Forget Gas Prices: Consider a Neighborhood Electric Vehicle

khallgeisler — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Many automakers are promising that electric, highway-speed, family sedans are on their way, maybe even as early as next year. If you'd like to lose the gasoline habit sooner rather than later, though, there are options available right now: NEVs, or neighborhood electric vehicles.

These are the zippy little cars made by the likes of Zap, Zenn, and Gem. Some have three wheels, some have four, and they generally carry one or two passengers. But would one of these cars work for you? Maybe, and maybe not.

Pluses

No gas, ever. All the power is supplied by batteries, usually of the common, less-expensive lead-acid variety. These can be fully charged overnight in a standard socket for a couple cents a mile.

Up the green ante with renewable power. If your utility company offers clean electricity from wind farms or the like, then your NEV's carbon footprint dwindles to almost nothing.

Price. NEVs can be cheaper than even gas-sippers like the Honda Fit or Nissan Versa. Bare-bones models start at about $7,000 and go up to about $16,000 for your fancier models.

Zero emissions. None.

Quiet. The only noise is the tires rolling on the road, so you'll no longer be contributing to noise pollution. But do the polite thing and make sure kids and the blind know you're around, since they can't hear you.

Minuses

Top speed of about 40 mph. For those who live in an urban area, though, this hardly matters. Speed limits in towns are rarely higher than a Zap can zip.

Maximum range of 25-50 miles, depending on batteries. Again, this isn't a major minus, as 78% of Americans have a round-trip commute of 40 miles or fewer. If you can top off the batteries at work, you can double your daily miles.

Number of passengers is limited. You can take your kid to Little Leage practice, but no one else can ride along. Unless they are very tiny, or an invisible friend.

Hills are the enemy. But the flip side is that flat streets are your friend. If you live in a hilly area, an NEV might not have the power to get you up and over. But again, flat, urban commutes are ideal for these cars.

Taryn Sokolow, of the EnVironmental Motors EV dealership in Glendale, Calif., said in an interview earlier this year, "Some people it really doesn't work for, and some people think they can't, but they can."

When Sokolow is working with a customer to find the right NEV, she finds herself asking them, "How far is it from your work to your home? I need to know miles." Know your commute and your needs, and you might find that two cents a mile works just great for you.

Photo courtesy of Zenn.

Tell CARB You're Not That Into Smog

khallgeisler — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 01:00:00 -0400

As anyone who watched the 2006 documentary "Who Killed the Electric Car?" knows, the California Air Resources Board really dropped the ball a few years ago regarding zero-emissions vehicles, especially electric cars. They're about to do it again.

On March 27, CARB will vote on a proposal to literally decimate the number of Zero-Emissions Vehicles in the state of California. Currently, California requires 25,000 of the cars on the road to be ZEVs, but the new proposal would lower that number to 2,500. As the Electric Auto Association points out, that would mean the six largest automakers who sell cars in this country only have to build a measly 850 ZEVs a year.

According to the EAA, CARB is making this move because auto manufacturers say they can't produce enough hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles to meet the current number until 2012 or so. This is likely true; they could, however, be churning out electric vehicles to meet that number while we all wait for hydrogen technology to catch up.

Check out CARB's site for the full text of the proposal in seven not-so-easy-to-read PDFs. (They're written in that legalise we all love.) There's also an enlightening comments log, with entries from local businesses, electric vehicle groups, and regular, old, clean-air-lovin' citizens.

You may not think this has much to do with you if you don't live in California, but when it comes to environmental laws, California tends to be a bellweather for the rest of the country. It's a fight at least worth following. If you're amped to do more, the Electric Auto Association has contacts and sample scripts for Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and CARB.

Photo by nahasopetalon.