European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 24, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                ,7tvt a v. 4 thursday May 24, 1990 the stars and stripes a a a Page 13 a fast and practical electric car Gmys Impact creates a by Curtis a. Moore the Washington Post despite its head turning shape and head snapping Power the most remarkable Quality of general motors new prototype car the Impact is its tailpipe. It does no to have one. The Impact is powered solely by batteries. But this is no Golf cart quicker than 95 percent of the cars on the Road and less polluting than 100 percent a the Only smoke in its Wake is Likely to come from its tires. The car accelerates from 0 to 60 Miles per hour in 8 seconds enough to beat the Mazda Miata and Nissan 300zx. Because its also sleek and comfortable a and has a Range of 125 Miles Between Battery charges a Many consider the Impact to be the first truly practical electric car. Others see it As a a a platform a a series of design advances which could be incorporated into numerous vehicles whether they run on electricity gasoline or something else. One Industry analyst speculates that if an Impact which on electricity gets the equivalent of 86 Miles per gallon were fitted instead with a Small gasoline engine it might achieve 100 Miles per gallon a maybe even 130. A . Auto Fleet composed entirely of Impact like cars could Cut automotive pollution a and the fuel consumption that causes it a to about 30 percent of current Levels according to an analyst at the office of technology assessment. If even a substantial fraction of our rolling Stock were electric it could dramatically reduce Oil imports and improve the balance of Trade a All without sacrificing performance. Moreover the Impact employs technology which though new is virtually a on the shelf already. When the car debuted at the los Angeles Auto show in january pm executives said it could be rolling off the Assembly line within five years. However because future production of the Impact will depend almost entirely on its profit potential a not concern Over smog acid rain greenhouse gases or Energy Independence a it May never be built. Some states notably California Are moving toward requiring electric and other alternate fuel vehicles but they Lack sufficient clout to influence the big three car makers to Gamble corporate Money. And Congress despite All its hand wringing talk about global warming seems in no mood to support innovative Auto technology. The impacts remarkable performance derives in part from its electric Power system and in part from super efficient materials and design. A conventional gasoline engine operates at 18 percent efficiency when idling and 28 percent under full Load. Electric Power plants convert fuel to electricity at an average of 34 percent efficiency. And electric engines done to run while they re sitting at stoplights or stuck in traffic. Some engineering innovations exploited in the Impact include a body design probably the sleekest car built to Date is Fords probe v prototype with a drag coefficient a measure of wind resistance a the lower the number the less the drag of 0.14. That compares to 0.15 for an f-15 fighter Jet. Impacts drag coefficient of Only 0.19 is me result of a sculpted front end an Are a dynamically efficient a belly pan because there is no drive Shaft or exhaust system the underside can be smooth skirts Over the rear wheel Wells and a Bucktail shape in the Back. One Industry analyst sceptical of the Overall import Kcf of the Impact nevertheless Calls the drag coefficient a the real  a batteries. Impact relies on Lead acid in i1 est superficially similar to those found under the Hood of virtually every one track testing a Zero to 60 Mph in 8 seconds Flat. Pm photos the Impact features a drag co efficient of Only 0.19. Final design from the drawing Board. Inverter under Hood converts do to a. Goodyear designed Low rolling resistance tire. Testers Check out the Impact s seating. Car made in the last 50 years. Sealed for life impacts lunch pail size batteries rated at 42.5 amp hours each need no maintenance and produce no dangerous gases during recharging. Thirty two of them Nestle inside a Tunnel running Between the two seals which doubles As an Arm rest providing 13.5 kilowatt hours of electricity. That a roughly enough to Power the average . Home for half a Day or a hair dryer for 10 hours. The batteries can be recharged in six hours on 110-Volt household current or As Little As two hours on the 220-Volt circuits frequently used for electric ranges hot water Heaters and furnaces. A 50-percent recharge takes Only 20 minutes. 9 Power. Two basketball size electric motors one mounted inboard of each front wheel. The induction motors the kind most commonly used in electric devices together produce 114 horsepower at 6,600 revolutions per minute. By comparison a Buick Skylark puts out 110 a Honda Accord 125. Both weigh about the same As the Impact 2,500 pounds. The Gearbox is mounted directly on the motor and has Only one gear ratio. This Means no shifting and Many fewer moving parts. A gasoline engine operating at Peak efficiency a with the throttle open and steady a loses Over 70 percent of its Energy to friction and heat impacts virtually friction free motors lose Only 2 to 6 percent. At a stoplight electric motors Are off using Zero Energy. A gasoline engine however is running at about one fifth its Peak rpm just to keep the crankshaft turning. Impact differs from earlier electric vehicles which generally used Bulky motors employing direct current a the kind that flows Only in one direction As in a flashlight. Modern powerful induction motors however require alternating current a the sort that comes out of a household outlet. So a a inverters Are used to convert the do from the impacts 870 pounds of batteries to a. Also the older do motors rely on internal windings and brushes which begin to fail when Speed climbs. A braking and regeneration. Impacts motors can also function As generators plus aiding the cards brakes to slow the vehicle. When accelerating the motors convert electric current into mechanical Energy. When braking however the opposite happens with the current off mechanical Energy from the spinning wheels turns the motor shafts and produces electricity while resistance from the rotors slows the car. In this process called a dynamic braking a the a a regenerated electricity is fed Back and used to charge the batteries. A tires and wheels. Tires gobble considerable Energy but the impacts tires nearly halve Normal rolling resistance by using specially designed Goodyear Radi als with thinner sidewalls less rubber depth and higher inflation pressure a about 65 pounds per Square Inch compared to the usual 32. These components yield a car so efficient that in the words of Tom Macdonald a vehicle specialist with the California Energy commission the Impact a enters the realm of Road vehicle Utility. To me it illustrates the arrival of the electric car at an efficient practical  the Impact is a joint Effort of general motors and Aero environment a Small California based firm. The investment notwithstanding pm executives say that to justify production they must be assured of a Strong buyer intention a which some believe Means annual sales of 250,000 or More. But that a unlikely in the United states at present. Still pm chairman Roger b. Smith said recently that the corporations goal is to be the first automobile company to mass produce an electric vehicle that performs As Well As current internal com Bustion engine vehicles. Smith said that pm has completed its business plans for the Impact and is now working to Complete production plans and marketing and service arrangements. The Impact has been exhibited at the los Angeles Chicago and Geneva Switzerland Auto shows and has been shown to government officials in California and in three european capitals