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Berkeley Takes Another Step Toward Solar

City Of Berkeley Press Release

Shift Into Electric

Small Electric Car Sales Could Get a Jolt

 

Berkeley Takes Another Step Toward Solar

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 1, 2008

Berkeley Provides Free Building Permits for Solar Installation

Berkeley, California (Tuesday, April 1, 2008) - The City of Berkeley took another step forward today in bringing more solar energy to Berkeley. Initially proposed by Council Member Dona Spring and passed by the Berkeley City Council, the City now waives the building permit fees for solar installation on single-family homes. The Council allocated an initial $25,000 to cover the fees, which range from $100 to $200 per residence.

"Going solar is one of the most effective ways to reduce energy and reverse climate change", said Mayor Tom Bates. "The solar installation fee waiver reduces one more barrier for Berkeley residents to Go Solar."

"Wow! At 8:30 a.m., this morning April 1, A1 Sun Inc. arrived at the Berkeley Building Permit Office to a great surprise that was no April Fools Prank! We are the first Solar Contractor to participate in the new program granting property owners free city building permits for solar installations!" said Kathleen Guistino, Chief Financial Officer of A1 Sun Inc. "Our city is truly ‘walking the walk' to support solar! Removing another hurdle/expense makes it easier and more affordable for the home or small business owner to ‘Go Solar' - more business in Berkeley, more jobs, more tax revenue, all with the added benefit of a greener Berkeley."

 

Updated June 3, 2008

 

City Of Berkeley Press Release

 

Updated July 11, 2008

 

Shift Into Electric

Spend most of your day in a five-mile maze? Green Motors has the right tool for your job.

(Andrea Lampros, The Monthly, March 2008) The cavernous building on San Pablo Avenue in Berkeley once housed the gas-guzzling Cadillac, a car that brings to mind drive-in movie make-out sessions and days of American automotive prowess. Today that same building is home to what Marc Korchin hopes will become a new American symbol: the electric car.

It might be hard to make out in the backseat (and especially difficult in the two-seater ZENN), but these electric cars have other qualities that appeal to American sensibilities, post-global warming. They are green and hip, easy to squeeze into the rare urban parking space and as Korchin says, "the right tool for the job."

Korchin, who opened his Green Motors last November, used to drive around town in an SUV. A year ago, he saw the documentary Who Killed the Electric Car? about how General Motors produced, leased, pulled and literally crushed the EV-1, a sleek electric car that did everything a gas-powered car can do.

The documentary stirred up this mild-mannered, 52-year-old salesman. After much research, Korchin bought his wife the four-seat Dynasty IT and the family was hooked. He worked with the city to open Green Motors in the only available building still zoned for car sales and now Korchin says he gets blessed more than the pope for selling these cars.

"For 44 years I've tried to figure out why I'm living in Berkeley," say Korchin. "Now I know my purpose."

What remains to be seen is whether Korchin is the "hundredth monkey" pushing electric at just the right time, as gas prices continue to soar, or if he's just an eco-friendly Don Quixote whose pitch will ultimately fall flat (even in Berkeley) on drivers who must go fast by any means necessary. What is certain is that Korchin is among the few risking everything on the idea that people will actually change how they live to benefit the environment.

The race is on to come up with battery technology for full-speed electric cars-batteries that can hold a charge long enough for the average driver and be affordable. These cars are known as Battery Electric Vehicles or BEVs. The cars leased by GM and other automakers 10 years ago could go far and fast, but at the time they didn't hold a charge for more than 100 miles, a problem for some drivers. The only BEV on the market right now is the Tesla Roadster that uses a lithium-ion battery and will sell for around $89,000.

Until affordable BEVs hit the market (possibly by the end of this year or early 2009), Korchin is selling a new paradigm with so-called Neighborhood Electric Vehicles or NEVs. The cars he sells-the IT for around $22,000, the ZENN for around $14,000 and soon E-Ride trucks-are only allowed to go 25 miles per hour and must be recharged every 35 miles. (Recharging amounts to plugging the car into an electrical outlet with an extension cord.) That means no gas stations and no eight tons of carbon dioxide emitted each year.

