DIY Green Transportation

"Dad, let's build an electric car." Said Sam, my freshly minted high-school graduate son. I threw out the usual excuses about time and money.

My family lives in an energy-efficient geodesic dome that I built with my wife and friends (and some assorted contractors) in the early 1980's. Since then we have recycled, gardened and made an effort to live close to the land. Although we waste less than most families, we still have a long way to go.

Shortly after my son's electric car request we watched a couple of movies. Not just any movies, but Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth," and then, "Who Killed the Electric Car." What could I say? Especially after my wife teased, "My next car is going to be electric. Where is it going to come from?"

From a one-thousand mile trip to capture our "coaster" or donor truck to countless trips for parts and "special tools," Sam and I have seen the Midwest and many characters along the way. At every turn, people have been extremely helpful and interested in our project. Parts-counter folks have spent hours helping us figure out things no one ever asked them about before. Countless heads have been scratched.

People along the way have asked, if you guys can build this thing in your garage, why doesn't Detroit sell them? It reminds me of a day in 1977 when one of my much older union brothers was complaining about my driving a Japanese car. He had been teasing me whenever he had the chance. I finally told him that if everybody had kept driving the trash Detroit turned out in the early '70's, then American cars would still be crap!

Many gallons of gas have passed through the pipes since then. Now the American car buyer must speak up again. Detroit builds what it does to make a profit. When Americans want electric cars, America will build them. Hybrids are only a short-term solution, but they are a start.

Our truck has been an excuse to spend time with friends I have missed over the years and to recall skills too long rusting. It has been refreshing and reassuring to see how helpful people can be and how excited they are just to be involved. Perhaps most of all, watching my son solve problems and discussing alternatives with him has been priceless.

About 6 months later, a converted 1996 Ford Ranger Pickup charges in my garage. It will never sip another drop of the gasoline we are so addicted to.

Folks who build their own EVs agree that they are never finished. But our electric truck IS on the road saving gas and cash every day.

Sam and I had lunch with his high-school electronics teacher the other day. (We needed some advice on how to wire the heater.) He said electric vehicles should be mandatory for around town. It was quite a moment for me as he looked at Sam's wiring job under the hood of our truck and said, "I wish I had my camera."