March 1, 2007
Phoenix Motorcars held the debut for their SUT EV in Los Angeles, CA at the Petersen Automotive Museum on Thursday evening of March 1, 2007. Above is the invitational flyer announcing the SUT EV unveiling. The SUT EV is one of two Electric Vehicles Phoenix Motorcars is planning to release for sale. The other one is an SUV. Both models are based off existing Korean ICE chassis converted to be all electric. Click here to view SUT specifications. Phoenix Motorcars has teamed with UQM out of Colorado in the development of the electric drivetrain for their vehicles. Phoenix Motorcars also has an exclusive agreement with Altairnano for use of their NanoSafe batteries within the SUT and SUV electric vehicles. The premise behind the Altair NanoSafe batteries is their ability to be fast charged (within 10 minutes) and have a much higher cycle life (potentially 20+ year life) than the current Li-Ion cells to which we are accustomed (laptop Li-Ion). Altairnano batteries supposedly will be available in larger "bricks" making for easier integration of the battery pack compared to having to assemble ~5000-7000 Li-Ion battery cells. Lastly Altairnano batteries supposedly don't exhibit thermal runaway issues that must be addressed with current Li-Ion technology.

While these claims are excellent and hopefully hold true, it would be beneficial to understand what is the energy density of Altair NanoSafe batteries. If you google the web you'll find various comments about Altair NanoSafe batteries having about 50% of the energy density of current state of the art Li-Ion technology which is around 180-200whr/kg for Li-Ion. This means to travel the same distance in an Altairnano equipped vehicle you have to carry a battery pack that is about two times as heavy as one assembled from currently mass produced and available Li-Ion 18650 technology. More weight is always an enemy of efficiency and performance. But, the tradeoff of a battery that has a 20+ year lifespan, has benign thermal characteristics, and can either accept or deliver high power is definitely something to consider and investigate further. Hopefully the pursuit of the NanoSafe battery can prove their viability and mass production. Battery technology continues to improve and we can hope for future NanoSafe batteries with increased energy densities.

It is excellent that there are more EV manufacturers appearing with different approaches to their vehicles and battery technology. Vehicle design is always a compromise of many factors. The trade-offs of batteries with lower energy density that exhibit super long life and ability to be charged quickly and deliver high rates of power still makes them a worthy contender. Any modern battery technology is leaps and bounds better than the ~30whr/kg of old lead acid battery technology which were used in the original 1st gen EV1s prior to moving to NiMH battery technology.

One thing for the consumer to be aware of is that in order to fast charge an EV in 10 minutes you need to have around 300kW of electrical service power available. Your average residential home generally has either 100amp (24kW) or 200amp (48kW) electrical service. You won't be fast charging an EV at your house but rather charging it over 1-6 hours depending on the charge rate and battery state of charge. Slower charging works well at home anyway since a majority of the time EV charging will take place overnight while the owner sleeps. Businesses or "fueling stations" configured for fast charging EVs would be capable of providing the elevated power levels required for fast charging along with the required external high power (250kW) charger. The Phoenix SUT EV has a convenient onboard 6.6kW charger allowing for slower charging either at home or wherever you might find an appropriate and available 240VAC outlet.

Over the past year there has been plenty of news about Phoenix Motorcars promising efforts to bring their SUT and SUV EVs to market. I was excited to have had the opportunity to attend their Los Angeles SUT EV debut and learn more about their upcoming vehicles. Several cast members from the movie "Who Killed The Electric Car?" were in attendance as well as Daryl Hannah vlogging with her videocamera for her website http://www.dhlovelife.com. Enthusiastic, passionate, and longtime EV advocate Ed Begley Jr. (of "Living with Ed") was the celebrity host for the EVent. Adrienne Janic was among the many beautiful women in attendance. WKTEC Filmmaker Chris Paine had the privilege to be the first to test drive the SUT.

Phoenix Motorcars plans to initially sell the first SUTs to Utility Service fleets during 2007. Towards the end of 2007 I understand a select few civilians will have the opportunity to take delivery of an SUT EV. After the test drive Chris Paine became the first to sign paperwork placing him at the top of the list to be contacted once SUT EVs are available for delivery.

