Amped on dragbikes

An underground movement of engineers and small mechanic shops is pushing electric vehicles to new limits in Sonoma County, spurred by dreams of reducing America's reliance on oil.

A Santa Rosa company developing electric motorcycles emerged from the pack when its dragbike shattered two world speed records in the past two weeks. To the south in Petaluma, a startup launched by a former Telecom Valley engineer is helping Prius owners modify the iconic hybrid to double its gas mileage to more than 100 miles per gallon.

Some think the Bay Area could become a high-tech Detroit. Last year, venture capitalists poured several hundred million dollars into a cluster of startups working on electric vehicles in the South Bay, placing big bets on the region's technological prowess.

In Sonoma County, the search for the world's next major mode of transportation is being sought with smaller budgets -- but impressive results.

Santa Rosa-based Thunderstruck Motors set two speed records for electric motorcycles at Infineon Raceway recently. Its motorcycle uses state-of-the-art lithium-ion batteries. On Wednesday, the dragbike set a record in the 96-volt class by hitting a top speed of 104.5 mph on a quarter-mile track and finished in 11.69 seconds -- without the roaring of an engine or any exhaust.

Two weeks earlier, Thunderstruck also beat the old eighth-mile record by more than a second at Infineon. It is the second-fastest electric motorcycle in the world, according to its creators.

Thunderstruck operates out of a small warehouse in southwest Santa Rosa, where everything from bicycles to dragbikes get outfitted with electric motors. The six-employee shop makes most of its money by selling electric-engine parts and kits to replace gas engines in motorcycles and scooters.

But it's not about the money, according to owner Brian Hall, echoing the sentiments of many electric vehicle enthusiasts.

"It's about trying to get people to change how they get around town. Get people off gasoline," said Hall, former president of the National Electric Drag Racing Association.

Zap, a 14-year-old Santa Rosa electric car company that imports vehicles from China and other countries, has long captured headlines. But this recent movement is being driven by engineers working out of their garages or in small shops to push hybrid and battery technology to run faster, farther and with greater efficiency.

In Petaluma, a former mechanical engineer at Cisco Systems has launched one of the county's newest electric vehicle startups. The company, Plug-In Supply, sells kits to convert a Toyota Prius Hybrid to run on high-efficiency lithium-ion batteries that plug into a household power outlet to recharge.

A converted Prius can drive about 40 miles without using any gas. But unlike traditional hybrids, a plug-in hybrid must be plugged in to fully recharge -- a task best saved for night when electricity is cheaper.

The plug-in vehicles still run partially on gas, but gas mileage more than doubles from about 45 mpg to more than 100 mpg. People who mostly drive around town or commute 40 miles or less a day will see the biggest increase in gas efficiency because the car can run almost entirely on electricity. It switches to gas at higher speeds and long distances.

Converting hybrids is not yet a money-making proposition for Plug-In Supply owner Robb Protheroe, or for people who convert their Prius. The conversion kit and installation costs about $12,000. But owners of plug-in hybrids will only recoup about $4,000 in gas savings during the life of the vehicle, at today's gas prices.

Many people, however, don't care about the savings. People who spend thousands of dollars on high-end speaker systems aren't worried about recouping their costs, and neither are people who want to drive one of the most fuel-efficient vehicles in the world, said Felix Kramer, founder of CalCars, a plug-in hybrid advocacy group based in Palo Alto.

"The people who are buying conversions are buying the environmental feature," Kramer said. "They say they want the world's cleanest-running vehicle. And they get that."

Over time, the price of conversion kits are likely to come down, and the cost of gas will continue to climb, Kramer said.

CalCars conducted the first Prius conversion in 2004, and made the conversion schematics available for free.

Plug-In Supply is one of four shops in the Bay Area that sell kits to convert Prius to plug-in technology. It has sold eight kits since incorporating last summer, Protheroe said.

Electric car tinkerers are located across the nation but have a particularly heavy concentration in the Bay Area -- the Electric Auto Association was founded in Silicon Valley in 1967. A third of the 12 retailers that sell hybrid conversion kits are located in the Bay Area, Kramer said.

A recent surge in funding of alternative-fuel vehicles by venture capitalists has some people speculating that the Bay Area could be the next Detroit.

The largest clean-tech investment of 2007 was raised by a company hoping to develop fuel stations for electric vehicles. Palo Alto-based Project Better Place raised $200 million in its first round of funding with the idea of building service stations that will recharge electric cars.

Tesla Motors, a Silicon Valley-based electric car manufacturer, has raised more than $100 million since being founded in 2003. It announced plans to raise an additional $75 million to $100 million this year.

One potential drawback to electric cars is the source of electricity used to recharge the large vehicle batteries -- if the source is a coal-burning power plant, the energy isn't all that much greener than gas.

In parts of the Midwest where coal-burning power plants dominate electricity production, a plug-in Prius would generate 1 percent more carbon dioxide than a standard hybrid, according to a 2006 report released by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy.

In California, where more electricity is generated by renewable sources such as geothermal, wind, hydroelectric and solar power, a plug-in version of the Prius could reduce carbon dioxide emissions by a third, according to the report.

The environmental benefits of using renewable energy are not the only factors fueling the North Bay's electric vehicle movement. Some EV advocates also are concerned about the political ramifications of America's reliance on foreign oil.

Chris Jones, president of the 47-member North Bay Electric Automobile Association, has made it a point to recharge his electric car with solar power.

The Agilent Technologies engineer modified his 1966 Ford Mustang convertible to run on battery power. He recharges at his Santa Rosa home, which is equipped with 12 solar panels. Five of the panels generate enough to offset the energy used by his electric car.

"I have a lot of concerns about U.S. oil consumption," Jones said. "I believe it has a lot to do with the wars we have."

His Mustang tops out at about 70 mph and can only go about 40 miles before the batteries are exhausted, but Jones expects improvements in technology will soon extend those ranges.

"I love improving the performance," Jones said. "I'm an engineer, and I like to tinker."

Thunderstruck Motors hopes to improve its top speed and set new records in the coming weeks. The shop's six full-time employees and three part-time employees are working on adding an extra gear to the bike and raising its voltage.

"We will go a lot faster, maybe about 110 mph," Hall said.

You can reach Staff Writer Nathan Halverson at 521-5494 or nathan.halverson@pressdemocrat.com.