![[e-mail]](http://wwwcache.wral.com/presentation/v2/images/header/email-15x10.gif){kind=small}
Subscribe
![[search]](http://wwwcache.wral.com/presentation/v1/images/icons/16x12/search-form-icon.gif){kind=icon}
Site SearchAngier, N.C. — A Harnett County man is paying about a penny to drive a mile, although Triangle gas prices set a new record high, a cent short of $4 a gallon, on Wednesday.
Mack Toler, 53, a retired computer engineer, converted his 1989 Geo Metro to electric power in 2001. The Metro's new, simple set up with 14 Club Car batteries under the hood – with no belts, hoses or oil changes – has saved him plenty of gas money, Toler said.
"The energy that is coming out of my wall costs me about the equivalent of 20 cents per gallon," Toler said.
Toller estimates that charging his electric car costs about 1 cent per mile and adds about $10 a month to his electric bill. He said he takes advantage of cheaper electricity on nights and weekends to keep his bill lower.
The Geo plugs into a standard wall outlet and takes about six hours to get fully juiced. The full charge can take the Geo about 40 miles at speeds over 70 mph, though Toller said he usually keeps around 45 mph.
Toller said he wonders why America doesn't join him for the ride.
"It's a matter of national security," he said. "If we had something to shift to besides oil, we wouldn't be dependent on foreign nations."
Toller scoffed at claims from U.S. automakers that there isn't enough demand for electric cars to mass produce them.
"If General Motors puts electric cars out on the car lot and nobody buys them, I'll buy that there's no demand," Toller said. "But when I want to buy one and you won't sell me one, I can't see how there's no demand."
It costs between $5,000 and $8,000 to convert a gasoline-powered car to electric. The smaller the car is, the better candidate it is for conversion.
Toller is one of about 100 members of the Triangle Electric Auto Association, but thinks only about a dozen other members have electric cars themselves.
He admits to one vice himself: a Ford Expedition, which gets 14 miles to the gallon.
"Yeah, that's my gas-guzzler," Toller said laughingly. "And I drive it now a lot less now than I did last year."
Toller said it's a shame alternative-fuel technology has not been exploited as much as it could have been in America.
"We had a 10-year head start on the rest of the world, and we threw it away. And I'm very sad about that," he said.
![[+]](http://wwwcache.wral.com/presentation/v1/images/more_icon.gif){kind=icon}
WRAL.com welcomes your comments on this story. All comments are moderated prior to publication based on our posting guidelines. Please review them prior to posting and if your message is not approved.
This story is closed for comments.
June 12, 2008 9:27 p.m.
I think you are ignoring the R&D costs associated with bringing a car to market which is safe, relatively well proven, and affordable. Yeah, this guy can put a load of go-cart batteries in his car and cruise around ---- for 40 miles. And thats in our relatively flat area of the triangle. Try it in the Blue Ridge mountains, etc. Then, how well balanced is the vehicle with multihundred pounds of lead acid batteries sitting where a aluminum lightweight engine sat before? What happens to all those batteries and acid in an accident? Electrically, will the car ignite other contacting cars, itself, it's passenger?
The liabilities are great in that industry, as well as the exposure, if you are a small player. Which is why big players usually dominate it. Tesla has burned through hundreds of millions of dollars, and still is not in full production (if any at all), and already they speak of backstepping to hybrids.
June 12, 2008 8:26 p.m.
June 12, 2008 7:51 p.m.
Many of us need to go farther than 40 miles!!
June 12, 2008 7:50 p.m.
T.hey E.ven S.hipping L.ate A.uto's?
They, like many others, have found out how difficult it is to ship a real car.
June 12, 2008 5:24 p.m.