Wayland’s Words

Hello to All,
From part 1…..

At a little before 7:00 the line formed to go into the theater, so show and tell was over and the real show was about to begin.

I was excited to see this movie. In a past life of getting on airplanes and flying into various parts of the country to work in wafer fabs as a high tech trouble-shooter, I found myself in California and Arizona often, two places where the elusive EV1 could actually be seen touched, and yes, even driven if one was fortunate enough. I drove EV1s in San Diego, and I drove EV1s in Phoenix. Though not nearly as lucky as those who were leasees of EV1s, I did get to drive perhaps twenty EV1s over a period of maybe three years. I got to see the Impact, too, the forerunner of the EV1, and got to see and sit inside ‘Sunnyside Up’, the race prepped EV1 that went 183 mph and set a world speed record for a production electric car. Rod Wilde raced drag raced his Maniac Mazda against this car and beat it (to the dismay of the GM engineers) while we were both in Phoenix. I’ve even drag raced White Zombie against Marvin Rush in his EV1…what a fun memory that is (video up at Plasma Boy Racing). I loved the EV1, it’s truly one of the world’s great cars.

Sidebar…

During its heyday, an EV1 was available for rent through ‘EV Rentals’, a subdivision of Budget Car Rental. I took advantage of this, and got to know the good folks at the LA Airport’s Budget Car Rental well. Whenever I had business in that area, instead of flogging some wheezing econocar gasser and adding to the LA Basin’s pollution problem, I was whirring about in a high performance electric car, the fabulous EV1 (driving experience story at the links page of Plasma Boy Racing)! When I first heard of the idea that one could actually rent this rare and exotic car, it seemed too good to be true, and it reminded me of the tales told by aging hotrodders of a time when the legendary AC Cobra, an ultra hi performance muscle car, could be rented from ‘Hertz Rent a Car’. Today, any sane hotrodder would give his left arm for a chance to get a ride in a for real AC Cobra, so to think that ‘anybody’ with a driver’s license could merely waltz into a Hertz Rental facility, drop down some pocket change, and go out and wreak havoc on poor saps in their Mustangs, GTOs, and Vettes, is well, the stuff that makes great stories! Of course, an original Cobra is a highly valued, rare collectible that broke all the rules, set the bar high, and today represents a time gone by. At the time, I remember thinking that some day, aging EVers (guys like me) would tell tales of how one could rent an exotic, rare, limited production, hi performance EV1. Today, the EV1, like the Cobra, is a highly valued, rare collectible (for museums that hide them away when GM tells them to) that broke all the rules, set the bar high, and today represents a time gone by. Back to the movie….

Before the movie began, Chris addressed us all, which really added to the whole thing. All I can say, is WOW! Chris and all involved did a terrific job.

The film is expertly crafted with great camera work and full fidelity, well mixed audio. A highlight for me, was music by Joe Walsh during a drag race scene between a Hummer and an EV1. Other highlights was seeing lots of folks I’ve spent time with either in person or through correspondence, from Chelsea Sexton involved with the EV1 program (she and I hung out together, then she handed me the keys to an EV1 in Phoenix and told me to go play with the car), to former GM CEO Robert Stemple (wrenched on EVs with him in Orlando), to Iris and Stan Ovshinsky (had a wonderful discussion about NiMH batteries with them at EVS 14), to Alan Cocconi (met him one night in the Arizona desert), to Dough Korthof (traveling through Oregon in his Honda EV Plus), Wally Rippel (his first EV was a Datsun 1200)…it was like I was ‘part’ of this movie and that I had lived through the whole thing with everybody. Yes, there are parts of this movie where I thought I might be offended, such as the areas dealing with politics, but it was handled in a way that didn’t seem to be ‘bashing’ for bashing sake, rather, it was dealt with on a factual basis that left the viewer feeling it was up to them to decide…good job, Chris. So great was this movie, that my eyes welled up several times (I can’t say tears for fear of ridicule by male compatriots) during certain scenes. Imagine, a documentary with this kind of power! Even if one is not already an environmentalist or EVer, this movie would move them as well.

After the lights came back up, it was open forum question and answer time with Chris and others. A proud moment for me, was when all those who had electric cars were asked to stand, where we received a huge round of applause.

After the show, Chris was the ultimate host, handing out large format posters and autographing them for all who asked. When the time was right (no, this is not a Cialis commercial), Chris and I had a great one on one discussion about the film. We discussed our mutual appreciation of Joe Walsh where I learned Joe was an EV1 leasee…didn’t know that! Walsh normally does not allow his music to be used in movies, but he was happy to give permission for use in this film. Too much to cover in this area, but let it suffice to say Chris and I had lively conversations as the night went on.

