Bush checks out battery-powered autos in Capital

President Bush peered under the hood of an all-electric sport utility truck parked at the White House Friday to stress that his goal of reducing gasoline use by 20 percent over the next decade is realistic. “I firmly believe that the goal I laid out—that Americans will use 20 percent less gasoline over the next 10 years—is going to be achieved, and here’s living proof of how we’re going to get there,” Bush said on the South Lawn after examining the truck and a car that had a battery tucked in its trunk.

The hybrid car that Bush inspected had a high-power lithium-ion battery made by A123 Systems of Watertown, Mass. It can power the car for about 40 miles and recharge in five hours. The white truck, made by Phoenix Motorcars Inc. of Ontario, Calif., has a range of 130 miles and can be recharged in about 10 minutes with a rapid-charging unit or trickle-charged overnight with its onboard charger.

“It’s the same thing you plug your electric dryer into,” said Bryon Bliss, vice president of sales with Phoenix Motorcars.

“My wife, she gets out with our kids during the week and I swear she could drive all week on this vehicle on one charge. She goes to the grocery stores, go to the zoo with the kids and such, but she doesn’t go that far,” he said.

At Kelowna Car we believe that anything that gives us an alternative to ever increasing gas prices has to be a good thing and hopefully being a little kinder to Mother Nature!