Newport charges into the future

Alex Coolman

Newport Beach to Al Gore: we’re way ahead of you.

The vice president, in the new forward to his book “Earth in the Balance:

Ecology and the Human Spirit,” which was released last month, strongly

advocates the abolition of the internal combustion engine on

environmental grounds.

But moving away from gas-powered engines is something the city of Newport

Beach has been doing for years. The city leases a fleet of 20

electrically powered vehicles, automobiles that are used for a wide range

of services.

“It’s the largest fleet of electric vehicles of any municipality in

California,” said Dave Niederhaus, general services director for the

city.

And while other cities in Orange County are triumphantly unveiling their

first one or two electric cars, Newport Beach is getting ready to extend

the lease on its fleet. Whether it’s a transportation solution for the

country at large, city officials’ reactions to the program here are

clear: in Newport Beach, electric works.

The parking lot of the Newport Beach Police Department has two spaces

that are marked with “Electric Vehicle Parking Only” signs -- spaces that

are home to a pair of electric Toyota RAV-4s.

The cars are used for nonenforcement work, such as parking and graffiti

patrols, said Newport Beach Police Sgt. Mike McDermott.

The work, which mostly involves puttering around town and a bit of

freeway driving, takes advantage of the strengths of the vehicles and

minimizes their weaknesses.

Though the cars’ range is only about 90 miles, that’s more than enough

for the volunteers who drive them. McDermott said the batteries still

have about a 40% charge left after an eight-hour shift.

They can’t accelerate as fast as gas-powered cars and they don’t go more

than about 65 mph. High-powered lights of the sort that are mounted on

most police cars drain too much power from the batteries, as do police

radios.

In spite of these drawbacks, McDermott said the cars are a hit with the

volunteers who use them.

Part of the appeal is strictly economic. Niederhaus says the cost of

recharging a battery is much lower than the cost of filling a gas tank.

“Even when gas was at a normal price a year ago, it was costing us about

five cents a mile for gas and one cent a mile for electricity,” he said.

Niederhaus estimates that the city saves between $10 and $15,000 annually

on fuel costs for the entire fleet.

In addition to the financial incentives for going electric, the cars are

a major environmental improvement over their gas-powered cousins.

“They’re completely cleaner,” said Sam Atwood, spokesman for the South

Coast Air Quality Management District. “There’s no tailpipe emissions

whatsoever. There is some air pollution associated with the electricity

generation, but this is a very tiny fraction of what a car would emit.”

Atwood estimated that electric vehicle emissions were “more than 99%

cleaner” than those spewing from internal combustion-powered vehicles.

Which is not to say that Newport Beach is about to go completely

electrified. McDermott said he thought it possible that the fleet could

expand “somewhat.” But the limited range of the cars places certain

restrictions on their uses.