Guygoesgreen Note: This is the first guest post on Guy Goes Green and am happy to have this Eco Hero tell me his story. Jason (EcoGeeco) can be found here . Thanks for sharing!
I have decided to drive electric. I drive a 2008 GEM E6. It is all electric and it replaced 1996 Dodge Caravan. A lot of people were very surprised when they found out that my new car is like a big golf cart. But I look at it as an investment in my kid’s future. They are the biggest reason for the car plus it’s a lot of fun to drive around.
A few years ago my wife and I owned a ’96 Caravan not the greenest of cars but it got us from A to B. We decided that it was time for a new car. I started to think of the world around us and realized that we had an opportunity to help out with the planet and make sure that our kids had a clean planet to live on when they got to be our age. I started to look around at all the options we had. The first thing I looked at was hybrids but most are small for a family with 5 people in it and still burn fossil fuel that produces Co2. Biodiesel is a better option but there is no place to get it where I am. So I started looking at the facts. The average family drives 32 miles or less a day. There are all electric cars out there that are street legal and they are essentially big golf carts. But they do not produce any pollution at all! That was deal maker right there. I looked for my best option and came up with the GEM (Global electric Motors owned by Chrysler). They are made in America, go 30 to 40 miles on a charge and are street legal (in most states).
After receiving my electric car I started really going green. I just made a giant leap in the right direction I
couldn’t stop there. I had to start planning extra time into my jots around town because when I got to the parking lot of most places I would draw a crowd of people asking about the car. Some even asked how good the gas mileage was. I would laugh and then just tell them it was electric and the “gas mileage” was GREAT! One of the things that I was asked and told a lot was that I couldn’t be green with this car because our local electric company is powered by coal so all I’m doing is moving the pollution to a central location. Even though my car only uses 6.7 cents (yes that 7 pennies) a day to charge, people still didn’t think I was doing any good. So I built a small solar array in my backyard to offset the Co2 emissions that are produced by the coal plant. $25 a year to charge the car and $100 a year saved on my electric bill with the solar array.
I took a giant leap to change the way I effect the planet but all it takes is a small step to start to help. All in all it’s the best thing I have ever purchased and yes my wife owns a “normal” car that is not a hybrid or electric but it normally sits in the driveway most of the time unless we go on a long trip somewhere.
Thanks for asking me to write a guest post for your great website. Everyone have a great day and THINK GREEN! I have to go plant some trees!
The pleasure is mine and I think it is absolutely awesome that you have this vehicle and that you build solar panels to power it.
ECOGEECO: Talk Ben into getting a car like this. ; )
My little Saturn will make it to 250K!