As things were winding down, Chris and friends joined us back outside for the anticipated Zombie ride…or should I say rides? Tim was instructed by my wife to not get too crazy on the streets, while I was standing behind her silently mouthing ‘NAIL IT’. Chris asked for his life to be spared…too bad no video footage was shot of all this fun. It wasn’t the best setup for a full blown Zombie experience. The Hollywood district of Portland is very congested with cramped streets, lots of traffic, people everywhere…you just can’t do 100 mph down Sandy Boulevard! Tim left with Chris and disappeared into the night for a good 15 minutes, while we all worried that maybe they had wrapped themselves around a telephone pole somewhere. They returned though, and Chris’ EV grin was pretty large! I would later see lots of 30 foot long tire patches in the area where they had been. Chris said he could only imagine what the car could do if they hadn’t had such a tight area to drive through. We did see Tim launch the car once as they were leaving a stoplight, and the front tires popped off the ground a little, so at least Chris got to feel that gut distorting torque As he got out of the car, one of the first things he said was, “That does it, I’m coming back for the Portland EV Drag races in August!” In my head I said, “Mission accomplished!”

Remember how I had described how hungry Cheryl, Tim, and I were ‘before’ the show? Since then, only the late afternoon ice cream bars, the hype of the car show, the movie, the high octane discussions, and a couple bags of movie popcorn and a couple bottles of pop had sustained us. To my delight, Chris asked if we would like to join him for dinner at a brew house around the corner that his brother knew of. Yes, there’s a Portland connection to Chris, in that his brother lives here! As I was feeling ‘special’ to have had the personnel invite, it suddenly became apparent that Chris had tricked me with an ulterior motive, as he scrambled back into White Zombie for a ride to the restaurant :-0 Jay Donaway, Cheryl, and I got in Blue Meanie and followed. The pack was sitting at 152V static after the 6 mile drive without a refresh charge, and while the moment of all the excitement this evening had brought still had me zinging, I was also pondering the all uphill drive back to the Wayland EV juice bar on 6+ year old batteries that were already pretty darn tired. Would we make it back home? In the old days, circa the early 1980s, through periods of battery experimentation, there was many a night where Cheryl had to either help me push this car, or worse yet, had to walk home from some ‘stranded’ location with me. To this day, even after having Red Beastie with its easy 120 mile range that never, ever left us without adequate range, she’s still gun shy of the ‘little blue car’, and the first words out of her mouth were, “We’ve got enough to get home, right?” In my head I said, “Geez, the batteries are 6 years old, they haven’t been charged, it’s all up hill home, they’re sitting at less than 12 volts right now with no load on them, what do YOU think?”…but outside that strange head of mine, this came out, “Sure sweetie, the car’s doing great. Relax, let’s enjoy the evening.”

At the restaurant/brew house, the fellowship was fun, and the brew and food was terrific as well. In trying to get a Chris Paine quote describing his Zombie ride, Jay came up with ‘Had I ridden in White Zombie before I made this film it would have been changed to ‘Who Saved the Electric Car?” This brought out laughter from Chris and all.

Afterwards, Chris asked me how the charge was on White Zombie, and if there was enough to give a few more rides for his brother and friends and still get us home OK. Tim reported that the pack was quite stiff still and that the voltage was still hanging near 180 or so. And so rides, we gave! One of Chris’ friends was in the passenger seat and was talking to Tim about how he’s got this buddy with a super fast, built Dodge Dart, and just as he was about to say how fast ‘that’ car was, Tim stood on it, pulled the front tires up, and laid down twin black stripes as they clawed away down the street. Tim told me later that all kind of explicatives came out of the guy’s mouth as he was slammed back in the seat on launch, and that it was obvious he just wasn’t expecting ‘Zombie’ acceleration….Tim said it was great fun.

Near 11:30 pm, the time came for everyone to say goodbye. We thanked Chris and his entourage for making such a great film and for being so engaged with all the EVers who came on this fun night, and he thanked us for the dedication we all had, and of course, for his thrill ride.

Cheryl and I dropped Jay off at the MAX train station, and we were about to make our way back home when Tim flagged us down. Seems the DC-DC had just called it quits and the Zombie’s lights were dimmed down to an 11+ volt level again…hmmm. A quick check revealed a blown 5 amp HV fuse. We decided to not worry about the problem, as the drive home would be a just 12-15 minutes. Blue Meanie was my concern at the moment, with the pack sagging into the 145V range under 35 mph speeds. To my amazement, the pack hung in there fairly well most of the way home. After about 4 miles though (10 miles total), I started to see 130+V readings, then even lower as we continued to pull mild hills. Long story shorter…we made it home, a 12 mile round trip on Optimas with at least 600 cycles on them. Yes, I pulled the pack down HARD into sub 100V levels on the last 1/2 mile, but the pack recovered well and took in a 1.5 hour charge, most of that at 23+ amps! White Zombie’s pack was sitting at 375 volts right after shutting it down, this after 12 miles, and HEAVY repeated 1000 amp acceleration runs. White Zombie too, was recharged before I went to bed.

