Plugged-in PT
Nobody killed the electric car. They all got fed up with the traffic in cities like Seattle and moved to Port Townsend, at Puget Sound's entrance, where they are living happily ever after, humming up and down Water Street, doing what cars are supposed to do.. This spring, a small fleet was parked fender-to-fender at the foot of the high school football scoreboard for an impromptu electric car convention – ten of them, which took about the same 
space as a bicycle rack. But that was still more electric cars in one place than most people have ever seen.
It was an odd display of colorful, teardrop-shaped new models and local conversions, all designed to get you from A to B without emitting the slightest whiff of carbon dioxide. Judging by the buzz on the football field, local drivers were charged by the idea. The state reports 26 electric cars registered in the Port Townsend neighborhood. That’s one for every 1,100 people, compared to 1 per 7,600 statewide and 1 per 5,700 in Seattle. That’s an impressive statistic for a small town, given that those little cars start at $12,000, and can easily cost $30,000 or more.
But Port Townsend roads and driving distances lend themselves to electric cars. Steve Evans, a former Californian who recently bought his second-hand GEM (Global Electric Motors), drove it down to the recent gathering. “We already use it to run most of our errands,” he said. Another owner observed that, compared to conventional cars, her electric is “ a little rattley-bang… But you adjust your expectations.”
That means: Expect to drive slower, over shorter distances. You will not be taking your electric onto freeways. And you won’t be driving it to Seattle. But, then again, the car doesn't want to go there anyway.
This, however, will change, says Steve Mayeda, of MC Electric Vehicles in Seattle, who trailered two of his electric cars to Port Townsend for the gathering.
The key factor is batteries. Electric cars are fueled by stored electricity, and at present that means banks of deep-cycle lead batteries not unlike the battery in your conventional car. Instead of refueling, drivers must recharge those batteries by plugging them into household power circuits. To run a tiny car at about 35 mph and up to 50 miles between plug-ins requires at least six conventional batteries, which are stored behind and under the seats. To travel further, you have to add more heavy batteries, which increases the vehicle weight, which gobbles still more power, and so forth. And there lies the rub.
But rising gas prices and environmental awareness have recharged efforts to invent a new battery that can store more energy in a smaller, lighter package, Mayeda says. “We’re on the verge of that breakthrough.” The result could be a technological leap comparable with the development of lithium batteries for cellular phones, which were virtually inconceivable a generation ago.
Meanwhile, Mayeda finds himself adjusting the expectations of prospective buyers. “Guarantee me that this car will make it to Seattle and back, and I’ll buy one,” said one woman as she inspected one of his electric models.
“It won’t,” Mayeda responded. “Maybe in a couple of years. But not now.”
