ZAP (fka ZAAP)

[exoticbiker]

KY politicians promote electric cars

FRANKFORT — While gas prices hit $4.15 a gallon for unleaded at some Lexington stations Monday, political rivals in Frankfort were scrambling to take the lead on promoting electric cars.
Two Republican state senators — Gary Tapp of Shelby County and Dan Seum of Louisville — pre-filed a bill Monday that would allow three-wheeled electric vehicles on Kentucky roads.
The cars can go up to 45 miles on a charge that costs about 60 cents.
The two had planned to announce their legislation on Wednesday at a news conference with a Bullitt County distributor of the vehicles, but moved ahead Monday after learning that House Democrats and economic development officials had scheduled a news conference at the same location for Tuesday.
The Democrats ”are playing pure politics,“ charged Tapp, who said the GOP news conference will still be held at 10 a.m. Wednesday at Integrity Manufacturing, which is a distributor for the Zap all-electric car in Indiana and all of Kentucky except Bourbon County, where Dan Cummins Chevrolet of Paris already has a distributorship for the vehicle.
”Senator Seum and I are doing this for the right reasons — to find an alternative to Mideast oil, to better the environment and create a lot of jobs,“ Tapp said. ”I would hate to see this turn into a political football.“
Brian Wilkerson, a spokesman for House Speaker Jody Richards, said House Democrats were not trying to pull a fast one on Senate Republicans.
”This was scheduled before we knew of their event,“ he said.
However, Integrity spokesman Larry Cottingham said he did not think the company would have an electric vehicle available for the Democrats' event Tuesday, as Democrats promised in their Monday news release.
”We will have one here Wednesday for the Republicans,“ he said, noting, ”Really, I don't want to get involved in the politics of all this. We just want to sell cars.“
Cottingham said Integrity thinks it can create 300 jobs by manufacturing the Zap vehicles.
He said he would like to see a special legislative session soon to approve Tapp's and Seum's legislation.
”If we don't get that into law soon,“ he said, ”Kentucky might lose out on this deal.“
Gov. Steve Beshear sat in a Zap vehicle last week in Louisville along with Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson.
Beshear spokesman Dick Brown said no formal presentation was made to the governor about electric vehicles and that he had heard nothing about a possible special session to allow them in the state.
The three-wheeled electric cars use no gasoline and make no noise. A Zap car that can seat four people costs about $11,700 and a truck that seats two runs about $12,400.
An extension cord can be used to charge the vehicle at home.
”They're perfect for city driving,“ said Tapp, noting that pizza delivery services and mail-express companies are using them in other states.
”I think there will be widespread interest in them, especially as there seems to be no end to high gasoline prices,“ the senator said.
Drivers are being battered daily with escalating fuel prices.
Gas in Lexington Monday was averaging $3.96 a gallon for unleaded, said Christopher Oakford, a spokesman for AAA Blue Grass/Kentucky. However, many stations were selling unleaded for $4.15 a gallon by day's end.
The state average was $4.03 and the national $4.10.
The average in Lexington has never gone over $4, Oakfield said.
AAA advises drivers to shop around for gasoline.
”Gasoline is tightly standardized these days,“ he said. ”Buy wherever you see it the cheapest.“
Joe Gershtenson, director of Eastern Kentucky University's Center for Kentucky History and Politics, said it is ”no mystery“ why politicians are trying to convey to the public that they are interested in high gas prices.
”It's the No. 1 issue in our country now,“ Gershtenson said. ”People are hungry to see action on this issue and not just hear words.“
Besides test driving an electric car last week, Beshear called for a state investigation to find out why gas prices are higher in Jefferson County than anywhere else in the state.
At a speech last week before the business group Commerce Lexington, U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Louisville, said America needs to find more gas through off-shore drilling and consume less by such means as electric cars.
Meanwhile, Democrat Bruce Lunsford of Louisville, who wants to unseat McConnell in November's general election, spent his sixth ”On the Job“ stop Monday at Somerset Oil, a Kentucky-owned gas station in Grayson.
He said the stops are to underscore how ”the growing energy crisis“ is affecting Kentuckians.
Republicans and Democrats in Frankfort will get to address the issue together July 17 at a meeting of the Interim Joint Committee on Economic Development and Tourism.
Electric cars will be on their agenda. - ecoMPH