NATdS Report #4: What To Expect At The American Tour de Sol 
by Michael H. Bianchi

Fair warning. This piece is my annual confession that I really don't care who wins what prize at the NESEA American Tour de Sol this (or any) year. It isn't why I go. So if you are looking for breathless commentary on who's beating who by how much, second by second, I'm afraid you will be disappointed.

Oh, I'll tell you who gets what prizes, and who's ahead day by day.
But these reports will be more about the human stories and the
technical challenges of the teams and their entries.

I first went to the 1993 American Tour de Sol because I was curious as to the state of electric car technology and the ATdS looked like a good place to see EVs "on the hoof". It definitely was and is! Since the Tour is a rally that is run on an open course (that is without any special traffic control or considerations) the vehicles have to deal with the real world as they find it. Traffic, people, weather, rules-of-the-road, and, some years, HEAVY WEATHER! The practical electric vehicle and the organized team should be able to handle them all. The trend has been to better and better vehicles capable of making it through the rally. Many more get all the way through without incident. Some of the more inventive new designs get stressed beyond their limits, but in 1999, for example, only one vehicle, custom built from the ground up, was unable to complete the course.

The underlying theme of the NESEA Tour is practical and reliable electric and hybrid electric transportation that is easier on the environment and sustainable. This year's tour will have some very interesting attempts in those directions.

For example, there will be two(!) hydrogen fuel cell powered vehicles in the Tour. The "New Jersey Venturer", Number 9, returns, after becoming the first hydrogen fuel cell vehicle to ever enter an EV competition anywhere in the world! This is a hydrogen fuel cell car in the "classic" (classic?) model -- tanks of H2 gas fed into a Proton Exchange Membrane fuel cell. 

But the second hydrogen fuel cell car, the "New Jersey Genesis", built by a team largely related to the "Venturer" people, produces the hydrogen gas from a chemical reaction that evolves the gas on demand. Moreover, both the liquid pre-reaction "fuel" and the post-reaction waste product solution are stable and relatively benign. In fact it's likely the waste product could be recycled back into the fuel form, creating a closed system.

The hydrogen fuel cell cars will be in the newly created RENEWABLE FUELED VEHICLE CATEGORY.

THIS is why I've come to the Tour -- to see cutting edge technology.

Cannot afford cutting edge technology? Me neither. Although I still enjoy my 1995 Solectria "Force" EV, my everyday car.

How about a commercially available gasoline electric hybrid that can be fueled up at your corner filling station? How about one that is for sale today? America Honda Motor Company is a gold sponsor of the  Tour this year, and there will be ten(!) "Honda Insights" in sight at the Tour sites. (Forgive me.) 5 are in the DEMONSTRATION CATEGORY and are not competing. But the rest are in the competitive PRODUCTION CATEGORY, many entered by individuals.

The US DOE HYBRID CATEGORY will have 7 vehicles using a variety of fuels and control strategies: Diesel, Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG), Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), Reformulated Gasoline (RFG). (I wonder if Tom Hopper will bring his soy bean oil bio-diesel hybrid this year? It smelled just like French fries going down the road.)

And of course there will be a herd of 17 BATTERY-ELECTRIC CATEGORY entrants, with lead acid, advanced lead acid, nickel cadmium, and nickel metal hydride chemistries represented.

Add 4 ONE PERSON CATEGORY with 2 cycles and a pair of 3-wheeled cars, and 2 SOLAR-ELECTRIC CATEGORY entrants, plus 3 gasoline and LPG CONTROL VEHICLES to collect efficiency comparison data, and you have world class event with something for every EV enthusiast, and those  who think they might like to become one.

So why not come to the NESEA Tour? May 12 through 19th, New York City to Washington DC. Check out the web site, www.NESEA.org, or my previous reports. We'll see you there.

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The above is copyright Michael H. Bianchi. Permission to copy is granted provided the entire article is presented without modification and this notice remains attached.