Electric cars to visit Ashland this weekend

They look like three-wheeled cousins of golf carts, but Xebras are street legal vehicles that can help drivers reduce their reliance on gasoline.

Grants Pass Electric Vehicles is bringing a Xebra car and a Xebra pick-up to Ashland to take part in the Rogue Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship's "Environmental Sunday" event this weekend. The public is invited.

A speaker from the Nature Conservancy will deliver the "sermon" at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday at the fellowship, located at 87 Fourth St.

Representatives from Grants Pass Electric Vehicles will talk with students in the Sunday Religious Education Program that morning. Rides in the vehicles are scheduled to start at about 11:45 a.m., with children riding first and parents and other adults riding after that, said Louise Pare, director of religious education at the fellowship.

Pare was inspired to plan the event after seeing a drawing by seven-year-old student Lucas Stella. In a class about Martin Luther King, Jr., children were asked to complete the sentence, "I have a dream..." Stella wrote, "I have a dream... to invent a car that does not make exhaust and it would make wildlife by planting seeds." Pare visited the electric car dealership in Grants Pass and invited the owners to come to Ashland.

"Children learn best when they can directly experience what is being taught," Pare said. "I feel the personal stories of people who are transforming their dreams for a better environment into new businesses can be an inspiration for our students as they learn how to live out the Seventh Principle."

Unitarian Universalists share the Seven Principles, the final one being to respect the interdependent web of existence, she said.

Grants Pass Electric Car co-owner Tiffany Parmenter said the dealership is four months old, and so far, has sold 10 vehicles.

They range in price from $10,000 to $15,000, with different features available. The vehicles have a range of up to 40 miles per charge and can reach speeds of up to 40 miles per hour. They are designed to be driven within cities and are legal there, but cannot be driven on Interstate 5, Parmenter said.

Although the vehicles have three wheels, they are stable because the bulk of the weight is on the rear wheels, she said.

She said high gas prices and increasing environmental awareness have spurred interest in electric vehicles.

"We're here to educate people and to let them know what options there are," Parmenter said. "We need to do something for our environment."

For more information on Grants Pass Electric Vehicles, call 659-1858 or visit www.gpev.us. For more information about Rogue Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, call 482-4755 or visit www.rvuuf.org.

Staff writer Vickie Aldous can be reached at 479-8199 or vlaldous@yahoo.com. To post an on-line comment, visit www.dailytidings.com.