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Police Reports ... Calendar: Friday, Sept. 12 ... ROGUE VALLEY Electric innovators incubate creativity From Grant's Pass to Ashland, inventive ferment drives adoption of bicycle, motorcycle, airplane advances By John Darling For the Daily Tidings DailyTidings.com By John Darling For the Daily Tidings Posted Sep. 8, 2014 @ 4:53 pm Updated Sep 8, 2014 at 4:54 PM By John Darling For the Daily Tidings Posted Sep. 8, 2014 @ 4:53 pm Updated Sep 8, 2014 at 4:54 PM » Social News The Rogue Valley — and Ashland in particular — is a pressure cooker of innovation for electric vehicles, an economic trend that can only expand exponentially as urban areas become more dense and fossil fuels more outmoded. That was the gist of “High Performance Electric Vehicle Innovation in the Rogue Valley,” a panel talk at Saturday’s Southern Oregon Electric & Hybrid Vehicle Show at ScienceWorks. Chip Lindsey, ScienceWorks executive director, moderated the hour-plus discussion, which was co-presented by the Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation, part of the Smithsonian National Museum of Amercian History. Lindsey put what's going on in the Rogue Valley in the tradition of creative centers such as Hollywood (movies) in the 1920s and '30s, St. Paul (medicine) in the 1960s and '70s, the Bronx (hip-hop) in the 1970s and '80s and Silicon Valley (computers) in recent decades. “It comes down to human nature. People innovate here, because they want to live here. It’s a highly liveable and joyful place and they want to bring up their children here,” said Ashland Councilman Greg Lemhouse. Lemhouse is also director of global fleet development for Brammo, a major electric motorcycle maker founded in Ashland and now located in Talent. To attract more innovative companies and people, Lemhouse adds, just expand the quality of life. The innovative tension here comes from a rare confluence of the “sixties hippie culture which wanted to save the Earth and innovative people who want to make things better,” said Richard Csuk of Alltrax, an electric motor controller maker in Grants Pass. The Ashland area is a “really educated community where people are trying to create a better world,” observed Jerry Solomon of Ashland Electric Bikes. “Ashland is perfect for electric bikes,” he added, noting everything is close together on moderate terrain, with enough hills that you want some power to get up them. The network of 10 to 20 cutting-edge “EV people,” in the Rogue Valley all know each other and share ideas, which they have time to develop by having the curiosity to freely explore and innovate in the shop, said inventor Ely Schless, chief executive officer of Schless Engineering in Ashland. “It happens almost daily (innovative ‘aha’ experiences). Often it’s not expected. It has to be playful, just moving ahead with ideas.” Sharing connections and ideas is how Schless made contact with Alltrax, makers of “the most badass motor controller” and easy to deal with, in contrast to the rest of the industry, said Schless, who was billed on the panel as “the guru of electric vehicle innovation.” It’s done with people and regional networks, says Schless, adding, “It’s doable to have all this locally  really competent people within 40 miles. And you can only get so much off Google.” The viability and success of electric vehicles has made great leaps forward, he says, with a four- to five-fold increase in what lithium-ion batteries can do, compared with 15 years ago. The performance of electric motorcycles is surpassing what gasoline-powered bikes can do, he said, prompting many riders to want them for personal vehicles. When first manufactured, Brammo’s Empulse electric motorcycle had a range of 40 miles. It’s now 120 miles, said Lemhouse. Demand for electric motorcycles is being driven by the dense urban populations of Europe, Asia and South America, where governments are putting in thousands of charging stations. By contrast, the United States, with vast open spaces and a long-term “car culture,” lags furthest behind, said Csuk. As a measure of consumer interest, Solomon said America bought only 140,000 electric bikes last year, while China bought 30 million. Pioneer of an electric airplane, Stephen Butanko of Alternair in Ashland, said the lighter and more powerful batteries will give his manned craft a 2.5-hour flight time, with a half-hour reserve of fuel and a speed of 80 mph. John Darling is a freelance writer living in Ashland. Email him at [email protected].   By John Darling For the Daily Tidings DailyTidings.com By John Darling For the Daily Tidings Posted Sep. 8, 2014 @ 4:53 pm Updated Sep 8, 2014 at 4:54 PM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. calendar Connect with DailyTidings.com Facebook Twitter RSS Back to top Reader Services Reader Services home Subscriptions Subscriber controls Contact us Submissions Photos Events Letters to the editor Corrections Alerts Email alerts RSS feeds Text Alerts Advertise Media Kit Home Products and services Ad rates Advertising contacts Mail Tribune Daily Tidings The Nickel Shop Our Valley Blogs Stay Informed Email newsletter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. 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