Police sting doesn't stop homebrew electric vehicle maker in California
by Sebastian Blanco on Apr 13th 2009 at 7:47PM 
Lola EV - click above for a high-res gallery
Last fall, we spoke with Paul Pearson, the man behind the Lola EV (above) from Electric Custom Cars, at the Santa Monica Alt Car Expo. The Lola, a sort of Tesla kit car, seems innocent enough, but Pearson recently got himself into trouble with the City of Santa Monica for his electric car work. According to the Santa Monica Daily Press, SMPD began a sting operation against Pearson in December that resulted in two citations, one for allegedly remanufacturing cars without a state license and the other for not getting a business license from the City of Santa Monica. As part of the sting, two undercover officers discussed converting a gas-only Ford Thunderbird to electric power with Pearson, Pearson agreed, which led to over a dozen local law enforcement officers storming his garage. Pearson is willing to admit he operated without a license, but will fight against the remanufacturing claim, telling the paper (and the police) that the vehicle, a small one-seater, is "legally manufactured as a specially constructed vehicle." The City contends the charges result from the Thunderbird conversion. We offer some clarification to the mess after the jump.
Gallery: AltCar 2008: Electric Custom Cars
[Source: Santa Monica Daily Press, Santa Monica Mirror]
Pearson told AutoblogGreen that the complaint that was issued to him lists the serial number of the single seater. The Thunderbird is "an iffy issue" because it doesn't exactly exist. Pearson said that the California Highway Patrol told him that he would not need to recertify the fictitious Thunderbird if all he did was add and electric motor and batteries. Smog certification places can certify EVs as pure electric vehicles. "That is our defense on the Thunderbird charge." The single-seater was certified, insured and has been so for two years. "We'll beat them in court in a matter of seconds."
Pearson and the City went to arraignment last Wednesday, at which time the prosecutor asked for an extra six weeks to come to a settlement. "This guy is used to doing mass DUIs and is used to doing more pleas than trials," Pearson told us. "We're not settling. We want to draw a line in the sand" That line has to do with the defining what changes are allowed by the California Vehicle Code. As regular readers know, there is a vibrant homebrew community converting vehicles to run on electrons instead of gasoline, and Pearson said the Southern California EV community is up in arms about the charges. "We believe that Detroit is not going to be coming out with a full-speed electric vehicle any time soon," he said, and said he sees this case as a way to define what homebrewers are allowed to do. Part of that means continuing work on the poor man's Tesla. "Right now, I'm getting the Lola ready for certification," Pearson said. "I'm still working on electric cars."
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Chuck 8:03PM (4/13/2009)
Oh brilliant! Police arresting small-business entrepreneurs working on advanced energy technologies! This is exactly the kind of vile crime I want my law-enforcement officers to be preventin
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Zeph 8:59PM (4/13/2009)
Instead of arresting him, the state might want to use some common sense and actually support him, with funds and legal advice.
The further you go up the ol'chain o' command, the bigger the self serving morons you find and the more stupidity materializes.
Seriously, support these people America, use your minds and don't be legal zealots.
Sometimes the Law has legal spirit, sometimes it's just a waste of time and energy, as was the case here. Some discernment is needed.
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DaveD 9:18PM (4/13/2009)
Wow. This is so sad. They really don't have anything better to do than bother some poor guy that is trying to do something good?
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Paul 10:11PM (4/13/2009)
What a classic, keystone cops at their best,
If nothing else the guy is getting plenty of PR out of it!
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Nick 10:27PM (4/13/2009)
Like there's no more important crimes to fight than a small business doing good.
Tell the Santa Monica Police dept what you think:
smpd@santamonicapd.org
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anne 11:02AM (4/14/2009)
Apart from the 16 DMV, police and fireman......showing up to fight the evil electric car man. I got to admit the car is beautiful.
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Brent 12:49AM (4/14/2009)
That's crap, if he can make something better and just basically mod a car for someone(which they could do themselves leagally) but instead he does it for cash, there is nothing wrong with that picture. If someone asks for your expertise in trade for cash it should be leagal under any terms. Bureaucratic bull, just anyother infringement on the illusion of freedom and free enterprise this country tries to use as its soap box. Buncha hypocritic self defeating drones.
FOR THE PEOPLE BY THE PEOPLE
Not for the fascists by the corrupt
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kballs 5:54PM (4/14/2009)
This is all about taxes... the city wanted their cut of the profit.
Brent 4:32PM (4/16/2009)
Ya, infringement on free enterprise= Unnecessary taxation
Brent 1:28AM (4/14/2009)
"The first truth is that the liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power."
- FDR
Private power= Lobbying(by corporations which are privately owned), and officials with agendas.
That's probly about 75% of our governments rationalizing.
You have about 40% of the vote being religiously guided, and the other 60 has to all show if they want to see a win, which often is overlooked.
If you ask me, your IQ should need to be above the public median to decide the fate of the rest of the populous. With the Intelligence qoutient falling each year you can't let the uniformed plebians have as much say as those who consider all angles and weigh the issues. The founders would be rolling over if they saw the frigid religioust, censoring, monitoring, filtered press society we've become. They were about open minds, and necessary changes made upon social need(living document). Knowledge was the true desire of the day, not wealth and glutony. Now is just public suppression by the right on most issues, where freedom to privacy and innocent before proven guilty are a thing of the past.
The real american don't believe in violence and ignorance. They believe in the fact that if we don't stay at the worlds financial top over china that the world as we know it will die. China handles about 25% of our national debt. Who ever holds the worlds money holds the political power. Unless you all want a city with 100,000+ cameras(on the streets), microchips in your iDs and you yourself as a constant dot on a GPS you would be wise to end all the pride you carry which is throwing this country to the wolves.
