Style Weekly
Driving on Batteries
It was quite disturbing to hear that there are no electric cars in Richmond (“No Charge,” News & Features, Dec. 22), as I've been commuting from Bon Air to Virginia Commonwealth University in my 1988 Soleq EVcort since 2008 (albeit intermittently — the damp Richmond climate has not been kind to its fragile 20-year-old electronics).
In that time I've logged 6,000 miles, or about 400 round trips. The car is an old experimental EV based on the Ford Escort, built under contract to the Department of Energy (details at evalbum.com/1710).
Why isn't it listed at DMV? I did put down “electric” for the fuel, but even though it has always been electric, for some reason the original registration said “gas,” so DMV copied that instead, and who's going to argue with DMV? Anyway, great to hear I'll soon be able to charge downtown.
Larry Povirk
Bon Air
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