MALAYSIAN MOTOR TRADER NEWS - LOCAL NEWS - Proton electric cars by 2010?

If negotiations go well, we could be seeing electrically-powered variants of the Persona and Savvy in the showrooms by 2010. This was revealed today at a media briefing by Detroit Electric at Proton’s test track in Shah Alam, Selangor, although Albert Lam, Chairman & CEO of the company, said that ‘discussions are still ongoing’ and that nothing has been finalized with Proton. He revealed that besides Proton, Detroit Electric is also talking to two other automakers (one in Germany and one in the USA) to form similar strategic partnerships.

However, Mr Lam (formerly CEO of Lotus Engineering and Executive Director of Lotus Group International until 2006) sounded very upbeat that a deal could be signed with Proton which has been tasked by the Malaysian government to evaluate and validate Detroit Electric’s technology and explore the potential to collaborate in creating a range of pure electric vehicles (EVs).

“Given the proactive measures taken by the Malaysian government to provide efficient and reliable alternative transportation to the people, we see this country as a ‘fertile ground’ for us to work with the parties concerned and provide a sustainable solution,” he said. He was especially delighted that the Prime Minister had shown support by driving to the Merdeka Day parade in Kuala Lumpur in a Persona specially modified to run with an electric motor. The e-Persona, as it is known, was modified by Detroit Electric.

Detroit Electric was the brand name of the most popular electric cars during that era and closed down when no one wanted such cars any longer. It is unclear why Mr Lam bought over the company since whatever technology it had would surely be obsolete today. Perhaps the nostalgia value is worth something and it might even prove useful when he starts selling the cars in America.

“Detroit Electric was an American icon in the early part of the 1900s,” said Mr Lam. “The brand represented the most popular electric car in history and the Andersen Electric Car Company in Detroit, which made it, was the longest-running electric car company. Detroit Electric is a name, we believe, which will speak to generations past and the future of automobiles. We are proud to have a chance to rebuild this great car name after 100 years.”

Detroit Electric was earlier a joint-venture between ZAP, a US company specializing in EVs (on whose board of directors Mr Lam sits as well) and China’s Youngman Automotive Group. However, just three days ago, ZAP announced that it will transfer its ownership interest in Detroit Electric in exchange for North American sales and distribution rights for all vehicles developed and manufactured by Detroit Electric as well as US$750,000. The Youngman Automobile Group will also relinquish its ownership under a separate arrangement, but will continue to provide vehicle platforms to Detroit Electric for pure electric transit buses and coaches.

Detroit Electric’s EV technology has been under development for almost 3 years at its R&D facility in The Netherlands, and prototypes have been running using VW Golf and Daihatsu Cuore platforms. The technology is now at a stage where it can be commercialized and the company is looking for strategic partners as well as new shareholders. It does not aim to get into the car-making business itself but will focus on developing EV technology as its intellectual property. What it wants is to have a carmaker like Proton as a strategic partner which can provide the platforms and build the vehicles, perhaps in a cross-licensing agreement for the technology. Mr Lam revealed that should Proton become that strategic partner, one of the offers is that it will ‘have the ASEAN market’.

While Proton would be able to sell the EVs under its own brand, Detroit Electric would also have rights to sell vehicles made by Proton under its own brand as well in other markets. The arrangement would be somewhat like what Proton is doing with Youngman Automotive Group where the Chinese company is buying Gen2s with some cosmetic changes and putting its badge on them for sale in China. Mr Lam, incidentally, was the man who was responsible for bringing Youngman, Lotus Engineering and ZAP together for a joint-venture to develop, manufacture and market electric and hybrid luxury coaches, buses, trucks and passenger cars.

Detroit Electric is proposing at least 3 types of EVs as a start – a small hatchback, a midsized sedan and a sportscar. Proton has the first two in the form of the Savvy and Persona while the sportscar being looked at is the Elise, which comes from Lotus (also a Proton subsidiary). Mr Lam indicated that the e-Persona could cost around RM80,000 but the price would depend on various factors such as taxation and incentives the government would be willing to give to owners. In Holland, for example, the government encourages people to buy EVs by exempting such vehicles from annual roadtax and allowing them to be parked in urban areas for free.

