What does an eCommunity look like? It probably resembles the place you live right now. Yet in an eCommunity, people choose the least invasive kinds of electric-powered transportation available, says Bruce Wood, president and CEO of ePower Synergies, Inc., Port Byron, Ill. Imagine: For short trips, you hop on a Segway-like RIDE or drive a small neighborhood electric vehicle (NEV) that consumes less than a nickel of eco-friendly fuel per mile. While you work or shop, your car charges at a 110-volt outlet in the parking area. For longer journeys, you hop into bigger and faster electric vehicles (EVs). No gas station in sight? Alright! < “Electric vehicles are available today, and they can meet 80 percent of our transportation needs,” says Wood, whose company turns 4 this year. ePower currently is a dealer for a neighborhood electric vehicle called the ZENN (Zero Emissions No Noise) and a development partner and distributor for the RIDE. If the good news is that the Earth- and wallet-friendly neighborhood electric cars have arrived in the Midwest, the bad news is that some local and state governments are slow to embrace these relatively slow-going cars. Right now legal red tape — not consumer interest — presents the biggest challenge for Wood and ePower vice president Amy Nielsen, a truly visionary husband-and-wife team. In the Iowa-Illinois community that is the Quad-Cities, for instance, differing state laws create unique problems. In Illinois it’s illegal to drive a NEV on roadways unless the city you’re in has passed an ordinance that makes it OK. In Iowa, it’s just the opposite, Wood explains. It’s legal to drive a NEV on roads with speed limits up to 35 mph unless the city has passed an ordinance that makes it illegal. But because Illinois does not issue license plates for NEVs, drivers crossing from NEV-friendly cities in Illinois into Iowa may be ticketed for operating a non-licensed vehicle once there. The remedy? “Call a local representative or state senator and ask to have the state laws changed, and ask for the (license) plate for the (electric) vehicle to come back,” says Wood, who has been in contact with local and state officials. Illinois used to issue two-year plates for electric vehicles for just $38 — about half the cost to renew regular plates each year, he notes. If Illinois and Iowa followed the lead of Montana and Washington, two electric-car-friendly states, Wood says local commuters quickly and effectively could create an eCommunity. “The NEV is designed as a commuter car. I don’t think anyone (in the Quad-Cities) has a commute over 50 miles. If they did, they could charge the car at work,” he says. “We’re not looking to replace everybody’s car. We’re looking to replace that second car, or the car you’d give your kids. A RIDE, a NEV or the EV could fill that need. “Some of us, we buy an SUV for the one trip a year we make to Colorado to go skiing, then we drive it every day to go pick up the bread,” he says. The overarching idea is to use the right kind of vehicle — meaning the smallest, least consumptive type — for any given travel situation, he adds. “We need a new paradigm that says, ‘How can I make this work for us?’ ” In 2007 the Port Byron police department tested the RIDE prototoype during its annual TugFest. Officers chose from “golf carts, Gators, ATVs or the RIDE. The one they liked best was the RIDE because it provided them a commanding position,” Wood says, adding that the vehicle’s smaller size allows it to move more quickly through a crowd. In Wood’s community vision, municipal employees, such as parking attendants and maintenance workers, would drive electric vehicles on the job. If this happens, “people will get used to seeing (them) and see that they’re safe and comfortable and provide an economic advantage,” he says. According to figures provided by ePower, the total cost of ownership for a 2007 ZENN over a five-year period is $18,800, which includes the initial investment, taxes and fees, depreciation, insurance, fuel and regular maintenance/repairs. Currently ePower plans to manufacture an electric vehicle for three types of travel. It will make the scooter-like RIDE for personal transport, as well as a neighborhood electric vehicle called the ePower NEV, a redesigned version of the Italian TEENER for which Wood purchased the rights. Federal law dictates that the ePower NEV may travel up to 25 miles per hour, even though it technically can go faster. Perhaps most like a “regular” car — and already legal to drive everywhere — the EV-SMART will be a redesigned version of the Mercedes SMART car, which may travel for up to 100 miles before it needs a charge. All of these plug into 110-volt outlets; however, when ePower begins manufacturing, its customers will have the option to buy the vehicles in all-electric or electric/hydrogen fuel cell versions. The cost of a roughly $15,000 battery-powered NEV rises to about $75,000 if a hydrogen fuel cell is added, Wood says. The company plans to manufacture the vehicles in the Quad-Cities in a facility that could open this year, Wood says. “We are trying to build a business that will have an impact by making (the Quad-Cities) a cleaner, better place to live, with new jobs.” For more information, visit epowersynergies.com. eSpeak Confused by the language of e-powered vehicles? Here’s a key to the important acronyms: PT: Personal transportation vehicle, often scooter-like. The RIDE is one of these. EV: Electric vehicle. These can travel the speed limit and are legal to drive on roadways. The crash-tested EV-SMART car is included in this category. NEV: Neighborhood electric vehicle. These may travel at speeds up to 25 miles per hour on roads with speed limits up to 35 miles per hour in states and cities where they have been made legal. The ePower NEV and the ZENN are examples.
