Category Archives: Regulation & policy

Chicago To Allow LSVs?

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Mayor Daley of Chicago is set to introduce an ordinance in the City Council today that will allow residents and city agencies to use LSVs on Chicago streets with speed limits up to 30 mph.

The ordinance is part of the Mayor’s “green Fleet” initiative which already includes the purchase of four GEMs for use inside fleet management facilities. The city expects to add more vehicles for parking enforcement, some refuse collection tasks and crowd control in contained areas.

From our point of view this is a significant development that such a large city is moving towards allowing LSVs. To date, mostly smaller communities have adopted LSV ordinances. This action could set a precedent for other large cities, provides high profile exposure for LSVs and offers a test case for the use of LSVs in urban areas. We will be watching to see if the ordinance passes and how many of Chicago’s residents will choose to use LSVs.

Yamaha Rhino Lawsuits May Be Consolidated

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A motion has been filed by several plaintiffs to consolidate the 57 lawsuits currently spread across 33 U.S. Districts into a Multidistrict Litigation (MDL). An MDL is a federal procedure that allows multiple cases with common underlying facts to be consolidated for pretrial litigation in order to provide consistent rulings and save both sides time and resources. Rhino at over 200. A hearing regarding the MDL consolidation is scheduled for January 29th. Industry estimates place the total number of lawsuits in both state and federal courts related to the  More…

GEM Loses Luster With Army In Europe

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After a six month trial the US Army has decided not to use GEMs at garrisons across Europe.

GEM on test with US Army

GEM on test with US Army

During the trial three vehicles were tested at US Army garrison Grafenwohr in Germany. The vehicles were used for trash site inspection, mail delivery and housing area checks. According to Stars and Stripes,

Last week, Grafenwohr’s director of public works, Tom Hays, said the cars failed to impress.

“They broke down too often and didn’t have enough range,” he said of the cars made in the States by a Chrysler subsidiary.

Other comments by Hays suggest that the primary problem is with the vehicle’s limited range, about 30 miles. The article notes that these test trial results does not preclude the Army from revisiting the use of electric vehicles in the future.

More in Stars and Stripes

Consumer Product Safety Commission Investigates UTVs

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According to a story in the Wall Street Journal, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission(CPSC) has started an investigation into UTVs like the Yamaha Rhino and similar vehicles from other manufacturers. There have been 30 deaths reported involving the Rhino and the company has had more than  200 lawsuits filed against it related to the vehicle. There currently aren’t any safety standards for these type of vehicles  because they are essentially a new class of vehicle. According to the article:

They aren’t subject to ATV safety standards because of design differences such as having a steering wheel, in contrast to the ATVs’ handlebars. But the novel off-road vehicles also aren’t subject to the much-tougher standards for cars. Owners of UTVs don’t have to register them.

“When there is no standard in place, we have to basically determine if there’s a substantial risk of injury and death, and there’s a hurdle there that has to be met,” says Jay Howell, acting assistant executive director of the CPSC’s office of hazard identification and reduction.

This is how consumer regulation often works: Products hit the market governed by no particular safety standards. If injury reports later arise concerning a product, these gradually get the attention of both manufacturers and regulators — often with a spur from lawyers for those injured.

Based on figures provided by Power Sports Marketing for the article, approximately 150,000 Rhinos have been sold since 2003. Yamaha incurred a charge of $136 million in 2007 related to potential product liability expenses. Last month, most of the leading manufacturers of UTVs (Arctic Cat, BRP, Honda, Kawasaki, Polaris, and Yamaha) started the Recreational Off Highway Vehicle Association which has put out a set of safety rules and received ANSI accreditation to develop standards for the vehicles which they now refer to as Recreational Off-highway Vehicles (ROV).

Ontario To Allow Low Speed Vehicles

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Ontario will allow low speed vehicles on public roads as long as they have certain safety features. According to a press release from the Ontario Ministry of Transportation

Low-speed electric vehicles can be driven safely on public roads as long
as they include a number of additional safety requirements and follow
appropriate road restrictions, according to a National Research Council study
released today by the Ontario government.

The list of additional safety requirements based on the National Research Council study includes:

  • Windshield wipers
  • Windshield defogger and heating system
  • Doors
  • Three-point seat belts
  • Slow-moving vehicle identification emblem
  • Seat belt anchors
  • Brakes on all four wheels
  • Federal standards for occupant protections
  • Safety glass on all windows
  • Only permitted on roads with a speed limit of 50 km/h or less
  • Infants and children may not be permitted to ride in an LSV

The complete report from the National Research Council should be available here (pdf) but the link was not working as of this posting.

Road Use Regulation Round Up

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Cities across the country continue to both pass or reject ordinance regarding LSVs and golf cars. A number of common issues keep surfacing including:

  • Safety concerns when mixing LSVs with larger & faster vehicles
  • Legality of crossing over state highways
  • Allowing golf cars on public roads and grouping these vehicles together with LSVs

On the last point, I believe the LSV manufacturers will need to do a better job differentiating themselves from golf cars. You often hear LSVs/NEVs referred to as “glorified golf carts” or a similar moniker. This only creates confusion and blurs the real safety differences between the two different types of vehicles. This melding of vehicle types and their perceived level of safety, often attributing LSVs with a golf cart level of safety, ultimately makes it harder to pass ordinances allowing LSV use on city streets.