"You wouldn't use a sledgehammer to hang a picture," says, Korchin, giving just one of his many stock reasons why these cars make sense. Korchin contends that many people spend life shuttling from home to school to work to soccer practice to the grocery store and back, going less than 25 miles a day. For the trips to the airport and for weekends out of town, there's always the second car-the gas car.

Take the Korchins. Marc goes to the dealership and his wife, Alison Gill, edits a national environmental journal on the edge of the U.C. Berkeley campus. They drive 12-year-old Jonah to Albany Middle School or crew practice; ferry 6-year-old Shauna to Marin School and tap class; and pick up grandma Sylvia Korchin from her North Berkeley home. That's life, pretty much.

"It started drawing crowds, just sitting there," says Gill, who made a simple flier about her IT to hand out to passersby. (Apparently the family's enthusiastic flier efforts led little Shauna to ask, "Daddy, when did we go into the flier business?") Gill says the attention quickly went to her husband's head.

"I thought everyone was looking at me," says Korchin. "Then I realized it was the car."

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At his Green Motors dealership where the tiny cars take up a fraction of the space, Korchin opens the "tricked-out" ZENN and proudly points out the sunroof, stereo, energy gauge, the horn that beeps like something French, the faux-wood veneer, even the cup holder. He pulls into his parking lot and stops talking to show how quiet the car can be. When an unexplained beeping sound interrupts the sounds of silence, he says, "What does it mean? I think it means everything is good. You're a great guy."

Korchin can't believe he's a car salesman. In fact, he's more like a 10-year-old boy who's made his mom a pinch-pot at camp and really, really hopes she'll like it. He bristles at the thought of seeming like a car dealer and says he'll serve Numi Tea in the showroom and offer up half the space to environmentalists who need a place to meet. He's planning a monthly "grasshopper market" at his dealership where local green products can be displayed and sold. U.C. Berkeley will be parking a hydrogen fuel cell charging station on his lot for electric car drivers to use for re-charging.

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Korchin arrived in Berkeley at age 9, at the height of the Civil Rights Movement. His father, Shelly Korchin, was head of the Psychology Department at Cal who backed Black Panther Eldridge Cleaver's efforts to teach at the university. In spite of his progressive roots, Korchin spent his career in professions like sales and public relations, not necessarily making waves to save the planet or humanity.

Since opening in November, Green Motors has sold some 15 electric cars, mostly ZENNs.

Prospective customers like San Francisco resident David Alwea, are trickling in with promises that the dealership and parent companies will treat him like family, giving props, T-shirts, the first crack at new technology and even a place to blog about the cars. Alwea seems to be smack in the electric car demographic: youngish (in a forties-are-the-new-thirties sort of way), green-minded, technologically savvy and single or coupled.

He's an avid biker and outdoorsman who sold his car months ago and has been "borrowing" his girlfriend's car from time to time. He has considered a Mini Cooper, a Prius, and even put money down on a Smart Car. Alwea kept thinking, "That's great, but what's better?" He dug deep in his research about electric and is here at Korchin's place checking out the ZENN, again. "It's not whether I'm going to get an electric car," he says. "It's when."

Alwea's early trepidation about other kinds of electric cars came when his girlfriend questioned their sex appeal and he feared losing "status points." Many of the electric cars-like the three-wheeler Zap Xebra-have a golf cart quality that doesn't immediately say "dig my ride?"

Electric car proponents think cities like Berkeley and San Francisco are no-brainers for sales. More hybrid Toyota Priuses are sold here than in any other place in the nation. But so far, electric car dealerships have skirted the major urban centers, popping up in Campbell, Alameda, Martinez and Davis.

One of Korchin's first ZENN buyers was Good Vibrations founder Joani Blank. He's also sold to a housewife in Alameda as well as assorted progressives. He thinks young drivers and old drivers-two groups that really shouldn't go too fast-may represent his most promising demographics.

Kathleen Giustino, a Berkeley second-grade teacher and her husband Larry, a solar energy contractor with A1 Sun, are standing in the fog in front of the ZENN they want to buy. Kathleen has scribbled a list of questions including, "You got yours in 2006, what's gone wrong?" Korchin is already used to educated buyers. He walks over to the toy-like engine and points to a screw that vibrated loose and melted another piece. He says he treated his electric car as if it would never need occasional maintenance and that was a mistake.

Korchin explains that they'll be able to come to the dealership for tune-ups and repair work and if they can't get here, the mechanic will come to them.

The Giustinos want to be satisfied and seem to be with Korchin's answers. They are longtime environmentalists who already have a tiny carbon footprint and gleefully explain that their electricity meter runs backwards because of their solar panels. They want the electric car because Kathleen is tired of walking to work in the rain and Larry is excited by what seems to be the next Berkeley thing. "This is going to spread like wildfire," he says.

Ian Clifford, the CEO of the Canadian ZENN Motor Company, says dealers like Korchin are key to making his business take off nationwide. Clifford made his money in the dot-com boom and then spent a small fortune to buy rights to electric car battery technology being developed by former IBM scientists. He's optimistic that the technology will be out soon and will spur a mass adoption of electric vehicles. Until then, he thinks drivers should take a look at the slower electric vehicles because really, it's not so bad to slow down. (And as Korchin says, "It's better to go 25 in the city than 15 on the freeway.")

"I started this company because there were no options," says Clifford, who lives in Toronto where, ironically, they don't allow electric cars on the roads yet. "If I can't go to my local Ford dealership and buy a zero-emissions car, I don't have any options."

If Clifford can find more dealers like Korchin in receptive places like the Bay Area, if gas prices continue to climb and if the battery technology succeeds, he'll be set. And if Korchin can actually make a living with this green endeavor, he'll be overjoyed. "I just wondered what kind of legacy I would leave my kids," says Korchin. "I'd hate for them to say ‘Dad didn't do what he could have done.'"

 

Updated June 3, 2008

 

Small Electric Car Sales Could Get a Jolt

By Julie Schmit, USA TODAY

BERKELEY, Calif. - Here's a sticker shock that feels good: 245 miles per gallon.

So reads the sign on the two-seater Zenn electric car at a new dealership here that peddles electric cars, scooters and bikes. Green Motors is one of an increasing number of electric-vehicle dealers aiming to tap distaste for high gas prices and growing environmental concerns.

The Zenn, which began selling in the USA a year ago, falls into the category of "neighborhood electric vehicles" (NEVs) or "low-speed vehicles." NEVs are legal only on roads marked for 35 miles per hour or less. In most states, they can go up to 25 mph; in two states up to 35 mph. Depending on make, NEVs will run 30 to 50 miles after a four-to-eight-hour charge and plug in anywhere.

But unlike electric golf-cart-like vehicles popular in retirement communities, the Zenn looks like a regular car. It's based on Europe's Microcar, which has been produced as a gas or diesel-powered low-speed vehicle for more than 20 years.

Former software salesman Marc Korchin, who opened the Berkeley dealership in October, says his goal isn't to get drivers to ditch gas-fueled cars. He wants them to use those cars less and drive electric on low-speed city streets. His mantra? "Use the right tool for the job," he says. "You wouldn't hang a picture with a sledgehammer, and we're all driving sledgehammers."

Clean and quiet

The Zenn cars, short for Zero Emission, No Noise, cost $12,750 to $17,600 and are slightly smaller than the Mini Cooper. Korchin also sells a four-seat sedan from Dynasty Electric Car for $20,000, as well as the Dynasty mini-truck for $25,000.

Both Zenn and Dynasty are based in Canada. Zenn Motor gets car bodies from Europe and adds electric components. Other NEV providers include California companies Miles Electric Vehicles and Zap and North Dakota-based Global Electric Motorcars from Chrysler. The 10-year-old GEM, largely sold through Chrysler dealers, has 34,000 NEVs on the road.

Big carmakers have long dabbled in highway-speed electric cars but haven't delivered and promoted a mass-market product. Tesla Motors, a Silicon Valley start-up, plans to deliver a highway-capable roadster next year for about $100,000. General Motors is working on the Chevrolet Volt electric car for 2010. Miles, which launched its first NEV in 2005 and has about 200 on the road, says it'll have a highway-speed electric vehicle in 2009.