Preliminary specifications for the EVs are impressive: an estimate range of up to 325 kms on a full battery charge, power output of 50 kW to 150 kW, and recharging times as short as 30 minutes (to 80% capacity). And if you think EVs will be boring, Detroit Electric estimates its Elise-based EV to be capable of doing the 0 – 100 km/h sprint in 4.3 seconds and reach a top speed of 220 km/h! A model based on the Savvy could sprint to 100 km/h in 7.5 seconds while the Persona-based one would do it in 9 seconds. Using current electricity rates in Malaysia, Mr Lam said the cost of running an EV would be about 3 sen/km, or more than 11.6 times cheaper than what it would cost to run a petrol-engined Persona 1.6.

A key issue for EVs will be ‘refueling’ or more correctly, recharging the battery. Unlike hybrid vehicles which can still run on their small petrol engines, EVs have no secondary engine and are totally reliant on the electric motor. This means that recharging stations will need to be set up nationwide; in Holland, there is one station for every 10 square kilometres. Unlike setting up stations to supply NGV which require a lot of investment, a recharging system may not be expensive or difficult to set up since it only requires connecting to the existing electrical supply anywhere, the same way you connect a telephone line. In fact, the concept already exists at airports where handphone-charging stations are available and you put in a few coins and get your phone recharged.

The EVs can also be charged at home using household electrical supply so it may be a case of the owner hooking up the car each night before bed and having a full battery the next morning (it takes 7 – 8 hours for an 80% charge in slow-charge mode).

“Of course, in the initial period, there may be some degree of inconvenience before the infrastructure is fully set up but this is something that is always experienced by ‘early adopters’,” said Mr Lam.

Apart from getting electric cars mass produced by the end of this decade, Mr Lam is also keen on the ‘bigger picture’ of also making Malaysia an ‘EV hub’ in Asia – certainly something that the government will be very, very keen to encourage – and intends to set up a second R&D facility here. If all goes well with Proton, Detroit Electric may also bring in its battery partner to set up a plant to make the lithium-ion batteries.

Reaching the ‘magic numbers’ that begin to give economies of scale and push down costs is crucial in the car business and in the first full year, Mr Lam expects to produce 30,000 EVs for sale worldwide. This number will rise to 120,000 units in the second year and by the third year, 270,000 vehicles is the target.

Detroit Electric was keen to let the media experience electric cars and had the e-Persona, e-Savvy, Elise and a Daihatsu Cuore available for test-drives. Having been in EVs before (the first one was a Toyota RAV4 EV in 1997), I knew what to expect and not to keep turning the ignition key to hear the engine fire up! With electric cars, you just turn the key like switching on a light, that’s all.

The Daihatsu I drove zipped off smoothly as I pressed the accelerator and I changed gears as I would in a normal car. Not surprisingly, there was no mechanical noise and even the whine of the electric motor – which I remember in the earlier prototypes I tested – was not evident. The car wasn’t exactly fast but felt nippy and the engineer said that it could even tow a heavy load of equipment cross-country.

As I completed the circuit of he track and entered the final straight, the car began to slow down and felt like it ran out of power. The engineer was not sure what happened but asked me to just ‘restart’ the car which I did by turning the key once and the car ran normally again – just like rebooting a computer!

I also had a ride in the Elise and that was quite an experience, especially as the roof was off. Anyone who thinks EVs are only good for golf courses will change their mind after going in the electric Elise. It was really quick and had a lot of torque so it could readily accelerate at any time. The 4.3 second 0 – 100 time is believable though there was no opportunity to verify it.

This development is an exciting one for Proton and could well give it the sort of niche it should aim for given its size. It ties in well with what the government wants too and could spur growth in the electronics sector as well. Hopefully, the painful lessons learnt over 20 years where suppliers were allowed to become too ‘comfortable’ (because they thought they had a monopoly) will be remembered and policies will be such that they will induce competition rather than complacence..

Incidentally, this would be the second time Proton is having a go at electric cars. In 1994, it was also involved in a joint project with UMW to develop an electrically-powered Wira. Two units were sent to a company in California but the company went bankrupt and the project was abandoned. This time, things look much more promising with the Detroit Electric venture.