Friday, June 12, 2009
By Angel Streeter, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

DELRAY BEACH - Many consider electric cars the future savior of the car industry, saving us from $4-a-gallon gas.

But in many ways, the future is here as a few South Floridians already are driving pure electric cars.

Some have converted gasoline cars into electric cars while others are transforming their hybrids into electric plug-ins.

“The future is available today,” said state Rep. Adam Hasner, R-Boca Raton, an advocate for electric cars. “Now it’s time to get more electric cars on the road.”

Charles Whalen, of Delray Beach, drives throughout South Florida, from Jupiter to Miami, in an all-electric Toyota RAV4 that he’s had for four years. He can go 120 miles before having to charge the battery, plugging it in to a charging unit at home about twice a week for five hours. With one for his wife also, the Whalens own two of only three such cars in Florida.

The two cars come from a batch of 5,000 to 6,000 electric vehicles that were created by the major car manufacturers — General Motors, Honda, Toyota, Ford, Nissan, Chrysler — between 1996 and 2003 to comply with a California law requiring them to sell some zero-emission cars, said Paul Scott of Plug In America, an electric-car advocacy group.

Many of those electric vehicles were leased to companies as part of fleets. But some were leased to the public.

California overturned the law in 2003 after car makers complained about lack of consumer demand and the high cost of manufacturing the cars. As leases ended, carmakers took back the cars. But Toyota allowed those who had leased to buy their cars. Some Fords also remained on the road. About 1,000 of these electric vehicles remain on the road today.

“It’s very convenient,” said Whalen, who went from spending $240 a month on gas to spending nothing. “You never have to go to a gas station.”

That’s so appealing to some that they’re turning their hybrids, already gas sippers, into electric plug-ins.

Last week, a Toyota Prius modified to an electric plug-in pulled out of a Toyota dealership in North Palm Beach to drive to Washington, D.C., on one tank of gas. Some may consider the 11-day trip an elaborate stunt to drum up publicity.

But modifying hybrids, which run on both a gas engine and battery pack — by adding a lithium-ion battery — is becoming the latest emerging trend to wean Americans off gas.

A normal Prius can get up to 45 mpg. A modified Prius that’s charged by plugging it in to any normal outlet can get 65 mpg, said Ron Freund, chairman of the National Electric Auto Association.

With normal, in-town driving, a Prius electric plug-in can travel 40 miles without using any gas.

Ted Brownstein, of Lake Worth, bought a used Prius and had it converted to an electric plug-in. Total cost for the car and conversion was $24,000. He has had the car since April and has filled up only once, saying he’s getting about 100 mpg.

“It’s kind of like beating the system,” he said.

Hybrids make up about 2.78 percent of U.S. car sales, according to Edmunds.com. Freund estimates that up to 400 hybrids nationwide, mostly Priuses, have been converted to plug-ins.

Carmakers are coming out with electric plug-ins themselves. But for those who don’t want to wait, converting a hybrid costs $10,000, said Jonathan Ortiz, of Foreign Affairs Auto in West Palm Beach, which does conversions.

That price is even lower if consumers take advantage of federal government financial incentives. Also, Hasner is working with the governor’s office to use $500,000 in federal stimulus money to offer state incentives to those modifying hybrids to electric plug-ins.

Some have taken more drastic measures, turning gas-powered cars into electric-powered cars.

Lowell Simmons, an auto mechanic teacher at Miramar High School who teaches his students how to convert gas cars to electric, began making the conversions for customers last year when gas prices spiked to $4 a gallon.

They aren’t cheap — $8,000 to $9,000 just for the parts. But it appeals to those concerned about the environment and freeing Americans from dependence on foreign oil, said Simmons, a Davie resident.

“If you’ve got a 20- to 30-mile commute, it’s the thing to do,” he said.