Electrabishi scores electric-car points in Alaska

Mike Willmon needed a loan to buy the truck, batteries and motor, but he built an electric truck that is a big hit in Anchorage . The conversion took 320 hours and cost $12,000, including the vehicle. He used to spend $120 a month in gas, now his electric bill is about $20 a month higher.

Willmon's story is part of a lengthy overview of electric vehicles in the Anchorage Press. References to "Who Killed the Electric Car?" are frequent. Charge time, cost of battery replacement and limited range are mentioned but not treated as downsides to electric-car ownership, only as a routine. But one can easily see in the photo that Willmon's pickup is no longer a utility vehicle since the batteries take up most of the cargo bed.

The article also covers Joh n Wayland who has driven electric vehicles for 26 years and says he races his converted Datsun at the drag strip.

[Source: Anchorage Press]