Du Quoin Family Goes Green

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[ On the eve of high gas prices two years ago, Du Quoin commissioner Rex Duncan told the community there's a better, "greener" way to make short trips around your town.

Resident Dennis Cole was listening and on Thursday became the first registered owner of a "Neighborhood Vehicle" in the City of Du Quoin under an ordinance that went into effect January 1st.

Police officer Dale Swallers inspected the Cole family's retrofitted 2004 E-Z-Go golf cart on Thursday and issued Du Quoin's very first permit "OO1" printed alongside Du Quoin's mascot Crazy Indian. Proof of insurance, an annual $35 licensing fee paid to the city and signing a waiver of liability against the city is all it took.

The common term for the upscale community runabouts is "Neighborhood Electric Vehicle", but they don't have to be. Cole's is a posh golf cart he paid $8,000 for, then enlisted brother Don Cole of Cole's Cycle in Du Quoin to add headlamps, brake lights, flashers and turn signals. All told, the upgrade was less than $500.

The vehicle is powered by a 350cc gasoline engine that purrs like a sewing machine. He expects to get about 240 miles out of his four-gallon gas tank.

"My wife and I just like to get out and ride around Du Quoin," he said. It's a stress reliever.

State and city ordinances say the vehicle has to be capable of 20 mph and the speed limit everywhere is 25 mph. The vehicle has to stay in the city limits, can cross state highways Rt. 51 and Rt. 152 or county roads, but cannot travel on them.

These speed restrictions are required because of a lack of federally mandated safety equipment and features which NEV's can not accommodate because of their design.

To satisfy requirements for operation on streets, NEVs are usually equipped with three-point seat belts, windshields and windshield wipers, running lights, headlights, brake lights, reflectors, rear view mirrors, and turn signals.

In many cases, doors may be optional, and crash protection from other vehicles is almost non-existent. However, some makers are starting to use doors and steel impact beams.

Here's the question--Can the vehicles co-exist safely and in harmony with everything from big four-wheel drive trucks to motorcycles and even John Deere mowers on the streets of Du Quoin?

In its most recent analysis, DOE estimates that almost 56,000 electric vehicles were in use in 2004.