DATE: Wednesday, July 30, 1997              TAG: 9707300523

SECTION: BUSINESS                PAGE: D1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY AKWELI PARKER, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   66 lines

VIRGINIA POWER DECIDES TO GO WITH ELECTRIC TRUCKS THE CHEVY S-10S HAVE ADVANTAGES, THE UTILITY SAYS.

Instead of gassing up some of its trucks, Virginia Power is charging them up.

The electric utility recently took delivery of 10 Chevrolet S-10 Electrics from Pohanka Chevrolet in Chantilly - the first dealer in the mid-Atlantic to sell the trucks. The S-10 Electric is the U.S. auto industry's first factory-built electric pickup truck.

``The new S-10 Electric is vivid proof that clean, efficient electric technology will play a significant role in our nation's transportation future,'' said James T. Earwood Jr., vice president of bulk power delivery for Virginia Power.

It could be a while before any of the new S-10s see service in Hampton Roads, but a handful of older S-10s, converted from gasoline to electric power, do operate here.

Traditionally, electric vehicles have been revamped gasoline burners - a vendor simply replaced the cars' internal combustion innards with electric components. Thirty-three trucks in Virginia Power's 43-vehicle electric fleet were built this way.

This make-do approach has persisted because, automakers say, there's yet to be a mass market for EVs. Thus, for them there's been little justification to spend the millions necessary on the research, development and toolmaking required to build EVs in volume.

That makes Chevy's move pretty significant in that it's a fledgling step toward building large commercial fleets of EVs, eventually assimilating them into the consumer market.

General Motors is revving up in the EV market as well, introducing its futuristically styled EV-1 in California and Arizona this year.

``Everything before has come from a conversion company,'' said Bill Byrd, a Virginia Power spokesman.

The converted vehicles have worked well since their introduction in 1992, but the new S-10 has big advantages, Byrd said.

Although cosmetically similar to previous S-10s, Chevy engineers were able to design the electric model to accommodate the new powertrain right from the drawing board instead of patchwork-quilt style as before.

Electric cars have been touted by environmentalists and regulators alike because they don't produce smog-producing pollutants. Internal-combustion engines in modern cars produce seven pounds of pollutants a year, and old clunkers cough out even more.

Another plus of electric cars: Their engines have fewer moving parts, requiring less maintenance.

There are down sides.

Home and roadside charging stations needed to power electrics are scarce outside Arizona and California. Most electrics are still hamstrung by their limited range. And for most people, they're still too expensive.

Virginia Power plunked down about $33,000 each for its pickups, which will be used for meter reading and service calls and can carry about half a ton of cargo.

Price is expected to come down if public acceptance increases and demand drives down production costs. Chevrolet did not have production figures available for the S-10 Electric.

``For us it's a very low-volume vehicle,'' said Chevrolet spokesman Dan Hubbert. But he added that the automaker will produce enough to meet market demand.

The truck is being heavily marketed to utilities, which have electric vehicle fleet requirements under federal legislation.

``We focused on public utilities because we thought they were a natural,'' Hubbert said.

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