Couple gets electric car

By WAYNE STEWART, H-P Projects Editor
The Palestine Herald

Palestine August 18, 2006 02:31 am

— As it came off the truck Timothy and Elaine Triplett looked closely at their new GEM.
No, it wasn’t precious diamonds — it was something much more valuable considering the high price of gasoline.
The Tripletts’ GEM, or Global Electric Motorcars, is one of the first of its kind in private hands here in Palestine. Over the coming days and years, residents of Palestine will be able to see Elaine Triplett driving about town performing her daily tasks — all without having to purchase a drop of gas.
“I’ll be out driving around Palestine,” Elaine Triplett said. “I will be able to take care of all of my business and duties around town.”
When she’s done driving it around town, Triplett said she’ll take it home and plug it into a 110-volt receptacle and top off the tank.
Resupplying power to the vehicle takes about six to eight hours, Elaine Triplett said.
“Plus, I’ll never have to put gas in it or get an oil change,” she said.
The car, or little truck in the case of the Triplett’s GEM, can go 30 to 40 miles on a single charge with a top speed of 25 miles per hour.
“For the price of electricity, it gets about 180 miles per gallon,” Timothy Triplett explained.
The choice of purchasing an electric car by the Tripletts was almost a no-brainer.
The first thing Elaine Triplett noted was that the high price of gasoline necessitated a need for alternate transportation.
And the other thing, Elaine Triplett said, “I’m an electrician and Timothy’s an electrical engineer.”
So, for them, going electric made a lot of sense.
Along with the vehicle’s efficiency, is it’s sensitivity to the environment.
“The motor itself is pretty efficient,” Timothy Triplett explained. “With it you put the emissions in a centralized location (power plant) where it can be better controlled.
“They are coming up with new and more efficient ways of making electricity with less emissions all of the time and the natural resources it takes to make electricity are in abundance in this country.
“It relieves a lot of our reliance on energy exports,” Timothy Triplett added.
To go with the efficiency of the vehicle, Timothy Triplett said there are far fewer moving parts to the GEM which makes it much less likely to experience mechanical problems than a gas-powered vehicle.
The vehicle was purchased from UV Country in Houston, a dealership specializing in utility vehicles, owned by Shannon Tracy, Elaine Triplett said.
“We were the first customer of hers to buy an electric car,” Elaine Triplett said.
The average GEM, which is owned by Daimler Chrysler and is produced in North Dakota, has a purchase price between $8,000 and $10,000, according to Phil Brady of Minnesota, who delivered the Triplett’s GEM and also was hauling a load to UV Country in Houston.
The GEM can be fully licensed for road use in Texas and does not require a state inspection sticker, according to Timothy Triplett.
For more on purchasing a GEM locally, visit UV Country’s Web site at www.uvcountry.com or visit the GEM Web site at www.gemcar.com for information on the different models being produced.

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