Silicon Valley could build a better green car than lumbering, bureaucratic Detroit.

"Out of Detroit everybody thinks that Detroit is dumb," comments Bob Lutz, the vice chairman of General Motors.

"Or they think you’re hide-bound," Stahl remarks.

"Yeah. Same thing," Lutz says.

Lutz is the man in charge of developing GM's new products, and he says he owes Tesla and its Roadster a debt of gratitude. "If a small Silicon Valley start up believes that they can do a commercially viable electric car, are we going to sit here at General Motors and say, 'Well, a guy in California can do it, but we can't?' Well, that didn't sound very good."

Lutz admits that's embarrassing.

And so, the race was on, with Lutz overseeing the research and development of the Chevy Volt, which is a four-door family electric car.

The Volt is not purely electric - it's called a "plug-in hybrid." It'll drive on battery power alone for 40 miles; go beyond that, and a small gasoline engine kicks in to recharge the battery while you keep driving.

"Seventy eight percent of trips in the United States are under 40 miles a day," Lutz tells Stahl. "If all those people had Volts, you would have 78 percent of Americans basically never using another drop of gasoline."

Everything about the Volt, he says, works like a conventional car, except there's no noise. "There's one thing we can do, for people who miss the sound of the engines, we sell them a CD…with various engine sounds. So you'll be able to pick a Ferrari V12 or, you know, Le Mans Corvette," Lutz explains.

GM is already touting the car in TV ads, even though they don't yet have a working prototype. "The real trick on the car is software. The car needs to know where home plate is. So if you, for some reason, have gone from work instead of directly home, you've gone shopping, and you're starting to run out of battery on the way home, the computer will tell the gas engine, 'Look, he's five miles from home, only run for three minutes, because he only needs enough to get home,'" Lutz explains.

What about safety? In 2006, Dell was forced to issue the biggest recall in electronics history when its lithium-ion batteries burst into flames. Lutz says GM has solved that problem with its batteries, but they need a lot more testing to check how durable and reliable they are in extreme weather and real-road conditions. Still, Lutz insists the Volts will be in dealerships by 2010.

"We've spoken to people who say, 'Lutz is crazy.' … they cannot do this by then. It's just not going to happen," Stahl says.

"Right. We'll see. Somebody's going to have egg on their face," Lutz replies.

[EV-lover]

If anyone is interested in learning more about this topic, there is an excellent book recently published which argues for the electric car and scrutinizes hybrids, hydrogen-based vehicles, and the automotive and oil industries as well as the government for their neglect of the electric vehicle as as viable alternative. It's called "Two Cents Per Mile" and it's a great starting point to understand the mechanics, history, and possibilities of the electric car. You can get it on amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Two-Cents-per-Mile-President/dp/0615293913/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1246464373&sr=8-1

[willkan1]

The problem with the electric car is the batteries. What is needed is a source of electric that is better than the batteries. I went to a local colledge and spoke to a physics professor. I told the professor that I have a theory for an invention that would solve all our energy and pollution problems. He grinned at me as if to say,"YA RIGHT". I told the professor that I needed someone to prove me worng so I could stop thinking about this. I am totally fixated. When the professor could not prove me wrong,he got angry,and said,"It will never work,but if it does,you will win a Noble Prize". I get so depressed to see all the money wasted,when I know that I have something better. We can solve it.org and the pickens plan makes me sick.

[dirttrucking]

Those guys from california need to be given more credt since they are putting their own money into the projects, unlike GM which has asked the gov''t for money to re-tool??? Yet their CEO is quite a wealthy man who does not dare put his personal money into these ventures. As if that is not enough, the new legislation has a clause that will give all Americans a $7,000.00 rebate to all those that buy a VOLT! Gm is a major corporation that needs to quit contributing to those problems that have brought our Country into the state it is in. Lutz is a greedy --- whose only concern is his wealth.

[dirttrucking]

Those guys from california need to be given more credt since they are putting their own money into the projects, unlike GM which has asked the gov''t for money to re-tool??? Yet their CEO is quite a wealthy man who does not dare put his personal money into these ventures. As if that is not enough, the new legislation has a clause that will give all Americans a $7,000.00 rebate to all those that buy a VOLT! Gm is a major corporation that needs to quit contributing to those problems that have brought our Country into the state it is in. Lutz is a greedy --- whose only concern is his wealth.

