ACTIVISTS SAVE RARE EV’S

Who'll Save the Electric Car?
Forbes Bagatelle-Black, October 19, 2006 (EV World)

- It was a star-studded event…the cast of the recent film Who Killed the Electric Car? Chelsea Sexton, Paul Scott, and Alexandra Paul were there, along with Doug Korthof, J. Karen Thomas, Colette Devine, Linda Nicholes and many others…It was the Los Angeles Board of Water and Power Commissioners' Hearing on October 17, 2006. The electric vehicle advocates were there to urge the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) to keep their fleet of seventy four electric Toyota RAV4s on the road.

- EV activist Nate Vanderschaaf…brought a check for $1,850,000, money he borrowed from Tom Dunn, a realtor in Colorado…Dunn and Vanderschaaf stand to make a lot of money if they go into the business of buying and selling RAV4 EVs as various fleet leases end over the next few years…
- Sexton, who was also acting in her role as Executive Director of the EV advocacy group Plug In America (PIA), supports Vanderschaaf in his efforts…PIA wants to see the LADWP RAV4 EVs stay on the road…
- Paul Scott, another founding member of PIA, was a bit more skeptical about leaving LADWP and Toyota to their own devices…All the speakers urged them to sell the RAV4 EVs to Vanderschaaf or to take other actions to keep the vehicles on the road. Doug Korthof passed around a letter from US Congresswoman Linda Sanchez, urging LADWP to work with PIA on this matter. Richard Kelly was especially persuasive, describing how he had recently bought an electric Chevrolet S-10 pickup from LADWP. He told the commissioners that it was the best vehicle he had ever owned…
- LADWP commissioners who were present voiced their support…However, the commission decided to defer the question of selling their RAV4 EVs to Vanderschaaf or anyone else. Instead, LADWP will re-lease all the vehicles which are deemed "viable" after a thorough inspection. Commissioners indicated that initial inspection suggests that fifty nine of the seventy four are likely to be considered viable. Many of the remaining fifteen vehicles had been damaged in accidents. Commissioners suggested that they would look into the repairs required to make these fifteen vehicles roadworthy again.

- Vanderschaaf called the commission's decision "a stay of execution." Sexton called it a "victory." While many PIA members did not consider the outcome a complete success, all agreed that it was much better than sending the RAV4 EVs to the crusher.