I'd give freedom another 8 years at the rate the current bodies believe.
"If you're not doing anything wrong you don't have anything to be afraid of",
Said the dog with the electric collar to it's fellow prisoner.
Get real.
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Toy Yoda 11:08AM (4/14/2009)
"If you ask me, your IQ should need to be above the public median to decide the fate of the rest of the populous."
So all those people responsible for the economic meltdown were lemmings from MIT and Ivy League schools with no clue on how to live their own lives much less think for themselves. They have large IQs and looks what they've done to the country.
I actually think worshipping IQ is a symptom to what is ruining western civilization. Certainly possessing high IQ is propitious to being good leaders, but it's certainly not sufficient, and it's almost not even necessary.
"With the Intelligence qoutient falling each year"
Actually, it's been going up every year, about 3 points every decade. Look up the Flynn Effect; whether it means people have gotten more intelligent, that is subject to intense debate.
jbuers 1:03PM (4/14/2009)
Brent, what you're suggesting is an Oligarchy. That's about the same as what's going on right now. Discrimination and elitism are part of the problems in this world, your idea merely perpetuates the system.
Brent 1:09AM (4/15/2009)
To:ToyYoda, I wasn't meaning just an IQ assessment, I was thinking more of a perception IQ, a test telling how we'll you can slip into the shoes of all involved, to split options into black and white with clarity. Not the very old, very misleading test of primarily crystalized intelligence which makes up today IQ test, one more of fluid intelligence, as times will always be changing in politics and the past can't properly guide the future. As to the IQ slope, I viewed a study from 2005 voicing of the average person, a random sampling case study falling, not just the statistic of the often above average ones who seek to take the test.
To:Jbuers, I see how that could be perceived. I was not expecting any such thing ever to come into existance, they could better solve the problem by just teaching philosophy and perspective sciences in middle and highschool.
All and all that was just kind of me venting about the annoyance of having my life be decided by an ignorant school of fish I must swim in tandem with to avoid dangers.
PonoBill 12:21AM (4/28/2009)
Hey Brent, learn to spell before you vent your little mind in public. Even if I agreed with everything you say, you're an embarrassment.
jharlan 1:56AM (4/14/2009)
That's what he gets for living in the people's republic of Santa Monica.
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Larry 8:55AM (4/14/2009)
Nice idea by Mr. Pearson. I've done propane conversions when I was younger and the state I lived in (Michigan) never bother me or my business. Too bad the residents of California elect liberals who think government should be bigger to "guide" us through our lives. Not that I can say Illinois (where I live) is any better, by any stretch. The Chicago Way of politics is now going nationwide, God help us!
Government should be smaller, not larger. Like Reagan said, government is not part of the solution, IT IS THE PROBLEM.
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Nick 3:04PM (4/14/2009)
Larry, just so you don't confuse reality with your own fantasy:
Ronald Reagan presided over the largest government expansion and government spending in postwar America.
Larzman 5:41PM (4/14/2009)
Oh Mr Nick, you should do a little more reading before entering into a topic that requires significant knowledge. Look at the GDP and gov't spending comparitively & you'll see Reagan used a very healthy economy to advance spending, unlike what is happening now. The economy was very robust due to his reduction in taxes, which, strangly enough, increased the amount of tax dollars flowing in to the feds. Decreasing taxes is known to help the economy, as private enterprise, similar to what Mr. Pearson is doing, flourishes when unabated by overwhelming taxation.
Any way you slice it, biggger government reduces the incentive for people to start businesses. New businesses create jobs, which provides economic growth and in turn helps the government with more tax dollars because people are earning more because they have jobs..... a vicious circle that liberals still haven't figured out.
Chris M 2:32AM (4/15/2009)
Larzman, you may be suprised to learn that over 70% of the US national debt was accumulated under just 3 presidents: Rondald Reagan, George Bush Sr, and George W Bush Jr.
It's hard to imagine how Reagan could have increased revenue while racking up record deficits, unless spending was increased even more. Of course, under Bush Jr. and a Republican congress we had tax cut after tax cut and spending increase after spending increase - including huge increases in domestic spending not related to "9/11". Not suprising that the national debt more than doubled during the Bush Jr. presidency, with most of that increase occuring while Republicans controlled the House and Senate and the Presidency.
If you think "tax and spend" liberals are bad, well, they're not half as bad as "borrow and spend" conservatives. Please realize that all that money borrowed for the Republican porkbarrel will have to be repaid by taxpayers - with interest!
Larry 12:38PM (4/15/2009)
Ok, I see I'm in the midst of a very liberal-bent forum, sorry for the "newbie" (to this forum) mistake.
But, Obama has, in his first 100 days, tripled the national debt. Sure, you will say that he "inherited" it from Bush. Keep in mind that the Dems have controlled Congress since 2006.
Either way, both parties have thier faults, and I'm getting sick and tired of them. I'm participatiing in the Chicago Tea Party, which is not sponsored be either party (contrary to what you may hear on liberal main stream media). This is a truly grass-roots protest, and both Dems & Conservatives are invited. If there is anything we can agree on, is that the feds are spending wrecklessly and asking our children and grandchildren to foot the bill. No matter who you are, this is wrong. I live by the "don't buy it if you can't afford to pay for it now" decree. I don't have a credit card and the only loans I have are student loans and the mortgage on my house. Too bad our government couldn't at least try to adhere to this.