The next morning, the Zombie’s pack was sitting at 391V (perfect), and Blue Meanie’s pack seemed to enjoy it’s flogging, as instead of sitting at 158V static (new, it used to sit at 169V) in the winter of its life, it was now at 164V. Subsequent driving these past days has Blue Meanie feeling way peppier and the pack acting like it did a few years ago. No reversed cells and far less voltage sag. Guess those old Optimas can be woken back up.

What a fun night! Thanks again to everyone that made this come together, with special thanks to Brad Hippert who was instrumental in getting my car included as part of the show festivities. Of course, a big thank you to Chris Paine for his commitment to not letting this story get buried by GM and for having the courage to stick with it for three long years in the making.

See Ya…
John ‘Plasma Boy’ Wayland

Hello to All, I had written:

…a few photos from last night’s fun with Chris Paine are up at the Plasma Boy web page. Look for a detailed post later tonight….

Then this from Jim Husted:

I’m so pleased that you got to pull it off last night…I’m not going to ruin the plot for EVeryone and I can’t wait to read the full post.

OK, here’s ‘the rest of the story’……As is typical, this all started bad, very bad. In Portland, Oregon, once we get past July 4th or so, you can count on Summer weather, we’re talking little to no rain and 85-95 degree temps the norm through August. So, anyone wanna guess where I’m going with this? Yup, that damn anti-EV vortex is still after me! I’m not kidding. After 20+ days of sun and warm weather, and with Chris and his crew arriving in town for the big film debut (and a scheduled Zombie ride), a weird July cold front was forecast for mid-week, most likely Wednesday. Geesh! In fact, you just couldn’t get a more deliberate conspiracy from the weather man, with his 7 day forecast showing 85-90 degrees Monday and Tuesday, then plummeting temps and rain ‘only’ on Wednesday, then Thursday and Friday rebounding into the 80s with Saturday and Sunday heading into the 90s again. It seems at every possibility for an EVent this year, weird weather has done it’s best to kill it!

Yesterday morning as I awoke early to start my forklift wrenching day, the smell of fresh wet air wafted through the bedroom window. Right on queue, on the exact day that of the movie debut, the rare for July cold front has rolled in off the Pacific and it’s raining! All day long, it rained. I’m in the back of my service truck doing this and that, and all I can hear is the sound of rain beating down on the aluminum roof…damn! To make matters worse, my planned ‘easy’ day (so I could get off work early at 3:00) is anything but easy and is rapidly going south on me, with one customer freaking out because five, count ‘em, five lift trucks are down all at the same time and I’ve got to get them back on line before I can go home. I call for backup to get an extra tech to help out, but it seems all the techs were slammed on this day…nice! I’m building here, so bear with me……

By noon, it’s still raining, and as I get something repaired and back in service, operators keep stopping by on forklifts carrying more dead pallet jacks over to me. By two, it’s raining even harder and the skies are getting darker. By three, it’s still raining. Work continued to get more insane and each time I got caught up, another repair would show up. The grand total of dead lift trucks came to eight. At near 4:00 however, the rain stopped, the clouds began to go away, and patches of blue showed up as the roads began to dry. Man, was I going to get a break?

I arrived at my house and hour and a half later than planned at 4:30. My wife’s work day had also went crazy and though she had planned to meet me at the house at around 3:30, she didn’t get home until after 4:00. The plan was, that she and I would take Blue Meanie, and Tim would drive White Zombie. The rain thing had just tweaked with me all day, work had gone to hell in a hand basket, and I had cars waiting at home to prep for a show that I really needed a couple of hours for. Now it was getting late and there was little time left to get the cars spiffed up. I had also wanted to take both out for a 4-5 mile ‘wake-up run’ with subsequent recharges to get their juices flowing. Blue Meanie in particular, with its 6+ year old Optimas, would never make a 12 mile round trip to the show and back unless I exercised the old pack before hand. Yeah, things had certainly not gone as I had hoped for. I was tired and dirty with a combination of sweat and hydraulic fluid, I stunk…I was stressed out over everything. Nothing like a shower though, to wash away problems, and by 5-ish I emerged a refreshed Plasma Boy. Tim too, had one of those days but in perfect timing fashion, he was at my door as I was ready to go out it.

