By DARRIN STINEMAN

Salina Journal

The electric cars displayed Tuesday at the East Crawford Recreation Area didn't exactly burn rubber.

But they didn't burn any gas, either.

At the invitation of Bob Peck, superintendent of the city's vehicle fleet, several city officials and employees test-drove three models of electric car to get an idea of whether the city might be able to use them in place of traditional internal-combustion vehicles.

Among them was Peck's son, City Commissioner Aaron Peck, who had no problem fitting his 6-foot, 6-inch frame into a smallish Zap electric car for a test drive.

"I'm surprised head room's not the issue for me," Peck said during his spin on the baseball field parking lots. "Shoulder room would be the only issue. The leg room, just for in-town driving, I'd be OK with that."

City Manager Jason Gage, Saline County Sheriff Glen Kochanowski, Deputy Police Chief Carson Mansfield and City Commissioner Abner Perney were among the group checking out the cars Tuesday.

Bob Peck set up the test-drive after learning about electric cars at a conference he recently attended.

"I started doing some investigating and just thought that would be a really good way to go," Bob Peck said of electric vehicles. "There's no maintenance cost, it's half the cost of replacing the Cushman (parking patrol) scooters, and we'd like to go green."

There were three vehicles on display, two Global Electric Motorcars (GEM) and one Zap Xebra.

GEMs have four wheels, start at around $7,000, can travel about 30 miles on a charge and have a top speed of about 25 mph.

Zap Xebras have three wheels, start at $11,900, can travel about 25 miles on a charge and have a top speed of 40 mph.

But that's just what the manufacturer says. With the help of a stiff tail wind, Aaron Peck pushed the Xebra to 50 mph.

"It's a pretty slick little thing," he said.

Bob Peck said the electric vehicles seem well suited for parking lot patrol, now done with the use of three-wheeled, gasoline-powered Cushman that cost about $25,000.

"Probably our primary focus right now is the meter readers," Bob Peck said. "It's just an ideal application there. I also had looked at getting one for the garage for a parts-runner. We put on 20 to 25 miles a day just running parts. Why should we be spending gas?"

That's exactly the philosophy being espoused by Mark Higley, Leavenworth, who sells the Zap cars and brought his own to be used for test drives on Tuesday.

"That's my truck," Higley said, motioning toward the blue, three-wheeled vehicle with a personalized "NOGAS" license plate. "I take my son to school in that. I'm the errand runner; I do all the grocery shopping. Everything gets done in that."

The Dodge Durango he used to tow the Zap to Salina mostly collects dust at his house, Higley said.

"We've had that about two months, and I've driven it three times," he said. "Over 90 percent of my driving is done in this (electric car)."

Higley said he's sold about 10 cars in the six months he's been in business.

"They're just now starting to take off," he said. "When people start seeing more than one, they start thinking maybe it's OK (to buy one)."

There is little difference between the cars and golf carts, Higley said, and he said he's not sure why golf carts are not street legal in Kansas, but the electric cars are.

Bob Peck said he sees electric cars becoming commonplace someday.

"It's so practical and it's such a savings. You don't have maintenance costs, you don't have oil changes, you don't have fuel costs," he said. "I really think that as far as urban transportation goes, I think it's our future."

n Reporter Darrin Stineman can be reached at 822¬-1416 or by e-mail at dstineman@salina.com.