[Oeva-list] Speed limits and my legislative proposals

[Theoldcars at aol.com]

I have to agree with Rick about the seriousness of having  an NEV on higher 
speed roads. I have been in the collision industry  for almost 35 years. Please 
give me some credit for knowing how vehicles  drive and brake and handle 
accidents. 
 
Most low speed vehicles are not safe at higher speeds and it is not  only 
your physical safety in an accident they are insufficient. They are not  stable 
at higher speeds they can easily lose control and also lack the required  
brakes. Their steering, suspension and braking would put them and  everyone else on 
the road at great risk. This would give EVs a bad image. Keep  in mind that 
if the speed limit is 35 just like in the real world these NEV's  will be going 
40. 
 

Motorcycles built to travel at freeway speeds is not a fair comparison.  
Taking a moped bike that is rated for 20 miles an hour and jacking the speed up  
to 40 would be a better example of the safety problem. Same for NEV's.  If  you 
raise the speed of NEV's what will happen is only the controller will be  
modified. The rest of the vehicle was never intended to travel at higher speeds  
will be pushed past their designed limit. A lot of these are already  marginal 
at best. 
 
Rick as well as many others on this list have built EVs from ICE  vehicles. 
The process has  been done and it works. It is safe, provides  jobs here, and 
converts the ICE vehicles we want off the road to EVs. It would  actually help 
speed up the process by removing ICE vehicles off the road. I  see it as a win 
win situation. We get the ICE vehicles off the road and replaced  with EVs. 
We really do not need to bring additional  vehicles here or  cause more 
manufacturing pollution and energy use in the world. It does not  matter that it is 
in Oregon or China it is a waste. An additional  burden on our planet. 
 
We just need the cost of the conversion parts and batteries to come down.  
The steady reduction value of ICE vehicles does a great job on its own. Every  
year more and more better conversion vehicles are becoming available. 
 
What would help build a market for EVs. 
 
A place to plug in and obtain power at a rate that makes electric vehicles  
useable. Most would agree 240 volts is needed and 120 should be  there as well. 
 
Get your state Rep to get the maximum amount for rebates or tax credits for  
conversion parts. Another answer could be The Energy Trust. or Lottery funds.  
All could used to help lower the cost of conversion parts and batteries.  
 
If the state of Oregon is serious you should be able to buy parts  from 
Metric Mind and get  tax credits and rebates. We should be able  to plug in and buy 
electric.
 
How many people on this list would buy the parts needed now if  you could get 
50% of your money back? 
 
Don
 
PS 
 
High quality motors and controllers last for a very long time. Importing  
cheap throw away EVs sounds good but think about it. A good AC motor can last a  
million miles before service is needed. These quality parts could be moved to  
better conversion vehicles. If we do not remove all these cars that are  
currently  being driven. How are we going to get away from being dependant  on 
oil. Money spent on one quality EV parts conversion is most  likely able to 
remove several ICE vehicles. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
In a message dated 1/6/2009 7:56:54 P.M. Pacific Standard Time,  
oeva-list-request at oeva.org writes:

Message:  1
Date: Tue, 06 Jan 2009 18:12:13 -0800
From: "Rick Barnes"  <barnes.rick at verizon.net>
Subject: Re: [Oeva-list] Speed limits and  my legislative proposals
To: "'Philip Kollas'"  <pkollas at comcast.net>
Cc: 'OEVA'  <oeva-list at oeva.org>
Message-ID:  <001801c9706d$5b1bbb20$11533160$@rick at verizon.net>
Content-Type:  text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

I drove low speed for several years,  and I think it is a mistake to speed
modify and drive these vehicles faster  than 25, and it is a mistake to drive
them on 35 mph streets (even though  this is currently allowed). I would like
to see a federal vehicle class  change, not state changes. A better choice is
a NHTSA safety tested vehicle  which will go 40 and be limited to 35 MPH
streets?. and limit existing 25  MPH low speed vehicles designed under the
current standard to 25 MPH  streets. Current rules are bad 25 on 35 MPH
streets, want to get killed?  And you may not drive a low speed vehicle in
the bike lane even for a  minute to let cars pass per ORS statutes. I plan to
oppose any legislation  to raise the speed limit for these vehicles.



You need to look  again at the Oregon Statutes. There are ORS rules for Low
Speed Vehicles.  (need to search for ?low-speed?)

811.512 Unlawfully operating low-speed  vehicle on highway; penalty. (1) A
person commits the offense of unlawfully  operating a low-speed vehicle on a
highway if the person operates a  low-speed vehicle on a highway that has a
speed limit or posted speed of  more than 35 miles per hour.

(2) Notwithstanding  subsection (1) of this section, a city or county
may adopt an ordinance  allowing operation of low-speed vehicles on city
streets or county roads  that have speed limits or posted speeds of more than
35 miles per  hour.

(3) The offense described in this section,  unlawfully operating a
low-speed vehicle on a highway, is a Class B traffic  violation. [2001 c.293
?8]



The Federal standard is  49CFR571.3,500

http://www.mmucc.us/MMUCCTraining/lessons/crashdamage/motorvehiclebodytype_f
iles/motorvehiclebodytype14.htm



Rick  Barnes

Aloha, OR

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