Finding fuel alternatives
Hempstead Town, N.Y., has replaced some of the cars in its fleet with electric cars. The electric cars have fewer emissions than gasoline-powered cars, and they cost less to operate.
Hempstead, which is in central Long Island, is approximately 25 square miles and has 760,000 residents. For many years, town leaders have sought ways to reduce pollution and improve the environment. For example, the town fuels its fleet of buses with natural gas, and its recycling program has a 77 percent participation rate.
Early this year, the town learned of a Neighborhood Electric Vehicle Awareness Program sponsored by Fargo, N.D.-based Global Electric Motorcars (GEM). Through the program, the company donated its electric vehicles, “GEMs,” to interested local governments and other organizations to demonstrate the cars’ usefulness. In July, Hempstead received 77 GEMs (each valued at $7,000) for free and deployed them to the Public Safety, Water and Parks departments.
Each GEM is powered by six 12-volt deep cycle batteries, which will carry the vehicle approximately 30 miles. To recharge the batteries, users plug the vehicles into 110-volt outlets for eight to 10 hours. The cars, which are only 96.5 inches long and 55 inches wide, can travel at a maximum speed of 25 miles per hour. GEMs have hydraulic brakes, rack and pinion steering, protective windshields, front wheel drive, headlights and turn signals. Hempstead’s vehicles have two seats and a small storage area in back.
The GEMs are authorized for limited use by the state Department of Motor Vehicles, so they can travel on residential roads but not on parkways. Their limited use, however, works well for the town’s Water Department, which has issued the cars to meter readers for use in neighborhoods.
The cars also can travel off-road, and the Parks Department has been using them to patrol facilities along the town’s two-mile stretch of beaches. The Public Safety Department also has been using them for patrols. “With a car, you can only go into certain areas,” says Hempstead Supervisor Kate Murray. “With the GEMs, you can get into smaller nooks and streets than a regular vehicle can get into.”
The town estimates that the GEM vehicles cost one cent per mile to operate while the economy cars cost five cents per mile. Additionally, the electric cars do not create pollution. Town officials plan to replace 10 percent of the town’s fleet of economy cars with the electric cars. “There has been great discussion the last couple of years about getting alternatively fueled vehicles on the road, and I think because of the size of our local government, I feel that we can really be an example, not only to other local governments but to residents as well,” Murray says.
As a result of using the cars, Hempstead Town received an Environmental Leadership Award in July from the Greater Long Island Clean Cities Coalition. “As a role model for the effective use of alternative fuel vehicles, we are furthering our commitment to a cleaner, safer environment,” Murray says.
