Lambrix, who drives a ZAP Xebra, is one of a handful of South Sound residents who own an electric vehicle, which means he plugs it into a regular outlet in the carport of his Olympia home each day.


Joe Lambrix pulls his Zap! Zebra PK total electric car into his carport after work Tuesday.		Joe Lambrix's electric car runs on six rechargeable batteries, which alleviate the worry associated with rising fuel prices.

“I don’t want to buy gas if I don’t have to, period,” he said.

His three-wheeled pickup will be among several alternative-fuel vehicles on display Saturday at the Alternative Fuel Fair at Huntamer Park in Lacey. The event is combined with the Lacey Grand Prix Electric Car races, in which students and hobbyists race cars they built and redesigned.

The city event includes information booths about alternative energy and green-building companies.

The rising cost of gasoline and growing interest in hybrid vehicles and alternative fuels have helped the event grow, said Carl Schlegel, an adviser for Shelton High School’s Skills USA and Watt’s Up EV Club. The club will compete in the race, along with students from River Ridge High School’s RREV club.

“It’s more of an awareness-type thing; the more we do this, the more the public becomes aware, and the more they start thinking about alternative forms of energy,” Schlegel said. “We can’t subsist on the limited supply of oil we have, and we can’t continue to” pollute.

More interest

Electric vehicles still make up a fraction of the auto market; there are about 56,000 on the road nationwide, according to Electric Auto Association reports.

But Greg Rock, co-founder of The Green Car Co. in Kirkland, said that’s changing.

“There’s a really bright future for electric vehicles,” he said. “In the future, there will be more cars that drive and feel the same as the automobiles we drive today.”

Researching electric vehicles is part of Gov. Chris Gregoire’s order on climate change, in which she calls for increasing use of hybrid and electric vehicles. She also signed a bill in the 2007 Legislature calling for state and local government fleets to use alternative fuels by 2015.

The greatest draw of going electric: The cost is about 3 cents per mile, compared with 15 cents for a regular car, according to The Green Car Co.

Electric cars run entirely on batteries. Hybrids have small batteries and run on both gasoline and electricity.

“When you come up to a stop sign, there’s no noise. It feels good; all these people are idling around me,” said Lambrix, a bus driver with Intercity Transit and the owner of JP Printing in Olympia.

Practicality, safety

Several hurdles have kept electric cars from being more than a niche market, Rock said.

“Safety does act as a barrier for a lot of buyers. They are kind of glorified golf carts,” he said, adding, “That’s all you need for the grocery store.”

Four-wheeled electric cars don’t go through the state Department of Transportation crash-test program because that would double or triple their price, Rock said. As a result, state law limits them to a capacity of 25 mph. That capacity will change to 35 mph next year.

Three-wheeled electric vehicles, such as Lambrix’s ZAP Xebra, are classified as motorcycles, which don’t require the same speed restrictions as the four-wheeled electric cars. The Xebra can reach about 40 mph.

Electric vehicles need to be recharged after going 35 to 40 miles, and there are few locations where drivers can plug in.

Plugging in

Lambrix sent letters to local grocery stores, shopping centers and governments, urging them to install electric-charging stations for electric-vehicle owners.

Kevin Stormans, co-owner of the Ralph’s and Bayview supermarkets, is the first business owner to do so. He will provide an outlet in one parking spot at each store by next week.

“Why not encourage that type of activity and thank those customers that have electric cars and make it easy and convenient for them to use our store as well?” Stormans said.

Several state offices, including the DOT and Department of Ecology, also offer plug-in stations.

Employers that participate in the state’s Commute Trip Reduction program, which supports employer efforts to cut emissions, can cover the cost of electricity for employees who want to plug in at work, said Brian Lagerberg, who manages the program.

But with limited public places to plug in, each trip takes careful planning.

That’s a trade-off that Lambrix and other South Sound electric-car owners are willing to make.

“This is just another step in helping out the environment and doing what I believe is right,” Lambrix said.

Diane Huber covers the city of Lacey for The Olympian. She can be reached at 360-357-0204 or dhuber@theolympian.com.

Published May 20, 2007

Cars in search of outlets

Places for electric vehicles to plug in crop up
John Dodge
The Olympia

OLYMPIA — When Olympia resident Joe Lambrix took possession of his three-wheeled electric vehicle, he embarked on a campaign to create a network of plug-in stations he and the 10 or so other electric vehicle owners in South Sound could use.

Because Lambrix’s ZAP Zebra only goes about 25 miles on a full charge of the vehicle’s six batteries, he could use a few electric outlets at which to recharge.

The first two of what Lambrix hopes will be many more opened over the weekend at Bayview Thriftway and Ralph’s Thriftway in Olympia.

Kevin Stormans, co-owner of the locally owned stores, ran 110-volt plugs to one parking stall at each store, then posted green-and-white signs next to them that read, “Electric Vehicle Charging Stall, Electric Vehicle Parking Only.”`

Lambrix, who said he has spent about 100 hours contacting South Sound businesses, shopping centers and local governments about installing plug-in stations, said Stormans was the first to accommodate the small fleet of electric cars in South Sound.

“This should get the ball rolling,” Lambrix said Friday when he plugged his 25-foot electric cord into the Bayview station to make sure it worked.

Stormans said the store owners spent a few hundred dollars extending the power to the parking lots from the store. But he said it’s worth it.

“We’re always looked for ways to satisfy customers’ needs,” he said. “It was something that made sense.”

Lambrix, an Intercity Transit bus driver who also uses solar power at his west Olympia home, said it takes about 4.5 hours to fully recharge the vehicle batteries at a cost of about 21 cents.

If he plugs in for a 30-minute shopping trip at the grocery store, he’ll juice up enough to go 2 or 3 miles, costing Stormans less than a nickel in power costs.

With a resurgence in consumer interest in all-electric cars that has been driven by soaring gasoline prices and a new breed of vehicles called plug-in hybrids on the way into the U.S. marketplace, Lambrix said the time is right to build a plug-in infrastructure in South Sound. Hybrids run on both electricity and gasoline.

Electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids are expected to play a role in efforts across the nation, including in Washington, to curb greenhouse-gas emissions from burning fossil fuels.

A bill passed by the 2007 state Legislature does two things to give electric vehicles a push. House Bill 1303:

• Authorized the state to purchase power at its own expense to recharge private- and public-owned plug-in electric vehicles at state-owned buildings.

• Directed the state departments of Ecology and Community, Trade and Economic Development to study and report on what role electric cars can play in the state goal of weaning state and local government motor vehicle fleets off gasoline by 2015.

“Electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids are going to be part of the solution,” said Paul Knox, a board member of Olympia-based Climate Solutions, a non-profit group working on global-warming issues.

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