My Neighbor’s Electric Ride

Ever wondered what it’s like to plug in instead of gassing up?

Recently while snooping around, I saw a snazzy little blue vehicle parked across the street.  Looking more closely, I realized it was a snazzy little blue electric vehicle.

My neighbor Dave is its owner.  Here’s his story:

We’ve known the folks at MC Electric where we bought the car for over five years.  I approached them as a possible sponsor for the Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility Annual Dinner in support of our sustainable environment agenda and they brought a car to the dinner event on three different years.

Then last fall . . . my wife Anne and I talked about getting a ZENN car (Zero Emission No Noise) from MC Electric.  Not much was said until I came home on my birthday in April on my bicycle, opened our garage, and was greeted by the ZENN car in the carport with a huge red bow on its hood and Anne, our daughter-in-law Kathy, and her two boys, age 6 and 9, in the car shouting Happy Birthday, Grandpa!!

Anyway, it’s turned out to be just as much fun and just as functional in getting around town as Steve Myeda of MC Electric had promised it would be.

The other day, I went over to check it out.  Dave showed me where he plugs it into a regular outlet in his garage using a long cable.  It needs 3 hours for a “quick charge” and 6 hours for a “deep charge” and goes about 35-40 miles once fully charged.  He figures it costs about 1 cent a mile versus 10 cents a mile for gasoline.  Once they ran low and had to pull into a gas station to plug in.  “We weren’t sure how much to pay them for the electricity.”

His daily work commute is only little over a mile, to Green Lake, which he used to do by bike.  “This is our second car. A fun, in-town car for local errands, local runs.  It’s sort of a super bicycle that’s much better for rain.”  “We load it up with groceries and a fair amount of stuff, but it only carries 2 passengers.  It has a good cargo capacity.”

Other pros are:  minimal maintenance, no oil changes, tuneups.  “It’s a really fun car.  Zippy.”  “It’s made of fiberglass over a steel frame so it’s light.  You get some road noise, but no engine noise.”  “Good power, it climbs hills easily.  It’s very good at accelerating off at stop lights!  We don’t get in anybody’s way accelerating at an arterial.”  “In the Northwest we have hydro-power which is a clean source of electricity.”

Cons are:  “the issue of recycling the batteries, the toxic chemicals.  Though, they are developing lithium batteries which will be lighter and not as toxic.”  The 6 batteries last from 4,000 to 10,000 miles and cost $250 apiece.  It is a Neighborhood Electric Vehicle so the speed was initially capped at 25 mph, although they added an upgraded controller which lets it go up to 37 mph.  It doesn’t have airbags or advanced safety features.

Dave graciously offered to take me for a spin.  While compact, the inside is fairly comfortable and even has a decent radio.  I was taken by surprise at how quickly it zipped around; with no gears, the accelerator just powers it forward.  It catches people’s eyes because of its rareness:  “people look and ask about it, they’re curious and wonder what it’s like.”  “I think there are only 2 or 3 north of the Ship Canal.”  They paid just under $11,700, including tax and license.

Overall, he’s “Very pleased, very happy with the car.  We’ll wait and see how durable it is.”  “It really bops around.”  “I love going by gas stations and saying ‘Sorry, no business today!'”.

Based on my sample drive, it’s a sweet ride if you don’t have to go very far, very fast.  Not burning gasoline is liberating and makes you feel good.  So, if you see Dave zipping around the ‘hood with a big grin on his face, you’ll know why.