Dear Editor

Congratulations on an excellent site. It's about time somebody started rattling a few cages on the EV front - I echo your sentiments entirely. It is about time Jeremy Clarkson started acting a bit more responsibly as a programme presenter and giving information about EV's instead of prattling on about his beloved BMW's and Porsches.

I have been working on an EV project for the past six years. It is a system that could multiply the range of an EV about 3 or 4 times, all theory was proved in a "mule" and the idea was patented. In 1998 I went on a DTI trade mission to Japan which, by the way, was very well-organised - full marks to the DTI. While I was there I saw six of the leading car manufacturers and the reception I got was very courteous but the reaction was varied. Out of the six companies one person at one company seemed to understand it completely but the meeting soon came to an end. Another company sent the details to their research centre in Kawasaki. We had one communication shortly after saying they were still looking into it and we would hear back very soon - but that was the last we heard. From the other companies,there seemed very little understanding, to the point where I was asked some ridiculous questions ( the system is based on four wheel drive): I was asked if the front wheels and the rear wheels rotate in the same direction!....I can't put this down to a language difference neither do I think it is in the Japanese nature to take the p--- and this was from one of the leaders in four wheel drive. Another question I was asked by another company was 'Do the front wheels and the rear wheels rotate at the same speed?'. WHAT IS GOING ON ??? In my opinion if a system such as this has even a glimmer of hope then it is worth investigating further.

Apart from the Japan trip I have approached several of the "so called experts" whose minds seem totally fixed on convention and with no lateral thinking at all - as well as an automotive company who very nearly took the idea up. I recently had a meeting with one of the "three wise men" in EV's who probably understood the system the most (around 90%) but unfortunately he had to rush off to a dinner appointment before I had a chance to get the other 10% across.

I think that where the problem lies is that the system is very dynamics orientated and what I really need is an expert in drivetrains and as yet I haven't been able to find one. Can you help on this score? Or maybe it's because the system is so neat it would cost too little to produce or the very fact that it is relatively simple means they cannot see the wood from the trees....or the agenda is fuel-cell or hybrid and too much investment has been put in, to change to some other system...or maybe no other system at all just a blinkered determination to stick with plain old crank & piston, who knows?

If I continue to be stone-walled, I will seriously consider going public and putting it out on the net, as I am sure there are a lot of very smart enthusiasts out there who will probably 'get it' in a moment - that would certainly rattle a few cages.

Finally: in 1913 the "Detroit Electric" car had an average range of 80 miles per charge but on a sponsored test, broke a record of 211.3 miles and in 1942 the "CGE Tudor", a stylish small French car that used a cast aluminium frame, designed by Jean Gregoire , had an average range of 56 miles, but in the September of that year it covered the distance of 158 miles between Paris and Tours on one charge - think what they might have done on lithium-ion batteries!! Has technology gone backwards?

The best inventions are the simple ones.

Graham

Hi Graham!

Thanks for excellent feedback. I myself am currently struggling with an invention/innovation application to the Government's newly-formed 'invention promotion' scheme NESTA(.org.uk) - it's an in-car device which could/should solve speeding AND congestion problem simultaneously - AND be appealing to drivers. Would you believe it...NESTA have just sent the application forms back to me saying that I had used 63 words in one part of the application-form instead of the maximum allowed 50 words!!! This device could be saving lives! Trevor Baylis - when will the man at last set up the "Academy of Inventors" he keeps talking about??