Commerce City, CO – approved revised ordinance allowing the use of NEVs
Deer Park, WA – repealed ordinance allowing golf cars to be operated on city streets
Berthoud, CO – passed ordinance allowing NEVs on the road
Loveland, CO – considering NEV ordinance
Stuart City, FL – failed to pass an ordinance that would allow LSVs and golf cars on designated streets. There were concerns about safety and access because the vehicles cannot cross state highways.
Bismarck, ND – passed ordinance allowing use of LSVs on certain streets
Zion, Il – ordinance allowing the use of LSVs on hold until the city can resolve questions about insurance for the vehicles
Bainbridge, GA – considering ordinance that would allow the use of golf cars on streets
Winter Garden, FL – six month trial period allowing the use of golf cars on city streets

Wausau, WI – the state DOT rejected an ordinance for LSVs, needing to examine state highway crossovers more closely

Canyonville, OR and Ocean City, NJ have moved to forbid the use of golf cars on city streets

Electric Mobility Canada Responds To LSV Safety Concerns

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In a recent press release Electric Mobility Canada responded to recent attacks on the safety of LSVs. The following excerpt provides some data on LSV safety performance in the real world.

Low-speed electric vehicles are statistically amongst the safest classes of vehicles in the world. A single manufacturer Reva, who sell their low speed electric vehicles throughout Asia and Europe and have amassed over 50 million kilometres in mixed use environments, report that there have been no associated fatalities with this particular vehicle. Similarly, with over 10 years of statistical data available from the United States, and a fleet of over 45, 000 low-speed electric vehicles in operation on public roads there have no associated fatalities with this class of vehicle.

Electric Mobility Canada is a national membership-based not-for-profit organization dedicated exclusively to the promotion of electric mobility as a readily available and important solution to Canada’s emerging energy and environmental issues.

Transport Canada Crash Test Video Continues Battle Against LSVs

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Transport Canada posted video footage from recent crash tests of the ZENN and what appears to be a GEM model to bolster their contention that LSVs represent a safety problem when mixing with regular vehicles on public roads. Transport Canada states that:

A low-speed vehicle may look like a car, but it is not a car. It is not required to meet the large number of safety standards (up to 40) that a regular passenger car must meet. The low speed vehicle class was originally intended for controlled low speed environments, like gated communities, where the risk of a LSV entering into a collision with a faster motor vehicle would be lower than on public roads. Transport Canada’s crash test results to date confirm that low speed vehicles provide a substantially lower level of occupant protection than conventional passenger cars.

According to The Gazette in Montreal, ZENN’s CEO Ian Clifford responded

Releasing these images without the statistical frame of reference is somewhat irresponsible on Transport Canada’s part. …Our assessment is that low-speed vehicles are among the safest vehicles on the road. I drive our vehicles all the time. I drive the vehicles with my children in them.

I contacted GEM to confirm if it is indeed a GEM model in the video and get their response to the testing but have not heard back from them, perhaps after the holiday.

Plug-In Tax Credit To Boost NEV Sales?

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As part of the recently passed H.R. 1424, the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act, consumers of plug-in electric vehicles can qualify for a tax credit of $2,500 to $7,500. I have recently spoken with a number of NEV manufacturers to get their thoughts on the legislation and as a group they are cautiously optimistic about the tax credit applying to NEVs. According to Kara Saltness of Miles Electric Vehicles the tax credit originally targeted highway speed vehicles but it appears that NEVs will qualify and that sentiment is supported by a press release from U.S. Representative Earl Pomeroy of North Dakota, home of GEM vehicles.

“Congress has taken an important step in encouraging the use of energy efficient vehicles by creating a $2,500 tax credit for plug-in electric drive vehicles like those manufactured by Global Electric Motorcars,”

According to the NEV manufacturers I spoke with the details are still currently being worked out by the government such as, who will qualify, consumers or businesses, likely both is the sentiment, and whether golf carts will be specifically excluded.

Qualifying electric vehicles must be a plug-in and be powered by a battery pack with a minimum of 4 KW of capacity. The credit would increase by $417 from $2,500 for each KW above 4KW. Most of GEMs models have a 4KW battery pack and others have 6 KW. Similarly Dynasty and Miles Automotive believe their vehicles will qualify for the tax credit as well. This could create a significant boost to the NEV market since the $2,500 tax credit translates into a sizable cost deduction for these vehicles. For example, based on prices listed on GEM’s website the tax credit would mean a discount of anywhere from 20% to 37% off the price of a GEM, depending on the model. Dynasty is currently planning on introducing a lithium ion battery pack for their vehicle in the middle of next year and this tax credit would essentially cover the extra cost of that battery, according to general manager Danny Epp.

According to the US Senate’s summary of the bill, the tax credit is slated to start in 2009 and

“…taxpayers may claim the full amount of the allowable credit up to the end of the first calendar quarter after the quarter in which the total number of qualified plug-in electric drive vehicles sold in the U.S. exceeds 250,000.”

This means that NEV manufacturers will be competing against manufacturers of full-size and highway speed vehicle manufacturers for a sizable but limited number of credits. However, for 2009 and even 2010 there may not be much competition for the NEVs since not many full-size plug-in electric vehicles are expected to be available.