Well it looks like we are getting something out of the high gas prices. Our friends in the Tennessee Legislature found a way to get our sidexsides street legal. Here is an email I recieved from Michelle about it. Funny thing is, I wonder if they know my Rhino gets 11 MPG. Next thing you know we will have to pay a gas guzzler tax on them when we buy one.
Hello Trail Blazers,
One of our SideXSide friends shared this story with me (thanks!). Although the focus of the article is “Electric” mini cars, the new state law allows Rhinos to legally cruise 40mph state roads. Those multi-use OHV vehicles are really becoming quite the rage these days with gas prices the way they are...now they are street legal!
New law will give tiny cars big push in Tennessee
Electric vehicles that go 35 mph can travel on many of the state's roads
Murray Huber motors around his Franklin neighborhood on weekends in his electric car to run errands or make quick trips.
Until recently, state law limited his mini Hummer H3 — and other entries in a class of cars known as the neighborhood electric vehicle — to 25 mph. Plus, he could travel only on roads with a posted speed limit of 35 mph or less.
"They are great on weekends for grocery runs and an option so you don't have to pull the gas-guzzler out of the garage," said Huber, who has owned his General Motors-licensed Hummer for two years and also sells neighborhood electric vehicles. "We have been waiting for legislation to soften."
The wait is over. Thanks to a law that kicked in on July 1, medium-speed electric- or gasoline-powered vehicles with four wheels can travel up to 35 mph, and can use roads where the speed limit is 40. Golf carts are excluded.
Tennessee joins Montana and Washington as the only states with such a law. Most of the rest follow a 1998 federal law that allows the low-speed vehicles to travel up to 25 mph.
"These vehicles are economical to buy and economical to operate," said state Rep. Glen Casada, who co-sponsored a bill with a fellow Franklin Republican, state Sen. Jack Johnson. "This is something that Tennessee needs to recognize."
The bill passed overwhelmingly in May — unanimously in the Senate and 92-4 in the House.
Cure for pricey gas
The electric vehicles range in price from about $7,000 to $17,000, depending on the add-on features. To operate on the road, they must meet federal safety standards that require headlights and taillights, turn signals, seat belts, a rearview mirror, a parking brake and a windshield.
Though golf carts are not included under the law, many of the neighborhood electric vehicles look like golf carts and can be used on golf courses if allowed. Many dealers sell two-, four- and six-seat cars.
Nashville native Josh Womack, who plans to sell the vehicles, said they run on electricity stored in a battery. "You plug them into a standard house power outlet and let them charge," Womack said. "There's no carburetor, no alternator, no radiator."
Womack has started a company — "VerdeGoh," a play on "vertigo" as well as on the Spanish word for green — that will sell a range of electric vehicles. He has been an advocate for "green" vehicles, and he supported the bill that is now law. He said he offered no financial support to either of the legislators and is not a lobbyist.
Womack said the new cars might help ease drivers' frustrations with booming gas prices.
The new law will ease their frustrations even more, he said.
"It basically allows us to go a little better with the flow of traffic," Womack said. "It provides an opportunity for them to be little bit more user-friendly."
Registration is required
Huber and his partner, Bill Little, started an electric-car business called Bayou Buggies two years ago. They sell three to five vehicles each year, but they expect that might change.
"Because of the higher gas prices, people are looking for alternatives to gasoline," Huber said.
As of July 1, 211 low-speed vehicles were registered in Tennessee.
Sophie Moery, spokeswoman for the state Department of Revenue, said owners of the low-speed vehicles would need to reregister their electric cars under the medium-speed classification if they can reach 30 to 35 mph. Otherwise, those vehicles would not be considered legal to travel on roads with 40 mph speed limits. The registration costs $9.50.
Womack said he had received a number of inquiries from interested residents since word of his company spread and since the law passed. He plans to sell four lines of electric cars, including the Zenn car — Zero Emissions No Noise — made by Zenn Motor Co. of Canada. The XG he drives can seat four and costs $10,000 to $14,000, depending on options.
The vehicles will change the way people get around, he said.
"You can't take it on the interstate, but you can take it all around your neighborhood all in ways you never could before," Womack said.
Iva Michelle Russell
Exec. Director, OHV4TN
931-924-7877
iva@ivamichellerussell.comwww.ohv4tn.org"There are risks and costs to a program of action, but they are far less than the long-range risks and costs of comfortable inaction."
JFK