We had wanted to be at the theater by 5:30 or so to get both of my EVs in the lineup near the theater entrance with other EVs from the OEVA group, and, we wanted meet up with Chris before show time. Instead, we hadn’t left my house, it was already after 5:00, and nothing had been done yet. My wife isn’t a real happy camper when things go this way. All three of us were hungry, too. I’m still building here……

Blue Meanie gets put on charge to top its pack off…White Zombie, too. At full charge (445V), Zombie’s charger is shut down and the pack rests at 404V right after. The Chris Brune DC-DC is put on line as the 12V system jumps to 14.4V and the packs settles in at 391 volts.

Time for Tim to take the car out for a spin. He goes up the shop driveway and is almost to the road, when the car suddenly looses power and coasts to a stop. WHAT???? Nooo-oooh, not now! A second press-down on the throttle allows the car to make it onto the street, then it dies again. This is definitely bad timing! What’s up with this? We got the car back into the shop, hooked up the Mac, and pulled all these Zilla codes: 1124 (Main contactor stuck on), 1141 (main contactor high resistance), 1221 (Major Overspeed Either Motor Beyond red line by X), 1224 (SLI Battery too low and caused shutdown of controller), 1231 (Propulsion pack open, no contactor drop, and controller is not responding). Geez, what the heck?

So now, it’s 5:30, we’re still in the driveway working on a broken car that’s expected to be at the show as one of the attractions, Blue Meanie ‘really’ needs to be taken out for pack warm-up (or we’ll never make the round trip), and we’re starving. Cheryl comes out with ice cream treats and though she knows things aren’t going well, she says nothing as she hands them to us. This is ‘not’ what I needed after the day I’d had! Tim and I tried to figure out the codes. I hadn’t cleared them since I had raced a few weekends ago, so the older 1224 code made sense…that was when I was driving home pre DC-DC and the 12V battery had lost its will (7-6-06 Electrics Wow the PIR Crowd Friday Night!). So did the 1141, because the contactor had dropped out due to the low 12V problem on that night. The 1231 code happens often, as both Tim and I occasionally forget to insert the interior emergency disconnect handle before atempting to boot up the Zilla. That left us with the freshly imprinted codes 1124 and 1221. Tim was all over it, and within a few minutes, had discovered the rpm sensor’s input lead to the Hairball had come loose…no input from that sensor while flag ‘a’ is on, and you’ll get that 1221 code! The 1124 then made sense, because when the car died due to the tach drive thing, the contactor did not drop out, thus the Zilla said the contactor was ‘stuck on’ because it was still on when the controller had shut itself down.

After reinserting the sensor’s wire at the Hairball and cinching it up with a small screw driver, all was well and the Zombie was ready to roll. Time now, nearly 5:45 pm. Tim takes the car out for the drive, while I take Blue Meanie for a short 1/2 mile cruise through the neighborhood, then return and put it back on charge. That would be all the time I had to freshen up the Meanie’s pack. Tim got back, the car was charged up again, and after quick wipe-downs and vacuum jobs, we were finally ready to leave for the show…it’s now 6:10 pm.

We drove conservatively to the theater, about 6 miles from the Wayland home. Blue Meanie’s tired old 156V pack of Optimas hung in there fairly well, but make no mistake, the days of seeing 165 volts while cruising at 40 mph are gone, replaced these days with 149-152 volts and lots of sag under any type of acceleration. At the theater, as I had assumed, there were no charging outlets to help the Meanie’s pack out. White Zombie’s pack laughed at the drive and still registered 185 volts on the Emeter!

The presentation of EVs was great. Going from memory, there was Gary Graunke’s silver AC powered Insight, Ralph Merwin’s super clean teal Geo Prism EV, a white electric Chevy S10 pickup, Myles Twete’s show stopper dark navy 1921 Milburn EV, Blue Meanie and White Zombie, and a couple other EVs I can’t clearly recall (sorry to those I’ve forgotten). There were lots of people gathering to see the electric cars, lots of video cameras, lots of digital cameras, lots of excitement! As I’m doing my typical show and tell of Blue Meanie (as always, the remote controlled motorized rear battery tray was a big hit), Tim is working a group of folks curious about White Zombie. I had talked with quite few people, but there was this one guy who was very intrigued with the under-hood area of Blue Meanie, and so we chatted for perhaps 10 minutes before he said to me, “Oh, by the way, I’m Chris” (as he gives me a firm hand shake). I was pretty embarrassed that I had not recognized him. We migrated over to White Zombie, where his face erupted into a very big EV grin as he took in its ‘racing attitude’. I told him Rod Wilde had asked me to present him with a pair of rubber shorts to prepare him for his Zombie ride, but Chris’ wit was readily apparent when he instantly quipped back, “Oh that’s OK, I’ve already got them on…wear them all the time.” I knew I’d like this guy! We decided to wait until after the show for his ride experience.

At a little before 7:00 the line formed to go into the theater, so show and tell was over and the real show was about to begin. To be continued…

See Ya….
John Wayland