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An Interview with Art Haines, Maine’s New Henry Ford? |
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Cont’d from page 4 EVMaine: Will it have a speedometer? Art Haines: Yes. EVMaine: Is the frame painted for corrosion resistance? Art Haines: Yes, it will be painted. EVMaine: And it has suspension and shock absorbers? Art Haines: Yes, it has suspension and shock absorbers on all four wheels. EVMaine: What wheels did you choose, and why? Art Haines: The wheels are heavy-duty industrial wheels and they’re made in the USA. I wanted larger wheels to lower the rolling resistance and also to make it look a little different from a golf cart. They’re better on rough roads. When you ride a bicycle with large wheels it rolls pretty easily. EVMaine: Is a spare tire and wheel included in each kit, and if not, can one be purchased from you? Art Haines: Yes, a person could purchane a spare tire from me. It is not included because you’re probably going to use it for short range, so if you did get a flat you could walk home. (Both laugh) EVMaine: Do your kit vehicles use an extra battery for lights and other accessories? Art Haines: No, most manufacturers use a dc-to-dc converter, but I just tap twelve volts off one of the batteries. Because of the way the charging system is set up the batteries stay balanced while charging. EVMaine: Do you include a battery charger with each vehicle kit? Art Haines: Yes, I do, and it can be plugged into any 110-volt outlet. I went with a different system. Normally the batteries are in series so you get a 48-volt charger and try to force all four batteries to be charged at the same time in series. What I have is a more sophisticated charger that is designed for marine use which charges each battery individually. So each battery goes through its own charging sequence – first a fast charge and then it slows, and then the charger takes each battery off the system when it is fully charged. The solar charge controller also charges each battery individually. EVMaine: Will your kit vehicles be boxy-looking like your prototype and the original production electric cars of the 1910 to 1920s era, or will they have a new look? Art Haines: Yes, they will be boxy. The reason is we want to avoid making molds. All the designs are geometric, either curves or flats, making them much easier to manufacture. EVMaine: Is the windshield Lexan or safety glass? Art Haines: The prototype is Lexan, but the problem with it is that it bows so you can’t put a windshield wiper on it, so we’re going with flat automotive safety glass, which is the same price anyway. EVMaine: Do your kit vehicles come with headlights and taillights? Art Haines: Yes. EVMaine: Are you willing to sell just your vehicle manuals? Art Haines: Actually, I’m going to sell the complete Plans separately, which are the detailed dimensions of all parts, including blueprints for the vehicle. Art Haines: The Assembly Manual that comes with each kit does not include the detailed dimensions of the parts, because they are not needed to assemble the vehicle. EVMaine: Will you sell individual parts from your kits to people who want to construct their own custom electric vehicle from scratch? Art Haines: Yes. EVMaine: I have just a couple more miscellaneous questions. What percentage of Maine vehicles do you think will be battery-electric cars in ten years? Art Haines: I don’t think its going to be a very large percentage, the reason is gasoline right now is still very cheap for what you get. One gallon will take you 30 miles. Even if it were six dollars a gallon it still would be a bargain. The energy density of gasoline is so great that it’s a pretty hard fuel to beat. So I don’t see electric cars taking over a large percentage of the market very soon, but I still think it will grow. People do like the idea of plugging in their cars, or getting their energy from the sun. You can’t store enough energy in a battery to get the kind of range and performance that people want.
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