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H 17°, L 4°Rapidly advancing technologies may make driving a gasoline powered car to school or work a thing of the past, as an electric car registration bill passed through the state Legislature last week.
The bill was proposed by three Republican legislators on the coattails of previous legislation that required Neighborhood Electric Vehicles to be licensed through individual municipalities.
After receiving bipartisan support, the bill passed with a voice vote in the Assembly and was also unanimously passed in the Senate. The new bill permits Wisconsin residents to register NEVs with Wisconsin Department of Transportation.
With gasoline prices surpassing $3 per gallon and oil at $97 a barrel, there is no end to the price increases in sight, according to Ryan Smith, policy advisor for Sen. Cowles, R-Green Bay.
NEVs - small, battery-powered cars - serve as an alternative to gasoline-powered vehicles. With a maximum speed of about 25 miles per hour, NEVs are allowed to operate only on roads with speed limits of 35 miles per hour or less and can travel between 30 and 60 miles on a single battery charge and emit no pollution.
"Economically, they will end up paying for themselves," Smith said.
The new legislation was proposed to fix problems stemming from the earlier legislation requiring NEVs to be registered through municipalities, Kurt Simatic, staff member for Albers, said in an e-mail to The Badger Herald.
"[The new bill] would eliminate municipal licensing of NEVs and replace it with a statewide registration system administered by the Department of Transportation," Simatic said in the e-mail.
The $23 biennial registration fee for a NEV, Simatic said, would be identical to that of a moped, but NEVs would not be required to pay the environmental impact fee and supplemental title fee required from car owners.
The cost of registering a car in Wisconsin, however, has increased from $55 to $75 in the 2007-09 Wisconsin state budget.
Despite the legislation, neither Albers nor Cowles own an NEV.
"Although Representative Albers does not personally own a NEV, she believes that they are an environmentally ? friendly and low ? cost alternative to local transportation needs," Simatic said.
These small, environmentally-friendly cars decrease traffic congestion and improve parking availability , both of which are problems in Madison, Cowles said in a statement Friday.
"[NEVs are] immensely practical," said University of Wisconsin Engineering Professor Robert Lorenz. "We’ll all be driving them in a few years."
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“Rapidly advancing technologies” don’t play any part in the advent of low-speed NEVs. Similar battery-powered vehicles have been around for about 100 years, since the early days of the automobile. (Ask Jay Leno about his 1909 Baker Electric!) The only important difference now is that they’re more affordable, and the price of gasoline, and environmental concerns, are pushing people toward them. Although these cars have their place, and I’m happy to see them being used, they’re a small part of a much larger emerging trend: the movement away from gasoline.
The real excitement will be when full-speed, highway-capable electric cars become available. The Tesla, the Aptera, the Chevy Volt, and other battery-powered cars in development by Mitsubishi, Nissan and Subaru will be way more attractive than today’s nerdy little NEVs.
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WELL; it is finally time that the state legislaters did something FOR the people that put them in office,HOORAY. Takeing the registering of NEVs away from the municapalities is the best thing that could happen. Places like Janesvile ,NEVs wern’t allowed, because of the GM plant. The city officials knuckle under to anything the plant wants,and seeing as though GM doesn’t produce an NEV they have been blocking their useage.( Not that you will ever get the admin. to admit it)
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25MPH NEVs must crawl up steep hills at 15MPH or less. Laws should allow NEVs to travel at 35MPH so they would more readily keep up with traffic. Such conversions are often just a matter of computer flashes letting electric motors reach their full potential. Not only exemption from environmental fees, but community ‘thankyou’ fees should be paid NEVs owners since citizens don’t breath any toxic Internal Combustion Engine fumes. May ICE die, that people can live & breath. Long live EVs.
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While at first I was encouraged to see this new law passed, once I tried to get my NEV titled and registered in Wisconsin I had different thoughts. Four years ago I built a NEV in Michigan. I had it inspected by the State Police, reviewed by the State of Michigan�s DMV, received a VIN number, was able to obtain a title, registration, a plate and drive it happily.
When I moved to Milwaukee and went to the DMV, I was informed that since my NEV was classified a Assembled or Home Made vehicle I could not transfer the title. Yep; you guess it, I�m about to go on a merry-go-round ride! I was referred to the Wisconsin DMV research and information department in Madison. They informed me I would need to contact my local municipality �City of Milwaukee� to see what their regulations were. The City of Milwaukee�s deputy inspector informed me, based on the wording of the local ordinance that �Only� NEV�s with Wisconsin plates could be driven in the city of Milwaukee and I should contact my local Alderman. This is in direct contradiction with the State of Wisconsin�s law that allows reciprocity of vehicles from other states to operate on its roads. I was referred to the Wisconsin State Police department, vehicle inspection unit. I was informed that the law did not provide for the inspection of assembled or home made NEV�s. I was referred to the DMV�s state attorney in Madison and informed; yes I could drive a NEV on Wisconsin roads where local ordinance permitted such vehicles. I could even drive a NEV registered from another state. But, no I could not have a �Home Made� NEV inspected, titled, registered and plated in Wisconsin.
Now remember this is all in an effort to come in line with the Federal NHTSA/DOT laws that were written 10 years ago for NEV�s.
In conclusion: I could build a Hot Rod in Wisconsin out of parts that will smoke the tires off the line, has parts the don�t meet the current safety standards for automobiles. I could build a Motorcycle out of parts that could rip your arm sockets out with the twist of the throttle and top out at over 150 miles per hour. But don�t you dare come to downtown Milwaukee and Wisconsin, build your 25 mile per hour vehicle and drive it on our roads with speed limits of 35 miles per hour or less. And most places in downtown Milwaukee at 25 miles per hour you might be breaking the speed limit if not looking like a Formula One racer!
PS: don�t forget to stop at every bar and tavern that is on every corner to fill up with beer, brats and cheese before you hit the road in your home build Hot Rod or Motorcycle!