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If we had some leadership, there would be a heck of a lot more
alternative fueled, low- or zero-emission vehicles available and on the
road.
 ONE SWEET RIDE: The General Motors EV1 was a great electric car according to Steve Bailey, but it was scuttled by the car industry. Courtesy photo
Well, to be perfectly honest, I got use of it for the agency where I worked.
Seven years earlier, the California Air Resources Board had decreed that by 2003, 1-in-10 new cars offered for sale in the state had to be a zero-emission-vehicle. Although the ruling would not take effect for 13 years, the automakers fought it tooth and nail. But by the mid-1990s, they all had ZEV projects under way. GM’s EV1 was the first to market.
Then, as now, battery power was the only realistic means of achieving zero tail-pipe emissions. Although battery-powered cars made up at least 50 percent of the auto market until 1920, in 1997 the EV1 was the first modern electric car from a major manufacturer.
When the air board leased one to fleet operators, I got to use it for a month, making it available to government and elected officials throughout Santa Cruz County.
The consensus was that the EV1 was a joy to drive, and something of a hot rod. It was efficient, quiet and fast — the battery array down the center hump gave the car a low center of gravity and solid handling. No oil, no gasoline, no fluids at all! Without background noise from an internal combustion engine and exhaust system one could hear other sounds, faintly, like tires contacting pavement, wind streaming past the windows and a subtle gear whine.
The conventional lead-acid batteries provided 100 and 160 miles per charge, which took four to six hours if they were fully drained. I generously used 25 mpg as the average estimate for our existing fleet, and guessed fuel costs of $3 per gallon — we were consuming $24 in gasoline every 200 miles.
The electricity to twice fully charge the EV1’s batteries was just less than $5.
The demise of the EV1
In 1999, there was a change in Sacramento. Alan Lloyd, the new head of the air board, weakened then eliminated California’s 10 percent ZEV mandate. He joined the Detroit Auto Alliance in hyping fuel cells as the hot ticket and endorsed their solemn promise to CARB that 25,000 fuel-cell cars would be on the road between 2012 and 2014. That same year, GM stopped making the EV1, recalled every single one, and systematically demolished them.
In March of this year, CARB voted to release the auto alliance from its promise to produce fuel-cell vehicles and disavowed its own pledge to reinstate the ZEV mandates if hydrogen development failed.
On a national level, our energy policy was written behind closed doors with in put by executives from Exxon, Enron and Vice President Dick Cheney — also a onetime vice president of Haliburton.
So there you go.
If we had some leadership, there would be a heck of a lot more alternative fueled, low- or zero-emission vehicles available and on the road. There would be more models, better reliability and performance, and the economy of scale might even have made them more affordable. Instead, we have legislators and regulators in the back pocket of big business, American car makers are in trouble, every road in the country is trashed despite billions collected for maintenance, the globe is warming, the ozone is oozing, we’re staring at $5-a-gallon gasoline — and it is we who are guilt-tripped.
Worse, we allow elected officials to pose and pontificate about feeling our pain, yet we accept it when they tell us how giving billions in tax breaks to Exxon and British Petroleum and Shell is really in our best interest.
We allow them to open more than 40 million acres of public land to irreparable exploitation by oil companies, who then sell those assets back to us for unconscionable profits.
Despite the fact that 80 percent of the oil and gas leases already issued remain unexplored, and the oil companies have built no new refineries for a quarter century, some of us actually believe it when our pols suggest that the answer to high oil prices and shortages is to permit still more drilling — in Alaskan waters and national wildlife refuges.
It’s one thing to let self-serving legislators pretend that drastic change and totally new technologies aren’t needed, that we should just be more efficient in using fossil fuel as our primary energy source until the last drop has been extracted and used.
It’s a whole different thing when self-righteous rivers among us get all eco and superior, and we lose the ability to say “SUV” without “gas-guzzling” preceding it, attached like a Siamese twin. Until big steps in an entirely different direction are taken, our best efforts are largely meaningless.
Sure, it all matters. We know everything counts and we all want to be as “green” as possible, but being petty with one another over a nickel’s worth of difference isn’t productive.
An auto love affair
Now, one night argue that owning a Cadillac or Lincoln SUV is a sign of someone “unclear on the concept” but vans, minivans, pickups and full-sized cars are a tool for millions.
Cops don’t drive Crown Victoria’s because they’re fast or nimble — they need big cars because they pack around a lot of stuff. Moms have kids to get in and out, and in and out, and in and out — if a van with wide sliding doors makes a very hectic life a heartbeat easier who would deny her? Construction workers are all but hamstrung without a truck.
And then there’s that love thing. We do love our cars — all sizes, shapes, and engine/motor types. It often seems that we spend half our life in the car, going, returning, dropping off, picking up — usually running a little late.
