SOLAR TODAY - Fall/Winter 2009

plug in, power Up, Drive off:
Electric Cars you can Buy now
By JEff CasalIna
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oF All THE PoSSIBlE gASolINE alternatives for transportation — ethanol, natural gas, hydrogen — electricity appears to be winning out. You can charge up at home, cheaply or even for free with photovoltaic (PV) modules or a wind turbine. All it takes to avoid the filling station is to drive a pure electric vehicle

american Electric vehicle’s Kurrent, designed in

Italy, is as cute as they come. It has two doors,

two seats and four lead-acid batteries for a

purported range of 35 to 40 miles. the price is

a reasonable $9,800 to start. getkurrent.com

— not a hybrid, but a pure battery-only, roadworthy car or truck.

Electric vehicles (EVs) come in three flavors: sedate neighborhood electric vehicles (NEVs), faster three-wheelers (registered as motorcycles), and full-scale highway-speed cars.

At the low end is the humble NEV, suitable for errands and short commutes on city streets. These are typically small four-wheel cars and trucks that do not meet National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NH TSA) standards. like golf carts, they may have seatbelts but not airbags, and so are limited by federal law to 25 mph. A few states have enacted laws that allow NEVs to go 35 mph. These include Washington, Minnesota, oklahoma, Kentucky and Tennessee, with legislation pending in New Mexico and possibly others. Montana permits 40 mph, and Colorado leaves it up to municipal authorities. The ability to keep up with traffic is really nice, and aftermarket companies exist to soup up your NEV, whether legal or not. Prices for NEVs start around $10,000. They all use lead-acid batteries and have limited range. A

host of companies are in this market: American Electric Vehicle, Columbia ParCar, Dynasty, global Electric Motors (gEM), Miles Electric, Zero Air Pollution (ZAP) and Zero Emissions No Noise (ZENN).

The Dynasty, from Canada, is an adorable little four-door sedan sold in two open-top versions. There is also a panel van configuration and a two-door pickup. Claimed range is 30. 4 miles. itiselectric.com

Miles Electric Vehicles offers a small van, the ZX40S, and a small truck, the ZX40ST. These Chinese-built NEVs share mechanicals, including a three-phase induction alternating current (AC) motor. Advertised range is 40 to 45 miles for the van, 30 to 40 miles for the truck. milesev.com

ZENN is a Canadian company that purchases two-seat French bodies and installs the electrical components, including an AC motor. ZENNs are at the upper end for quality and claim a 30 to 50 mile range. The car zips up hills handily but at a 50 percent penalty in range.