CRAIG HUBER'S EV ARTICLES
(Note: the cars have all been sold!)
My desire for selling these 3 cars was based upon several factors. Since 1986, I had been driving electric cars and concluded that a light-weight electric 3-wheeler best suits my in-town commuting. I plan to design and build a "EV 3-wheeler".
The articles below are from local papers that took a keen interest in my Electric Cars before the Gulf war of 1991.
Article from EUGENE, OREGON'S:
REGISTER-GUARD / AUGUST 17, 1990
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When his pale yellow Renault needs a fill-up. Craig Huber reaches for the water jug. He tops of the eight 12-volt batteries that jam The car's engine compartment, then attends to the Other eight that fill its trunk space. Enough water and a nightly recharge, keep the 22-year old automobile humming along the streets of Eugene The Renault, a 1968 "Mars II" model that runs solely on electricity, looks like a relic from an age of environmental idealism. Huber sees it as a harbinger of what's to come in the near age of environmentalism mental pragmatism. "I really believe that with the technology and expertise are have, we should be able to have mil- lions of vehicles like this on the road," says Huber a local kaleidoscope maker who owns three electric ears and is awaiting delivery on a fourth. It's easy to be skeptical. Huber's Renault tops out at about 10 mph and the batteries lose their juice alter 30 miles. His other two -- a bug like ComutaCar and a 'Leetric Leopard built in the body of a Renault Le Car -- offer similar performance . In a society accustomed to the rumble of the internal combustion engine as 1$ chief source of background noise, Huber could be accused of spending too much time looking at the world through one of his multicolored creations. But specialists in the field of "EVS" the preferred nickname for electric vehicles, say he's not too far off base. Maybe not millions, but hundreds and perhaps thousands of electrically powered vehicles are on the not-too-distant horizon, they say. "We will have electric stations where you stop for a cup of coffee and they charge your car while you wait" says George Gless, editor of an EV newsletter based in Boulder, Colo. "It loots like electrics are going to be very practical in the next couple of years." Electric vehicle proponents like Gless and Huber are keeping a keen eye on developments in the Persian Gulf, where conflicts over oh have many nations dusting off 20-year-old ideas on ways to wean themselves from dependency on foreign supplies. The ignition key starts the electricity flowing from the batteries to the electric motor. The accelerator pedal works like a dimmer switch for an overhead lamp, gradually increasing or decreasing the amount of energy to the motor. "There's ao such thing as idling" Huber says. "There's no such thing as a radiator, motor oil or gasoline. What there is, is lots and lots of batteries." The drawbacks to electric vehicles are plain. Their range is generally less than 60 miles, they're terrible on steep hills, the batteries take up most of a vehicle's storage space and the risk of burning out batteries is high. Work is being done, however, on more efficient and more powerful batteries. With innovations in streamlining and lightweight metals, electric cars may soon equal their gasoline-led counterparts for convenience, Glees says. Huber's Renault was bought new by the Eugene Water & Electric Board for about $5,800. It was used on and off by the utility to demonstrate the potential of electricity-driven cars. It was soon warehoused, however, then sold as surplus. Huber drives it for much the same reason EWEB first obtained it. He likes to show people there is hope for an alternative to gasoline. He acknowledges some of the car's impracticalities but believes if people can accept smaller, lighter cars for commuting, EV's might take over as the preferred method of urban transportation. car designs must change first and so must tastes for luxury, roominess and power, Huber says. And that's why he's just a tad embarrassed By his most recent acquisition - a fully electric 1979 Cadillac limousine. Adapted by EV maverick Robert Aronson, the 40-battery Caddy was meant to sell the wealthy on the benefits of electricity over gas. In that, it may have failed, Huber says, but it still makes a statement. "I don't know what I'm going to do with it," he says. "Maybe parades. Take politicians around in it."
Article from EUGENE, OREGON'S:
WHAT'S HAPPENING / AUGUST 17, 1990
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It looks like any other 4-door Renault. A squat box on wheels--the little French car that could. But under the hood, instead of a greasy engine, there are eight big batteries. In trunk are another eight. The dashboard holds volt and amp meters instead of a gas gauge. And underneath the car, instead of a muffler and tailpipe, there's an electric motor. Cleo the dog jumps in the back seat. Craig Huber gets behind the wheel, turns the ignition key, and with a mighty silence, the electric "Mars II" is off and running. No need for imported oil controlled by Middle East madmen, no greenhouse gases spitting from its rear end. "I never feel guilty about driving it:' says Huber. We pull behind a truck belching black smoke. "That:' says Huber, "is what you don't have with this car. Mars II, with its half ton of batteries and 15-horsepower motor, is no freeway cruiser. Still, it accelerates easily into fourth gear and hums along West 11th with Detroit's and Tokyo's finest. "It's the car I use to drive around town:" says Huber "When I get home, I just plug it in:" and it only costs him a few dollars per month to recharge. Electric cars may not be for everyone, he admits. Mars II gets only 20-30 miles between charges--"the slower you drive, the farther you go:' But most car trips are 15 miles or less, he reasons, and electric urban autos could save a lot of gas and clean air. What's more, Huber happens to have just the thing in his driveway, awaiting repairs--a stub-nosed, fiberglass-bodied two-seat "Comuta-Car:' "This," says Huber, "is what I envision as the future of electric cars. Lots of people driving lightweight cars in the city"
Article from EUGENE, OREGON'S:
SOUTHERN WILLAMETTE ALLIANCE
DECEMBER 1990
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The handwriting is no longer just on the wall - it's on the pump at the local service station; it's in headlines threatening war, and it hangs heavy in the sides above us - WE'VE GOT TO KICK THE OIL HABIT. Craig Huber of Eugene got the message some time ago - a man with a vision, he wants to see Americans kick that habit and get into non-polluting modes of transportation. He's doing his part - he owns three electric vehicles (EVs). He took me for a spin in a yellow Mars II, one of ten EVs produced in 1968 using Renault bodies. EWEB purchased it to promote switching to electricity at a time when oil prices were starting to climb, but it didn't catch on, ended up in storage, and in 1986, found its way to Huber. Huber paid $2,000 for it, put in $2500 more, and it's been giving him good, clean, cheap transportation ever since. A Little jerky shifting speed, but it can coast some distance on inertia and weight. At the fist stop sign, the motor died... but no - it was just S I L E N T ! It runs on a 15 HP motor with a top speed of 45 and a range of 50 milees--plenty for city driving. His Comuta-Car was designed as an EV, one of a fleet produced by Sebring Motors in Florida in 1981. A cute little red, ski-slide nosed runabout 3/4 the size of a compact, it runs on 86-voIt golf cart batteries and a 6 HP motor. Purchase and refurbishing totaled $3,000. Huber loves driving it because it's obviously different and attracts attention to the fact that there are alternatives right here and now. His third EV is neither efficient nor economical, but definitely a one-of-a-kind collector's item - a·heavyweight Caddy with 32 batteries and a 180-volt system.