People used to do a lot of funny things to test a car’s quality. They’d kick the wheels. They’d rev the engine.
Well, I guess we could kick the wheels of the two new electric vehicles that joined the Facility Management fleet this week, but we’re more focused on keeping these “clean fuel” vehicles clean.
And don’t worry about the air-conditioning wasting precious battery life. These high-tech babies come with old-school fans built into the driver’s side of the dashboard.
Furthermore, the only way you’d get these vehicles to “rev” is to stand next to one and growl. They are practically silent in operation, producing only a faint Dustbuster-like hum heard from the cabin.
Despite the quirks, we are proud to welcome these energy efficient additions to the Facility Management fleet of service vehicles. And we are grateful to the Clean Fuel Advanced Technology Project (CFAT), which provided a $21,000 grant to procure them.
Able to carry a 1,100 pound payload and travel about 40 miles on a single charge, the vehicles will be used primarily for landscaping jobs, delivery of project supplies and supervisory tasks by select managers. They also will be on display at various state events for the public to learn more about “clean fuel” technology.
The CFAT grant includes a $9,060 matching contribution from the Department of Administration to cover the approximately $30,176 cost for both vehicles. The CFAT project is sponsored by the N.C. Department of Transportation and administered by the N.C. Solar Center/N.C. State University with support from the Triangle J Council of Governments and Centralina Council of Governments.
