Electric Vehicles

-or-

"Why can't you drive a normal car"

I suppose I did for many years, that is if a 1960 Rambler station wagon counts as "normal". Up until recently, I have been motoring in an '87 Ranger 4x4, which with 130,000 miles on all-original drive train components, is getting a little ragged.

November of 1998, a friend mentioned that he had sold the electric VW Rabbit that I had posted on the 'Stuff for Sale" page for the amazingly low price of $1,500. I replied that I would have bought it for that price and promptly forgot about the subject. Two weeks later, he called to say that the sale had fallen through and that the car was now available again. We agreed that I should try driving it sometime, and again I didn't think of it much.

The next day, I went to the Oregon Coast for a day of recreation, and upon returning home, found the car sitting in the driveway, keys and all, with a note saying "try it out".

So, try it out I did. The car had a few small things that needed fixing, like a non-functional tail light and horn, and the odometer was broken, but it seemed to drive alright, so I just drove it wherever I needed to go. The realization that I hadn't driven a gas powered car in three weeks finally did hit me. This car works! It takes me where I want to go around town, so I bought it.

Now, the 4x4 pickup is retired to backup service. I still have a gas-powered vehicle to pull the utility trailer, mush through snow, or take on a long trip, but I am no longer wearing it out on short trips around town. The pickup is still a perfectly serviceable vehicle and it will last a lot longer in it's new 'standby' role.

So what's here, then?

Well, the VW Rabbit page is the run down on that car. Since I have no shortage of spare time (Yeah, right!) I've taken on converting it into a parallel diesel-electric hybrid. The long painful story of that is contained in the EV Pusher Trailer page.

My earliest exploits in EV piloting are contained in the GE Elec-Trak page, where you'll learn all about how to mow your lawn without petroleum products.

Finally, for good measure, I rant indignantly at great length to anyone who will listen about the superior environmental aspects of electric motoring in Charging Issues.