Electric Cars: Those Things Actually Work!

"Elton Baum and His "Green" Golf Cart"
Loonfoot Falls Chronicle-Gazette (June 20, 2008)

"When gas went over three dollars a gallon in late 2006, Elton Baum decided to do something about it.

" 'I couldn't keep the price down,' he said with a grin, 'but I could do something about how much I used. Now, I don't go into town with the truck, unless it's for something really big.'

"Even a small car uses some gasoline, so Mr. Baum looked around for an alternative...."

What follows is an excerpt from a weekly paper in the fictional small town of Loonfoot Falls, Minnesota. This is my latest blog project: posts about an imaginary town, showing "small town life the way it never was."

It's fictional, and exaggerated, but the blog will, I think, show a little of what it's like to live in 'small town America,' and - more to the point - be fun to read.

This week's 'golf cart' post gave me an education. Since technical mistakes can ruin a joke, I did a little checking into the state-of-the-art for electric cars and golf carts.

There were times, like the seventies gas crisis (lines at the pump, what we'd call pump rage today, quite a memorable period), when electric cars were being seriously considered.

The enthusiasts would insist that everyone should go electric. Now. Others would look at tortoise-like acceleration, and a top speed well under any known speed limit, and wonder if it wouldn't be simpler - and faster - to walk.

That was then. I didn't find out what sort of acceleration electric cars can manage now, but souped-up golf carts can go over forty miles an hour (over 64 Kilometers per hour), and both range and recharge times are into a practical range.

Here's some of what I found:

• "Historical Price Charts"
  GasBuddy.com
  You can select a chart showing 1, 3, 6, 9 or 18 Months; 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6 Years
• "8 Volt Golf Cart Battery: The Top Six"
  Golf Carts are for Girls
  A pretty good collection of practical information and advice
• "Local man builds all-electric vehicle"
  news-record.com (June 21, 2008)
  Pretty good human-interest story, with some interesting statistics.

Finally, the article that got me thinking about Elton Baum and his electric golf cart:

"Man saves gas by tricking out golf cart"
The Daily News (Greenville, Belding and Montcalm, Michigan) (June 14, 2008)

"ROOSEVELT PARK - Go ahead, look all you want.

"He might stand out a bit, but Louis Schaub said driving his electric golf cart through town is worth every penny he isn't spending on gas.

" 'It's a head turner. Everyone looks,' Schaub said of the street-legal golf cart he uses to buzz around town at 25 mph. 'I just continue on. I know they're looking.'..."

This article is worth reading: particularly for a look at how Louis Schaub dealt with seriously behind-the-times state officials.

Although it showed me that an electric golf cart could work in an urban setting, under controlled conditions, I still thought that using a golf cart as a drive-to-town vehicle would be a good start for a joke.

I was wrong: but there's potential for humor in a practical electric cart. I think we'll be hearing more about Elton Baum.