USA: LOS ANGELES: ELECTRIC CARS

Описание: (29 May 1995) English/Nat

Los Angeles is infamous for it's air pollution caused by the thousands of vehicles which cruise southern California's freeways.

But by the beginning of the next century, Los Angeles smog may be a thing of the past.

New laws require that ten-percent of cars in California be powered by electricity.

But with a high-price and a short-range, electric vehicles may be a tough sell in car crazy southern California.

By the end of the century, this car may be common on the streets and freeways of Los Angeles.

Clean-running electric cars are being hailed as the cure for southern California's smog.

Unlike gas powered cars, the electric vehicles do not belch harmful emissions into the atmosphere.

But can car crazy California be convinced to make the change to electric? Many will have no choice.

By the year two-thousand-and-three, California's Zero-Emissions Vehicle rule will require that at least ten-percent of the state's cars run on electricity.

In Los Angeles, the California Department of Power and Water is hoping that this electric car will be the transport of the future.

Officials say it is time to switch to clean-running electric vehicles.

SOUNDBITE:
"We have a terrible air quality crisis here. We're the only area labeled extreme here in southern California by the Environmental
Protection Agency. So we have to break this air quality plague that we've been suffering under and electric vehicles offer us a cost-effective and environmentally friendly way to do that."
SUPER CAPTION: Tom Doughty, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power

But there are many problems that need to solved before California's electric car revolution switches into a higher gear.

Electric cars have a limited range, only able to travel about 80 miles on a single charge.

In California, most commuters travel at least that far every day to work.

But Doughty says he sees electric cars filling a particular niche for drivers.

SOUNDBITE:
"We see this car serving as primarily a regional car. Replacing some of the commuter vehicles on the streets. Certainly some of the fleet vehicles. So we don't see the range as a serious, ah, negative in electric vehicle commercialization."
SUPER CAPTION:Tom Doughty

It takes about five hours for the average electric car to recharge.
Proponents don't see that as a problem. They envision a day when electric car owners will pull into their garages at the end of the day and simply plug-in for an overnight re- charge.

Dianne Wittenberg of California's Edison Electric Company
believes that in the end the public will be swayed by economics.

Many of Edison's fleet vehicles are already electric powered. Wittenberg thinks that once the motorists realize how cheap the cars are to operate, they'll convert as well.

SOUNDBITE:

"So it isn't like a gasoline car where you refuel every few days of every week or two. You refuel, essentially, every night, overnight at home when electricity is cheap."

SUPER CAPTION: Dianne Wittenberg, California Edison Electric Company

But with a price tag over 50-thousand dollars (US), it will be difficult to get drivers out of traditional car showrooms and into electric vehicles.

Linda Mintz of La Brea Motors in Los Angeles also says electric cars have an image problem to overcome.

SOUNDBITE:
"Unfortunately in L-A, automobiles are very much a sense of their ego. And electricity, that doesn't even come up. They want the V-8.They don't seem to care about gas mileage. They're more interested in what the car says about their personality."


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