Electric car maker plans to accelerate production in L.A.: and state agency reviews plan to mandate car sales.

And state agency reviews plan to mandate car sales

U.S. Electricar Inc., which claims to be the largest independent manufacturer of battery-powered cars in the country, announced last week it plans to boost hiring and production at its manufacturing facility in South Central Los Angeles.

By summer, Sebastopol, Calif.-based U.S. Electricar expects to increase the work force at its L.A. plant from about 16 to 80, said Alex Campbell, company spokesman. He declined to project future growth but said, "We hope to manufacture a lot of electric cars in South Central Los Angeles."

Solar Electric Engineering Inc., a company which manufactured solar and electric products changed its name in February to U.S. Electricar to focus on electric car production, Campbell said. The public company, whose stock is traded over the counter under the symbol ECAR, has produced several hundred electric cars at a price of about $400,000 a car, but hopes to produce several thousand more in the next few years. Campbell said.

The electric car manufacturer's announcement comes as the California Air Resources Board is set to meet in Los Angeles on May 12 May 13 to review a rule mandating that such cars be sold in the state by the year 1998.

Proponents are expected to argue that the rule will not only stimulate clean air, but thousands of jobs in Los Angeles and California.

Opponents -- including Detroit automakers Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Corp. as well as groups representing oil companies -- are expected to seek a delay in the electric car mandate to the year 2000, contending electric car technology is not advanced enough to meet the present timetable.

The CARB staff released a report last month recommending the board keep in place a rule passed in 1990 which requires that, by 1998, 2 percent of cars sold in California be powered by rechargeable batteries. The rule boosts that to 10 percent by 2003, said Jerry Martin, spokesman for CARB.

The board also decided in 1990 to review the rule by 1994, Martin said.

"There is a huge battle going on," said Bill Van Amburg, spokesman for L.A.-based Calstart, a non-profit coalition of private and public businesses and organizations seeking to create an alternative transportation industry in California.

"In the last six months, the automakers have dug in their heels," he said. "I think they have legitimate concerns (about the viability of electric cars). But I think they are expecting that capital expenditures are going to go way up if they to have to make electric vehicles by 1998."

Al Chambers, spokesman for Ford Motor Co., said Ford will testify at the hearing that "we don't think the mandate can be effectively met and, if the mandate goes through, it will ruin the electric vehicle market."

Currently, Ford does not think electric car technology is advanced enough to produce a car at a price 2 percent of Californians can afford, Chambers said. Also, the car would not be able to go far enough on a single electric charge to satisfy consumers, he asserted.

Ford's production cost would be $15,000 per battery, Chambers said. "The battery alone costs what people are prepared to pay for the vehicle," he said.

In addition, the car will only go 50 miles on a charge and consumers will not buy one unless it gets at least 100 to 150 miles per charge, Chambers said. He said market research done by Ford and a group of oil companies shows 2 percent of Californians would not buy the car by 1998.

Chambers' statements fly in the face of a report issued by CARB in April which concluded that the technology for the electric car mandate "is developing on schedule."

The report also cited three separate studies which found 10,000 to 70,000 jobs would be created in the years 2000 to 2010 if the CARB schedule were adopted. The bulk of those jobs would be in the L.A. area, Martin said.

Jack Kyser, chief economist with the Economic Development Corp. of Los Angeles County, said, "I'm still a little bit skeptical that we'll see that many jobs created."

The major auto parts manufacturers and suppliers are situated in the Midwest and the East and there may be pressure on any local electric car company to move operations there, Kyser said.

Veronica Kun, senior scientist with the L.A. office of the Natural Resources Defense Council environment group, said, "I'm confident that the air resources board will hold firm" on the rule.

The NRDC favors the rule because of the environmental benefits it would bring, she said. But Kun noted there are economic payoffs as well.

"California has nothing to lose and everything to gain on this rule," she said. "California is a consumer of vehicles, not a producer of vehicles."

Kyser noted businesses which stand to gain include California companies which produce parts which could be used in making electric vehicles. Companies which could lose include the big U.S. auto makers and oil companies.

Campbell of U.S. Electricar said his company is in favor of the CARB mandate, but the company will not be harmed if CARB delays the requirement.

"We see a viable market for electric cars, no matter what happens," Campbell said. "Some people (at U.S. Electric Car) say that in 50 years, the only place you'll see a gas-powered car is in a museum."