[lola328]

Curious: Where''s the moderator for this blog, one that should eliminate all these redundancies???

As Leslie Stahl said, Tesla is not for the commoner. What is need is a more affordable vehicle which has a performance similar to Chevy Volt but costs less. Actually, I have a patent pending invention that addresses the twin needs of an economical electric car for daily use (which is 95% of the time), and the flexibility to use it on vacation. I disclosed the invention to GM and Ford but they were not interested. The cost of the vehicle is expected to be the same as Toyota Prius. Anyone interested in licensing this technology can contact me at [e-mail]

Sincerely,
Narayanan Subramanian

[strmrnnr]

This should have started 20 years ago when the other countries did. North America was behind on the Hybrid Cars and they likely will be on the Full Electric Cars. The only thing that may save them in the Nanotechnology which allows for the superstregth to weight ratios to be added to the designs.

[claydowner]

The all electric plug-in car with a 100 mile range needs to be mass produced by the the Big Three automakers. Nearly, 90% of Americans drive less than 40 miles per day. If the car has a 100 mile range this will eliminate our need to import oil. Now imagine 250 million electric cars. Israel and Denmark are building all electric cars with a 100 mile range. Shai Agassi, Israeli businessman, has spearheaded the electric car with "Project Better Place". By 2020 Israel will have mostly electric cars. Denmark will follow suit. Combine Shai Agassi with T. Boone Pickens and you could get a comprehensive energy program eliminating oil almost entirely.

American corporations are very short sighted and ignorant. We all know oil is a finite resource that is going to run out even faster with China and India industrializing. We will have one billion cars by 2020 up from 800 million today. Remember we need to invest heavily into solar, windpower, and geothermal. Electricity from coal is a lot better for the environment than gasoline cars spewing out pollution and CO2. Electric cars CAN WORK VERY WELL. The status quo oil consumption economy has strong entrenched defenders. We need to start a major program to bring the all electric car to the market. The other nice thing is that all electric cars require very little maintenance. Once they get marketed they will sell like hot cakes.

[dirttrucking]

Those guys from california need to be given more credt since they are putting their own money into the projects, unlike GM which has asked the gov''t for money to re-tool??? Yet their CEO is quite a wealthy man who does not dare put his personal money into these ventures. As if that is not enough, the new legislation has a clause that will give all Americans a $7,000.00 rebate to all those that buy a VOLT! Gm is a major corporation that needs to quit contributing to those problems that have brought our Country into the state it is in. Lutz is a greedy --- whose only concern is his wealth.

[doctks]

This man is a large part of the reason that GM is suffering and will continue to do so for a very long time. He has no vision for the future whatsoever. He is extraordinarily dim, stubborn, and myopic in his belief that our existence on this earth has caused no significant distress.
One other thing I must mention is that trickle down economics doesn''t work because of people like this. How can he possibly need or use two jets and two helicopters. My bet is that he purchased these with all the income he made while GM was posting all those enormous profits over the last several years. Anyone dumb enough to purchase a GM car or who owns GM stock certainly has to feel stupid after watching this. Thanks for your excellent coverage. Sincerely,
Ted Sullivan

[dirttrucking]

Those guys from california need to be given more credt since they are putting their own money into the projects, unlike GM which has asked the gov''t for money to re-tool??? Yet their CEO is quite a wealthy man who does not dare put his personal money into these ventures. As if that is not enough, the new legislation has a clause that will give all Americans a $7,000.00 rebate to all those that buy a VOLT! Gm is a major corporation that needs to quit contributing to those problems that have brought our Country into the state it is in. Lutz is a greedy --- whose only concern is his wealth.

[dirttrucking]

Those guys from california need to be given more credt since they are putting their own money into the projects, unlike GM which has asked the gov''t for money to re-tool??? Yet their CEO is quite a wealthy man who does not dare put his personal money into these ventures. As if that is not enough, the new legislation has a clause that will give all Americans a $7,000.00 rebate to all those that buy a VOLT! Gm is a major corporation that needs to quit contributing to those problems that have brought our Country into the state it is in. Lutz is a greedy --- whose only concern is his wealth.