But when we finally get a break, we do cars some more. We build or restore or race or display or parade or repair or talk about or look at cars — for recreation or avocation, for scientific or altruistic reasons, in pursuit of another career or chasing a dream. It’s an even bet that the environmental and fuels breakthroughs we need will come from a committed car lover rather than a Detroit engineer.
Americans love cars, and we are no exception. On any given day, the safest, the fastest, the greenest, oldest and the coolest cars in the country can be seen on Santa Cruz County roads. There is a magnificent menu of options for car buffs and, at the mid-point of summer, there’s still a wide variety of nearby choices.
Reno’s Hot August Nights just ended but is worth putting on the calendar for next year. And you’ll have to step lively to catch the festivities in Monterey this weekend. The Monterey Historic Car Races at Laguna Seca feature some of the sports most outstanding cars. At this late date, you’ll need a connection to get into the Concours d’Elegance at Pebble Beach on Sunday, but it will be fantastic if you can manage. It’s a staggering display of automotive history.
Go into the pits after any race at Watsonville and talk to anyone, get in touch with Larry Colen in Felton (whose race-ready Mazda Miata you’ve probably noticed on Highway 9 near the high school), or Gene Corriden in Santa Cruz (with the Bay Area Dwarf Car Racing Association), or just stop wherever you see a race car that strikes your interest.
Your neighborhood auto parts store is also a great resource.
For immediate gratification, go by Challenge Auto Racing in Scotts Valley. After a quick “drivers meeting,” owner Eugene Saar will put you into a real Baby Grand race car for a simulated race that will leave you short of breath and totally exhilarated.
If you have any kind of a sports car, there’s probably an associated club nearby that races time trials and autocross. Those are single-car events, staged on actual tracks or wherever permission can be had.
If hot rods, low riders, classics, or antiques are your thing, it’s the car clubs that you should connect with. Most clubs are family-oriented groups that are all about having fun, working on, talking about, cruising, displaying or just hangin’ around their rides. For the most part, these people are not going to judge or grade either you or your car, you don’t need to be an auto geek and your car or truck doesn’t have to be show-quality. If you have an old step-side pickup, the Stepsiders will make you feel right at home — and someone in the club can probably help you with that problem you’ve been fighting for years.
There’s a bunch of car clubs in and around our ’hood and, besides having a car or truck like yours, the members are almost universally great folks, people you will want to hang with or do things with.
All of these groups, organizations, tracks and businesses — and tens and hundreds more — can be found in the phone book or online. They’ll all help you have fun with your car, help you make your car run better, look better or be more efficient.
Roll on.
At a glance
Upcoming car events
- Sept. 7: Beach’n 101 Cruise, Oceanside to La Jolla through six SoCal beach towns.
- Sept. 19: Castroville Midnighters Car Club Car Show, Castroville
- Sept. 27: Willy’s Show and Shines, Watsonville. Proceeds to the Watsonville High School athletic program.
- Oct. 5: Sausalito Classic Car Show, Humbolt Street across from the downtown ferry landing.
- Oct. 18 and 19 California Autumn Classic, British Sports Car Concours and Tour, Morgan Hill.
- Nov. 22 through 28: San Francisco International Auto Show, Moscone Center. Concepts, exotics, new hybrids, 2009 models and pre-production concepts, and more.
- Ongoing: For race enthusiasts, Ocean Speedway at the Watsonville Fairgrounds is the place to be every Friday night through October.
- Ongoing: Just a short drive south on Highway 101, Santa Maria Speedway is another outstanding little dirt track. They, too host cars in a wide variety of classes.
Clubs for car buffs
- Cam-Snappers Car Club, Capitola: Dedicated to preserving and inspiring the hot road and classic car lifestyle. Sunday evenings, they do the No Show Car Show at Coffeetopia on Portola Drive.
- Gold Coast Rods: A Central Coast club open to all pre-1972 rods, classics and customs.
- Hell’s Belles Car Club, San Francisco: Being a ladies-only club classics club, they draw members from throughout NorCal.
- Road Angels Car Club, Watsonville: There’s an event coming up in September.
- Mopars By the Bay: Chrysler, Plymouth, Dodge and DeSoto lovers welcome.
- Good Sam: Jeep is now part of Chrysler, but Jeepsters will probably want to check out Good Sam or another 4-wheel-drive club rather than a Mopar group. Just a guess.
- NorCal Vintage Thunderbird Club of America, Los Gatos: All about those T-Birds.
- NorCal Turbo Buicks, Scotts Valley: Enthusiasts of the GNX, Grand National, T-Type, Turbo T, Syclone, and Typhoon welcome.
- Antique Auto Club of America, Watsonville: Oldies but goodies.
- Historic Car Club of America, Santa Cruz: If your car has a story, check out this group.
- Porsche Club of America: Organized to promote the enjoyment of the Porsche sports car. The locals, the Loma Prieta Region, are “The Good Time Region.”
Steve Bailey of Boulder Creek has spent plenty of time in outdoor recreational activities.
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