Zap Electric Car

An Indiana driver was able to go just over 50 miles in an electric car made by Zap.

"I went to the home of my uncle in a neighboring town that is 26.1 miles from home," said XEBRA owner Jon Faux of Elkhart, Indiana. "After arriving and seeing he was not home, I decided to attempt the impossible and return home without any additional charging. While I didn't make it, I did make it to the home of a friend after 50.2 miles per charge. The first thing I did was call my dealer and tell him the good news!"

I'm afraid the first thing I would have done is sell my car if it wouldn't go 52 miles. Sell it and maybe buy back the 1966 Oldsmobile Toronado I drove back when I was at Ball State. The one in the picture is Jay Leno's -- mine was Maroon. The '66 Toronado was the first front-wheel drive car since the 1930's, had 119 inch wheel base and weighed nearly 4500 pounds. It had a 425 cubic inch V8 engine with a four barrel carburator and a 25 gallon gas tank. True, it only got 12 miles to the gallon, but 12x25 gets you a lot further than 50 miles.

It's not that I'm not green -- just call me nostalgic. Shoot, for $30 a year I can buy a Terrapass to offset the CO2 emissions of driving the Toronado to work everyday -- just like Al Gore does for his mansion and his private jet flights. I'll just put a Terrapass bumper sticker on the back of my muscle car so nobody will hate me and tool the roads in style while saving the planet... just as green as that fellow from Elkhart who puttered to a stop in his high-tech golf cart before he could reach home.