Everyone's abuzz about Gerry Yeiser's new mode of transportation.
Gerry Yeiser has a new alternative to his gas guzzling SUV. It’s small, runs on batteries and hardly makes a sound.
“Go green — so I got a green cart,” he said. “What can I say??”
Yeiser is taking advantage of a new city ordinance, which allows drivers to operate golf carts on certain city streets once the carts have been retrofitted with a number of safety features and have passed official inspection. His cart was the first to earn a permit since the ordinance took effect about a month ago.
The Winchester Board of Commissioners passed the new regulation in hopes of easing the burden of gasoline costs and providing local residents with another transportation option.
Under the ordinance, carts are restricted to areas within five miles of an entrance to a golf course, and cannot be operated on or cross streets with speed limits greater than 35 miles per hour. About 350 streets and alleys in Winchester qualify.
“Let’s face it, I’ve got a Tahoe,” Yeiser said. “I got to thinking that most places I go when I am running during the day, the speed limit is under 35 miles per hour.”
Use of the carts is also restricted to daylight hours, and the carts must include a number of safety upgrades such as brakes, mirrors, signals, lights, a safety flag and a slow-moving vehicle emblem.
Yeiser bought the cart about two months ago from Kinetic Electric Vehicles (formally Buggies Unlimited) in Winchester, where he said he was able to purchase it already equipped with the necessary safety features.
Since then, he has driven the cart to places like Rotary Club meetings and the bank. He said the cart travels between about 13 and 15 milers per hour, but he has ordered a special chip to increase the speed to about 20 miles per hour. In total, it seats four people and can be charged in his garage.
Yeiser hopes to upgrade it with a lift kit and new tires, so the cart can also be used on hunting trips.
But, he said, after the initial expense of buying the cart, he doesn’t expect to realize much savings.
“It’s (something) of a novelty,” Yeiser said. “It’s fun, particularly if the weather is good.”
Jim Wright, a sales associate at Kinetic Electric Vehicles, said the company has a used 2002 Club Car model that has already been equipped with the required upgrades for about $3,800. With new batteries, a full charge would cost about $2 in electricity, he said, and propel the cart between 20 and 25 miles.
Several individuals have made permit applications to the city, and Mayor Ed Burtner said he expects more in the future.
“I think actually when we get to the spring of next year and we have warmer weather, more people will take advantage of this,” he said.
The golf cart ordinance works in conjunction with other efforts such as the new local bus service, Burtner explained, to provide more transportation options.
“I think there are a lot of people struggling to pay their fuel bills, and anything and everything we can do, we need to try to do it.”
Yeiser said he doesn’t expect average citizens to suddenly make the switch to electric vehicles. But he believes the ordinance has potential, and points to places like Florida, where whole communities use electric carts as a primary mode of travel.
He said residents from developments in the McClure Road area could have access to stores along the Bypass without ever crossing a street where the speed limit exceeds the limits.
“An electric vehicle would be very functional in a restricted type community,” he said. “That’s where I see the major potential.”