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11/28/2006
Do you know what a GEM car is?
It's a little tiny thing, weighing about 1500 pounds, that you dare not call a "golf cart." Global Electric Motorcars, LLC, (or “GEM”), is a division of Daimler Chrysler located in Fargo, North Dakota. The non-brand specific name for a GEM is a “Neighborhood electric vehicle” (NEV).
In April of this year, the state of Wisconsin implemented legislation allowing NEV’s to operate on the streets of any municipality, but only if the governing body has approved NEV’s in its jurisdiction.
In Wisconsin, NEV’s must operate at 35 mph or less and nationwide, per GEM, the vehicles must be “equipped with turn signals, mirrors, a windshield wiper, seatbelts, brake lights, headlights and taillights.” The Wisconsin law specifically excludes golf carts and makes it optional for a municipality to license NEV’s allowed to operate in its jurisdiction. That part sounds messy.
Actually, the whole Act sounds messy. What a half-baked piece of legislation. Allow them or don’t allow them in the state, for crying out loud. Well, for now, at least it’s a baby step, appeasing opponents and devotees at once, but certainly limiting where one can travel until municipalities begin to pass enabling ordinances.
According to the Green Bay Press Gazette, Green Bay, De Pere and Ashwaubenon have ordinances that allow NEV’s on their roadways. Allouez, Howard and Bellevue have not passed enabling ordinances “out of liability fears and lack of guidance from the state.”
Appleton Alderperson Jim Clemons introduced a resolution early this year calling for the city to “explore the feasibility of adopting… the use of Neighborhood Electric Vehicles as allowed by state law.” The resolution is being held in the Safety and Licensing Committee until at least the meeting of February 22, 2007. (Geez. The resolution simply asks to “explore the feasibility…” How tough is that?)
These little things are nifty. Check out the various GEM cars available, from a 6-seater to a one-seat model with a little wagon in the rear for groceries. Most are equipped with six 12-volt batteries.
You decide if the limited “around town” capability is just too limiting. Pretty small. Pretty low speed. Dangerous – maybe? Only 15 to 30 miles before you need to recharge. Probably not too warm and not too good with ice and snow. BUT… the GEM Car web site calculates a cost of driving 200 miles a week at $2.80, or $146 for a full year ($.10/kwh). Pretty nifty indeed.
So nifty that you need to go to Portage to buy one – or one of only a few dealers in Michigan, Minnesota, Illinois or Indiana.
So wherever you might be, consider lobbying your local government to allow these little buggers. Talk to your police department. Talk to your insurance agent. Learn the downsides of the tiny rascals – they must surely be as safe as a moped.
If you’re in Appleton, contact Alderperson Clemons with comments about his resolution. Maybe the Safety and Licensing Committee will move up approval in time for you to ride the streets of Appleton come spring. Start working on your friends in Grand Chute and Menasha and Kimberly and, and, and….
COMMENTS
GEM cars sound great but let's add a couple more possibilities. How about velomobiles and velomobiles with electric assists? Check out some of the innovations at www.Mochet.org and www.vine-ave.com.
The point is well made that our legislators need to be out in front of this issue. The potential for energy independence is too great to be sitting on the sidelines on this one!
Clif Morton (Tue Nov 28 07:37:43 2006)
Hi! I love your article about Gems! I'm the person that they wrote about in Green Bay!
I just wanted to point out 3 things about the article.
1. My Gem is what is called an EL which is the truck version. It's a 2 seater with a bed not a one seater. My cute Shitzu is my copilot so he needs his own seat :>
2. I actually will be driving my Gem in cold weather and I have it setup for cold weather. I added an optional heater and hard doors to my Gem so I could drive it in cold weather. What's great about my heater is it works instantly unlike a regular car. I don't even have to warm up my car like someone does with a "regular car"! Of course I won't be able to drive it if there is 3 feet of snow on the ground but at that point I won't be driving any vehicle.
3. You don't need to go to Portage to get one. If you buy a 2006 or 2007 you can sit at home and order it over the phone with the Portage dealership. They inturn contact Gem in Fargo, ND and have them dropship it right to your door! (And at NO extra charge!!)
I'm 42 and buying a Gem was the best purchase I have ever made. I love it for so many reasons. One is the gas savings. As I stated in the Press Gazette article in the past 6 months I have spent $20 in my 3 vehicles. 80% of that gas was used to get myself to the city and village board meetings to get my Gem legal.
I know Gems won't be for everyone. I live on a main street of town so I'm close to most places I need to go to. So it works great for me especially since I needed to have a truck for my business anyway. I'm a truck person and when I got my Toyota Prius I missed having a handy truck to haul stuff. I was having a hard time at that point justifying buying a truck after just spending $30,000 on my Prius. That was another reason I choose to buy my Gem. It was such a cheap way to get a truck and be able to justify having a 2nd vehicle. I paid just $8,400 for my 2005 Gem truck. (I said some money buying an older vehicle from the lot)I pay just $214 for full coverage insurance on my truck! So to me it was a no-brainer that this would be a cheap way to have a 2nd vehicle.
The only downside I can say about Nevs is they can't go on the highway so for most people they could only be a 2nd vehicle. There are some folks out in FL who I heard drive them full time and rent a car when they need to go on the highway.
If you are interested in Nevs I'm always happy to help others!
Tracy Crawford (a very happy Gem driver who wishes I could just slap a WI state license plat on my vehicle!)
Tracy Crawford (Tue Nov 28 09:52:39 2006)
Hi Jo. Lee Parker & I have been talking about this concept for many months.
I asked Jim Clemons to initiate the approval of the GEM car with the city. It all started, at least in my head, approximately three years ago when I visited my son, who at that time lived in the Atlanta area. They use the GEM cars in large cities to "ease the traffic" situations. My son works for KC & in his travels for KC he has seen these GEM Cars used in many cities.
A few months back when Jeff J. was on the air at WHBY, we talked about this subject on the air. At that time he was not aware that there was a NEV alread being made by GEM. I asked him to begin talking about the subject with other aldermen, particularily Jim Clemons. It was then that Jim told me he would develope a resolution & present it to the council. It then was stalled in committee.
In my opinion, it is the police dept. that doesnt want to have to deal with this concept. They feel that they are already short -handed & that this would cause them more work.
As with any new concept, they want somebodyelse to do the work for them. Green Bay, DePere, & Ashwaubenon have now done the task of developing an ordinance. In speaking to Tracy Crawford, the woman in GB that is making this happen, it seems that she will be successful in three other municipalities very soon. She is a very assertive small business owner, & this helped her endevor.
Appleton claims to be progressive, but in this case, they have dropped the ball .
Bernie Coley (Wed Nov 29 10:00:13 2006)
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