The Sun
Sunnyvale's Newspaper

City leases electric car for its fleet

By Steve Enders

The familiar shake of an idling car and the muffled hum of its engine may be a memory within the next few decades, as electric cars replace their gasoline-driven counterparts. Placing itself on the cusp of this unfolding trend, the city of Sunnyvale put its first electric car into service this week.

The car is a Toyota RAV-4 EV, and with 67 horses under its hood, it reaches speeds of up to 80 mph on the highway. The RAV-4 EV has a noiseless engine that belies its power: The only indication that the car is idling is a tiny green light next to the speedometer that silently flicks on when the key is turned.

"It's quiet. Scarily quiet," said city fleet manager Gene Waddell.

The city's technician, Steve Soriano, echoes his co-worker's sentiment: "The thing I tell everyone when I train them to use this thing is to watch out for pedestrians because it doesn't make any noise."

The RAV-4 EV doesn't make any emissions, either, which means it's not harmful to the environment.

The car is now operating along with a fleet of Sunnyvale city cars that is increasingly run on low-emission fuels such as natural gas.

The electric car is the first of its kind to be used by a public agency in the Bay Area, city officials say.

Also, the city installed a special charging station at City Hall, where employees are being trained in how to use the car and charger.

Of the nearly 350 cars and trucks the city owns, 23 vehicles--including cars, trucks and a street sweeper--run on compressed natural gas (CNG).

CNG, according to city fleet manager Gene Waddell, is the cleanest burning fuel next to electricity.

By the end of this year, the city hopes to have converted six vehicles to CNG, and by 1999, it plans to convert 11 more, bringing its total of CNG vehicles up to 34.

According to Waddell, the switch to cleaner cars isn't costing the city a dime.

The cars are funded by the county's Air Quality District, which provides about $6,000 in grants per vehicle to the city for conversion and maintenance. Additional grant money goes from the agency to other large fleet operators as well.

Waddell said the city is also getting about $6,000 a year from the district to lease the electric Toyota for three years. The city has to lease it because of the high price of the batteries and, subsequently, the car. Currently, the RAV-4 EV retails at more than $40,000.

"It's just like a calculator. They're getting cheaper and cheaper every year," Waddell said.

The batteries cost more than $20,000 because they're the top of the line, nickel-metal hydride batteries. Other electric vehicles run on less-powerful lead-acid batteries.

Waddell said the city chose the RAV-4 because of its high-quality batteries and roominess.

"We chose this one because the GM one is only available in Southern California. Ford has a Ranger pickup, but the batteries are in the bed and it doesn't have the room," Waddell said.

One of the selling points of the RAV-4 was that its engineers used the height of the car to their advantage and placed the batteries underneath the vehicle instead of taking up cargo or passenger room inside as with other electric cars.

"We're using it as a pool vehicle for city employees to use on city trips. That way, we'll get a lot of exposure by a lot of people driving it," Waddell said.

The city is hoping that people will see the cars, perhaps prompting them to think about using alternative fuels, as well as simply doing something to clean up the county's air.

"People are going to say they can't travel to L.A. in an electric car. So what?" asked Soriano. He continued, saying that electric vehicles are perfect for around-town traveling, like going to the store and picking kids up from school.

"The idea is to get people into electric cars, clean up the air and cut our dependence on foreign petroleum products," he said.

[ Back to Contents Page | Sunnyvale Sun Home Page | Archives ]

This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, March 18, 1998.
©1998 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.