http://www.telluridenews.com/articles/2013/07/16/news/doc51e480e21c82b874174170.txt Mountain Limo goes electric By Collin McRann July 16, 2013
Business testing new electric car in fleet Though electric vehicles predate their gasoline-powered cousins and were once the most preferred cars on the road, they’ve since fallen out of mass popularity. But they are making a comeback, and one Telluride transportation company has just added an electric car to its fleet. Mountain Limo, a regional taxi service, is now giving rides in a Mitsubishi i-MiEV. Mountain Limo owner Darcy Levtzow purchased the vehicle in May after the company got the contract to provide Dial-A-Ride service to Mountain Village from the Telluride Mountain Village Owners Association. The car is small and quiet, and it’s the first fully electric vehicle to taxi passengers around Telluride and Mountain Village as part of Mountain Limo’s fleet. The car has a range of about 85 miles, and it will mainly be used with Dial-A-Ride to take passengers around town. Levtzow said the company is testing it to see how well it works and could possibly buy more electric vehicles in the future if they prove practical. “All of this is really a learning experience, so we can tell other people about the car because there is not a lot of information out there [on electrics],” Levtzow said. “It’s been my dream to purchase an electric car so when I heard about the i-MiEV, I jumped at the chance.” * The i-MiEV has a 47-kilowatt motor and up to four passengers can ride in it at once. Levtzow said it drives like a normal car for the most part and has an automatic transmission. Though she said her drivers like it, it does take some getting used to because it handles a little differently. Right now the plan is to see how the car performs in the area and the biggest test will likely come this winter. Levtzow plans to buy studded snow tires to see how it performs in the snow. She said if the car proves functional, the company might buy some newer electrics, which will likely have a greater maximum distance. Currently Mountain Limo is using the i-MiEV to get around the towns and do an occasional trip up to the Telluride Airport. “In 2014, there’s going to be improvements — electric cars are going to be able to go further and they are going to be a little bigger,” Levtzow said. “So we may wait on something like that.” The car has different options for charging, including a standard 110-volt plug, a 220v plug and a public quick charger. The standard 110v is the slowest option for charging. It takes 12-13 hours to fully charge the battery, while the 220v option takes four to seven hours and the public quick charge option takes only 30 minutes to get an 80 percent charge. The i-MiEV is produced under different brands worldwide and is most popular in Europe and Japan. It was first produced in 2009 and then made available in the U.S. in 2011. With the electric-only motor, Levtzow expects to see savings on fuel costs and can be charged anywhere there is an outlet. Dial-A-Ride is a free taxi service that operates within the Town of Mountain. [© 2013 Telluride Daily Planet] ... http://mountain-limo.com/ Telluride Regional Airport Last Dollar Rd, Telluride, CO 81435 (888) 546-6894 ... http://www.afdc.energy.gov/locator/stations/results?utf8=%E2%9C%93&location=81435&filtered=true&fuel=ELEC&owner=all&payment=all&ev_level2=true&ev_dc_fast=true&radius_miles=5 Public EVSE nearby For all EVLN posts use: http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/template/NamlServlet.jtp?macro=search_page&node=413529&query=evln&sort=date Here are today's archive-only EV posts: EVLN: Mercedes SLS AMG Electric Drive on BBC-America Top Gear EVLN: Europe-made 12m BYD Electric Bus Contract EVLN: EVs Will Become the Workhorses of Commercial Fleets EVLN: Renault Study Shows EVs Far Greener Than Gasoline--In France EVLN: Car buyers shouldn't have to go through a middleman + EVLN: Tesla Aims to Charge their EVs in Five Minutes {brucedp.150m.com} -- View this message in context: http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/EVLN-Mountain-Limo-s-iMiev-taxi-service-tp4664357.html Sent from the Electric Vehicle Discussion List mailing list archive at Nabble.com. _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org For EV drag racing discussion, please use NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