Considering this was a debut for a new Electric Vehicle I was expecting to see at least a dozen or so EVs parked in the Petersen parking garage from existing EV owners attending the EVent. Mostly I was expecting to see several Toyota RAV4-EVs since they are the few remaining EVs that lessees were able to negotiate a purchase and save from being crushed. It was my understanding that in the past the Petersen Automotive Museum actually had a couple of dedicated EV only parking spots and EV chargers.

I happened to have on loan for durability testing one of several production eBox EVs from AC Propulsion. What better opportunity to add miles to the eBox than to drive it to an EV debut EVent! The eBox is a 5 passenger capable EV that is freeway speed capable (maximum speed is electronically limited to 95mph) and has a 120-150 mile range. Earl Cox and his father Don were also attending the Phoenix Motorcars SUT EV debut so it made sense to carpool. I picked up Earl in Simi and drove to Burbank Airport via the 118 and 5 freeways where we picked up Don who had just flown in from the Bay Area after visiting Tesla Motors in San Carlos, CA. Imagine Don's surprise to be picked up in a high performance all electric EV like the eBox having just come from one EV manufacture to attend an unveiling of another! We then got back on the 170 freeway, connected with the 101 and arrived at the Los Angeles Peterson Automotive Museum having taken the Vine Street exit.

Upon entering the Petersen Automotive Museum garage we discovered they no longer have EV parking places (or EV chargers). It appears these EV spots and chargers have since been removed. We ended up parking in a normal ICE spot after having traveled 44 miles with only 21.58 amphours consumed out of a maximum battery capacity of 100amphours. It would have been fun to have been able to charge but definitely not required considering the range and available battery capacity remaining. We emptied out of the eBox and went to examine and sign up for test driving the white Phoenix Motorcars SUT that was parked on display at the entrance of the museum. While hanging out awaiting the test drives to commence and prior to entering the museum for the 8pm Phoenix Motorcars SUT EV unveiling on the 2nd floor, I only noticed one other EV enter the garage (a white RAV4-EV). Due to parking on the first floor having filled up it most likely had to park on another floor. It would have been fun to have an all EV parking section for those that were able to attend the event in EVs!

The test drive white Phoenix Motorcars SUT looked really nice. The interior had all leather seating with the Phoenix Motorcars logo embroidered on the head rests of the front seats. The paint job was impressive and as good as any factory one. The new paint was far better than the decal roughness seen on earlier vehicles displayed at AltCarExpo in December 2006. I had the privilege of riding along in the backseat for the exciting first test drive with Flimmaker Chris Paine! In the video below you can view this test drive in its entirety and see Chris' enthusiastic reactions to the drive and subsequent signup to be one of the first to own a Phoenix Motorcars SUT! Subsequent footage is of the unveiling ceremony inside the Petersen Automotive Museum that took place around 8 PM on the 2nd floor with speakers Ed Begley Jr. and Phoenix Motorcars CEO Dan Elliot. The unveiling SUT was specially prepared by vehicle customizer Darkside Motoring in a black and red paint scheme. Great showing Phoenix Motorcars!

Summary of key points from Earl's research during the SUT debut EVent (SUT specifications here):

- range: 100 - 120 miles
- charge time: 3-5 hours on 220V at home, 10 minutes with commercial infrastructure
(yeah, this will be a challenge but at least the batteries appear to be able to handle it)
- acceleration: 0-60 in ~10 seconds
- top speed: 90 mph
- # passengers: 5, comfortably but tight backseat legroom with big people in front. good headroom
- price: $45K
- charger type: conductive onboard 6.6kW charger - plug into 220V outlet, extremely fast charging is TBD.

Lighting was minimal during this evening event inside the parking garage and 2nd floor of the museum. Some of the pictures are less than optimum due to the low lighting (longer shutter exposure times) or if using a flash may have had undesired reflections.

Related Phoenix Motorcars SUT Debut Links: