Niagara Falls! Slowly I Turned. Step by Step… Into My Electric Car.
ePower Synergies Inc. is a “designer, developer, and manager of transportation systems for sustainable eCommunities.” The company would like to offer Niagra Falls tourists the chance to rent a ZENN Neighborhood Electric Vehicle. According to The Buffalo News, Brian M. Klumpp Jr., vice president of marketing and sales for ePower, thinks electric vehicle rentals would be "a great way to help attract people to this neck of the woods." Local Tourism Advisory Board member Debora Krieger pointed out that "Earth's Favorite Vehicle's" 35-mile range would leave ZENN drivers attempting to nip across the border into Canada stranded somewhere between Lewiston and Niagara Falls. What then? Ever the pragmatist, Mr. Klumpp Jr. said they'd tow 'em back.
Glenn is a baby-boomer, born in 1954. Along with his wife, he makes his home in Connecticut. Employed in the public sector as an Information Tedchnology Specialist, Glenn has long been a car fan. Past rides have included heavy iron such as a 1967 GTO, to a V8 T-Bird. In between those high-horsepower cars, he's owned a pair of BMW 320i's. Now, with a daily commute of 40 miles, his concession to MPG dictates the ownership of a 2006 Honda Civic coupe which, while fun to drive, is a modest car for a pistonhead. As an avid reader, Glenn enjoys TTAC, along with many other auto-realated sites, and the occasional good book. As an avid electronic junkie, Glenn holds an Advanced Class amateur ("ham") radio license, and is into many things electronic. From a satellite radio and portable GPS unit in the cars, to a modest home theater system and radio-intercom in his home, if it's run by the movement of electrons, he's interested. :-)
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I have to interject here...I am an engineer at an Ontario nuclear plant and our plant alone (with 6 active reactors and 2 being refurbished) powers a fifth of Ontario alone. Niagara Falls itself has a rather large hydro plant run off of the falls. The misunderstanding about selling coal fired electricity south of the border is a bit of a muddy point as we too sell our electricity to the US. What the activists seem to misunderstand is WHEN we sell the power which is after peak hours (between about 7 at night and 7 in the morning). We run at full tilt all the time (that is the idea anyways...) and when there isn't demand in Ontario and we have extra left over, that is when it is sold to the US. Same goes for the coal plant...so don't let them confuse you into thinking that electricity is just sold to the highest bidder, we have Ontario to supply first. Now, to tie this post back with cars (this is a stretch) what our company is planning to do instead of selling power to the US off peak hours, is create hydrogen to power cars. I am sure that greenpeace will have a problem with that too though...
Great 3 stooges reference.
"Neighborhood car"? Do we really need that term in our vocabulary? Is this a replacement for golf carts for apartment leasing agents or what? Whoever the target market for this thing is, I guess it isn't me. Pretty sure this won't pay for itself in making the twice a week trip to the coffee shop that's 8/10ths of a mile away, and this won't get me to work & back and if I happen to go somewhere for lunch or run an errand. If you can make use of this thing you should probably just be walking instead.
Hey this might not work well in great metropolitian BigCityVilleAmerica but for those of us in small towns and cities this would be great! My VW Cabrio burns through a tank of gas every 10 days or so. I could drive this electric car on on charge all over town for 2-3 days. I know it's a tough argument to make b/c my distances are so short, I could just about drive a dually pickup - so what if my mileage was only 10 mpg. On the other hand the price of these electrics will be high so it's another mark against it. What I want is a 150 mile per charge 4 seater about the same size as my Cabrio. Would do everything I need to including going to see Grandma (one charge each way). We are aiming towards 2 city cars for daily drivers with a larger vehicle (VW van would be nice) for out of town weekend trips. Van would last forever b/c it would not do that many miles per year and the two city cars would be CHEAP (buy 'em used).