[dirttrucking]

Those guys from california need to be given more credt since they are putting their own money into the projects, unlike GM which has asked the gov''t for money to re-tool??? Yet their CEO is quite a wealthy man who does not dare put his personal money into these ventures. As if that is not enough, the new legislation has a clause that will give all Americans a $7,000.00 rebate to all those that buy a VOLT! Gm is a major corporation that needs to quit contributing to those problems that have brought our Country into the state it is in. Lutz is a greedy --- whose only concern is his wealth.

[dirttrucking]

Those guys from california need to be given more credt since they are putting their own money into the projects, unlike GM which has asked the gov''t for money to re-tool??? Yet their CEO is quite a wealthy man who does not dare put his personal money into these ventures. As if that is not enough, the new legislation has a clause that will give all Americans a $7,000.00 rebate to all those that buy a VOLT! Gm is a major corporation that needs to quit contributing to those problems that have brought our Country into the state it is in. Lutz is a greedy --- whose only concern is his wealth.

[dirttrucking]

Those guys from california need to be given more credt since they are putting their own money into the projects, unlike GM which has asked the gov''t for money to re-tool??? Yet their CEO is quite a wealthy man who does not dare put his personal money into these ventures. As if that is not enough, the new legislation has a clause that will give all Americans a $7,000.00 rebate to all those that buy a VOLT! Gm is a major corporation that needs to quit contributing to those problems that have brought our Country into the state it is in. Lutz is a greedy --- whose only concern is his wealth.

[dirttrucking]

Those guys from california need to be given more credt since they are putting their own money into the projects, unlike GM which has asked the gov''t for money to re-tool??? Yet their CEO is quite a wealthy man who does not dare put his personal money into these ventures. As if that is not enough, the new legislation has a clause that will give all Americans a $7,000.00 rebate to all those that buy a VOLT! Gm is a major corporation that needs to quit contributing to those problems that have brought our Country into the state it is in. Lutz is a greedy --- whose only concern is his wealth.

[pytrboaz]

You hit the main point about "all electric cars" and then let it go when you should have hammered the point. How is the elctricity produced to recharge these vehicles?
With elctricity from power plants. Here in the south a large part of our elctricity comes from hydroelectric dams. However with the global warming we are experiencing record droughts. So more and more of our elctricity comes from coal burning plants. These do not have the stringent Epa requirements of autos as to emissions. A 20 % switchover of cars to all electric would wreck the south''s ecology.
Also we are experiencing constant at random brown outs. One night diner cooks in 1 hour. The next night it takes two or three hours.
That 20% move to all elctric cars would cause us to have rolling black outs.
Here in the south Air Conditioning is not a luxury. It is a necessity. In the days before wide spread usage of AC the most common form of death was from heat prostration and heat related heart attack. If you visit an old cemetary you will be struck by the numbers of deaths at realative young ages in June, July, August, and September.
Introduction of AC brought on by cheaper electricity rates these fatalities declined markedly. If we increase demand on our electricity while we are allready at crises levels we will return to those grim old days.
The all electric car just is not the answer. Perhaps a hybrid that never or rarely needs to be plugged in is the answer.

[aerhed]

Very fluffy, very lame, big giant Duh! Leslie do you feel smart?

[keating54u]

www.keatingeconomics.com

McCain Received $166,000 In Campaign Contributions from Charles Keating and his Associates.

McCain Used Keatings Private Planes on Nine Occasions

McCain Had Direct Financial Ties To Keating

When the story broke, McCain did nothing to help himself. ''You''re a liar,'' McCain said

when asked about the investments. He challenged reporters saying, ''It''s up to you to find that out, kids......

[lamboatseb]

I watched the story and was dissapointed that the Aptera was not given in -depth coverage. here is a car that will go into production in 90 days, costs Around 30,000,goes over 100 miles on a charge,and has over 3000 deposits by waiting customers.