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by Sarah Rowe

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Rapidly advancing technologies may make driving a gasoline powered car to school or work a thing of the past, as an electric car registration bill passed through the state Legislature last week.

The bill was proposed by three Republican legislators on the coattails of previous legislation that required Neighborhood Electric Vehicles to be licensed through individual municipalities.

After receiving bipartisan support, the bill passed with a voice vote in the Assembly and was also unanimously passed in the Senate. The new bill permits Wisconsin residents to register NEVs with Wisconsin Department of Transportation.

With gasoline prices surpassing $3 per gallon and oil at $97 a barrel, there is no end to the price increases in sight, according to Ryan Smith, policy advisor for Sen. Cowles, R-Green Bay.

NEVs - small, battery-powered cars - serve as an alternative to gasoline-powered vehicles. With a maximum speed of about 25 miles per hour, NEVs are allowed to operate only on roads with speed limits of 35 miles per hour or less and can travel between 30 and 60 miles on a single battery charge and emit no pollution.

"Economically, they will end up paying for themselves," Smith said.

The new legislation was proposed to fix problems stemming from the earlier legislation requiring NEVs to be registered through municipalities, Kurt Simatic, staff member for Albers, said in an e-mail to The Badger Herald.

"[The new bill] would eliminate municipal licensing of NEVs and replace it with a statewide registration system administered by the Department of Transportation," Simatic said in the e-mail.

The $23 biennial registration fee for a NEV, Simatic said, would be identical to that of a moped, but NEVs would not be required to pay the environmental impact fee and supplemental title fee required from car owners.

The cost of registering a car in Wisconsin, however, has increased from $55 to $75 in the 2007-09 Wisconsin state budget.

Despite the legislation, neither Albers nor Cowles own an NEV.

"Although Representative Albers does not personally own a NEV, she believes that they are an environmentally  friendly and low  cost alternative to local transportation needs," Simatic said.

These small, environmentally-friendly cars decrease traffic congestion and improve parking availability , both of which are problems in Madison, Cowles said in a statement Friday.

"[NEVs are] immensely practical," said University of Wisconsin Engineering Professor Robert Lorenz. "We’ll all be driving them in a few years."

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Anonymous (November 7, 2007 @ 11:32pm):

"Rapidly advancing technologies" don't play any part in the advent of low-speed NEVs. Similar battery-powered vehicles have been around for about 100 years, since the early days of the automobile. (Ask Jay Leno about his 1909 Baker Electric!) The only important difference now is that they're more affordable, and the price of gasoline, and environmental concerns, are pushing people toward them. Although these cars have their place, and I'm happy to see them being used, they're a small part of a much larger emerging trend: the movement away from gasoline.

The real excitement will be when full-speed, highway-capable electric cars become available. The Tesla, the Aptera, the Chevy Volt, and other battery-powered cars in development by Mitsubishi, Nissan and Subaru will be way more attractive than today's nerdy little NEVs.

Anonymous (November 8, 2007 @ 10:43am):

WELL; it is finally time that the state legislaters did something FOR the people that put them in office,HOORAY. Takeing the registering of NEVs away from the municapalities is the best thing that could happen. Places like Janesvile ,NEVs wern't allowed, because of the GM plant. The city officials knuckle under to anything the plant wants,and seeing as though GM doesn't produce an NEV they have been blocking their useage.( Not that you will ever get the admin. to admit it)

litesong (November 9, 2007 @ 10:30am):

25MPH NEVs must crawl up steep hills at 15MPH or less. Laws should allow NEVs to travel at 35MPH so they would more readily keep up with traffic. Such conversions are often just a matter of computer flashes letting electric motors reach their full potential. Not only exemption from environmental fees, but community 'thankyou' fees should be paid NEVs owners since citizens don't breath any toxic Internal Combustion Engine fumes. May ICE die, that people can live & breath. Long live EVs.

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