The neighborhood electric vehicles, Korchin says, are here and now. And they spin heads.

On a recent drive through Berkeley, Korchin stopped at a stop sign, and a motorist dropped his window to yell, "What kind of car is that?"

"It's electric. Go to gogreenmotors.com," Korchin yelled back.

Green Motors has sold 11 cars - one Dynasty and 10 Zenns - about half to people with solar-powered homes. Korchin expects low profit margins in part because there'll be little service revenue. Electric cars have a handful of major parts compared with hundreds in a regular car. The batteries, like those in regular cars and in boats, make up half of the Zenn's 1,200-pounds, for instance. Dealership technicians will make house calls, if needed.

While Zenn looks like a regular car, there are differences. Tires are on a petite 13 inches. Drivers flip a switch to go forward or backward. Because they are low-speed vehicles, crash testing isn't required. Seat belts are required but air bags aren't.

The 245 mpg claim, an estimate, is based on the energy output of a gallon of gas, which is about the same amount of energy required to charge the Zenn seven times, the company says.

Korchin, who has two children ages 7 and 12, doesn't fear taking them in his Dynasty, which, like the Zenn, has an aluminum frame. The U.S. Department of Transportation, which set safety rules for the vehicles in 1998, requires they have seat belts, turn signals and rearview mirrors. Zenn may make air bags optional, it says.

Playing to an eager market

Green Motors inhabits the space of a former Cadillac dealership in one of the USA's most liberal cities. For Korchin, it is a work of love. A year ago, he bought his first electric car, a Dynasty. Wherever he parked it, people gathered. His wife, editor of an environmental magazine, created a promotional flier. Korchin then saw Who Killed the Electric Car?, a 2006 documentary that largely blames the oil and auto industries, and vowed never to buy another gas-powered car. His family also owns a 1989 Honda Accord. He gave up a regular job and plunged into the electric motor dealership.

Instead of being a big contributor to the greenhouse gas problem, "I'm part of the solution," says Korchin, 52.

Kathleen Giustino of Berkeley feels the same way. She and her husband bought a Zenn last month to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide they release into the atmosphere. Four years ago, they converted their house to solar power.

NEVs have long attracted enthusiastic supporters. A paper published in 1994by an expert on transportation and energy at the University of California, Davis, said the benefits were "potentially so large ... it would be irresponsible not to pursue NEVs." The paper noted that NEVs cut carbon dioxide emissions more than 60% when compared with a subcompact gas car.

Like Korchin, the Giustinos also have a gas car. Kathleen uses the Zenn to commute to her teaching job and for errands. She drives it about 7 miles a day. While she says she'd feel more comfortable if it went 30 mph, "in case I have to escape something," she's fine at 25 mph as long as she's on streets where traffic is slow. She and her husband, who is 6-foot-2, sit comfortably in the car together.

The slower speeds aren't for everyone. Glenn Nunez of Oakland recently test drove the Zenn and "felt like I was slowing up traffic," he says. Still, he says, "It's a perfect city street vehicle."

Curbed appeal?

The vehicles' limitations will curb their appeal, says Bruce Harrison of market researcher Global Insight. Because they're not highway-capable, they'll attract consumers who like the novelty and who can afford a second or third car, he says.

Washington and Montana allow the cars to go 35 mph. Electric-car supporters in other states are pushing for the same, says Steve Mayeda, co-owner of MC Electric Vehicles in Seattle. NEVs aren't legal on public roads in Connecticut, Delaware, Nebraska, Pennsylvania and Wyoming. Canada recently gave them the green light, but each province must decide whether to let them on the road.

Zenn has shipped about 200 cars to the USA. Zenn founder Ian Clifford says the company hopes to launch a highway-capable electric car next year, assuming advances in battery technology.

Korchin says he's ready to adapt. After all, he's already altered his bedtime routine. He and his wife still ask each other whether the doors are locked and whether the kids are tucked in. Now they add a new question: "Honey, did you plug in the car?"

 

Updated June 3, 2008