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BISBEE — “We can moan and groan about high gas prices or we can do something about it.”
Jerry Asher, founder of Borderland Electric Vehicle Association, was discussing ways to increase fuel efficiency for the gas cars on the road to reduce emissions and the need for oil. His method is teaching people about hypermiling.
“There are many things that drivers can do to cut back on their fuel use,” he said. “One would be changing our lead-foot mentality.”
Keeping the proper air pressure in tires, getting rid of extra pounds of stuff in the trunks or pickup beds, coasting to a light or a stop sign when you first see it, and running your air conditioning rather than driving with windows down can give you a few more miles per that $4-a-gallon gas.
 Jerry Asher plugs in a charger to an electric motor scooter while Donna G. Austin and he prepare to make a presentation at the Copper Queen Library on Friday. Asher is traveling the country educating people about plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. (Mark Levy-Herald/Review) |
Asher said he had improved the mileage on a Suzuki SUV by four gallons a mile by using those techniques.
“By using simple common-sense techniques, people can boost their gas mileage,” Asher said. “This can be the end of the ICE age (internal combustion engine) and become the EV age (electric vehicle).”
“And people could slow down and drive five miles under the speed limit, not five miles over,” added his partner Donna Austin.
Austin was beaming. She was riding her new 2008 E-Moto Scooter with its eight lead-silicon batteries that provide 2,000 watts of power. The electric scooter had been delivered from the state of Washington on Wednesday. Jack Porter, owner of Bisbee Bug, uncrated it and attached the front wheel. The electric scooter carries eight batteries that can hold a charge for up to 40 miles and travels at around 35 mph. It plugs into a 110-volt outlet and takes four to five hours to fully charge. It can handle a weight load of 380 pounds.
“I have been thinking about how I live only a mile from work here at the library. I can walk back and forth, but I really like to eat lunch at home. So I was driving my car,” she said.
Austin handles the informative programs for the Copper Queen Library, and the one on alternative energy held in May got her thinking about a scooter.
“I didn’t know there were electric scooters,” she added.
After checking around on the Internet, she found the E-Moto Web site and got a deal on the scooter. She walked away for $2,150.
As for the fact that she’s never been more than a passenger on a motorcycle and has never been on a scooter, within 30 minutes of handling the e-machine (and having Asher hold onto to her like a 5-year-old on the first bike), she found it to have “excellent response” and everything she was looking for.
The hills of Bisbee may cut down on her miles-per-charge, but she thinks it will be perfect for the jaunts around Bisbee.
She did encounter one slight problem. The state Motor Vehicles Division didn’t quite know what to think of a vehicle that has no horsepower or cubic centimeters of engine. She also was told to get a motorcycle license.
“I have a permit and have to take the test for the license in six months,” she added.
To spread the enthusiasm, Austin had her new scooter on display at Asher’s program about hybrid and electric vehicles held Friday evening at the library.
Asher became interested in alternative fuels while still in the military. The now-retired Army Reserve sergeant major was an instructor at Fort Huachuca back in the 1970s.
He got interested after reading a book on America’s energy future released during President Jimmy Carter’s term of office. Carter was pushing for more research into alternative fuels sources, such as solar.
Asher has done research on alternative vehicles and is working with “The Spirit of DC” program. A plug-in hybrid is being driven around the country to rev up interest in buying electric or hybrid vehicles and converting gas-engine vehicles to hybrids.
His mission: “To promote the electric plug-in as a technology whose time has come.”
“You don’t have to own a hybrid or an electric vehicle to be supportive of the technology,” Austin added. “We all can make a difference in some way.”
SHAR PORIER can be reached at 515-4692 or by e-mail at shar.porier@bisbeereview.net.
curious wrote on Aug 24, 2008 11:04 AM: