Now That’s a GEM - August 23rd, 2007
If you haven’t heard of GEM (Global Electric Motorcars) they’re owned by Chrysler and they make “neighborhood electric vehicles.” The company recently received a “Blue Sky Merit” award from WestStart-CALSTART (an environmental group based in California). During the last ten years GEM has sold approximately 14,000 electric vehicles in California.
When the news item came through my RSS reader, I buzzed over to the GEM site to have a look around and immediately developed a bad case of the “I-wannas.” The vehicles are street legal (in most states) and carry a classification as low speed, meaning in most cases they can only be driven on public roads with a speed limit of 35 mph or less. Actually, the GEMs top out at 25 mph and have a range of about 30 miles on a charge. They’re intended to putter around “neighborhoods, city centers, or job sites.”
The six models are equipped with a 72-volt battery system and plug straight into a standard 110-volt plug. Sweet. Recharge time is about six to eight hours. The two-seater e2 starts at $6,795 (tack on $750 for destination and handling) with the utility model eLxd going for $10,995. (Plenty of options available, including doors. “Out of the box” the GEMs are open air.)
My personal vision for the future includes a vehicle much like this (granted more tricked out and possibly capable of doing, say, 50 mpg) that is affordable enough to be the second “around town” car. Most of us who live in a big city keep to fairly beaten paths in a given area. We create small towns inside sprawling urban areas. And yet we drive gas guzzling, emission spewing cars and SUVs everywhere. Yeah, I know my future-sight is idealistic, but reality starts with ideas right? And if you’ve looked at the price at the pump lately or the dirty air hanging low on the horizon around your city, we need some new ideas.
Posted on August 23rd, 2007 by Shorty
Filed under: lifestyle |
