| Locals provide alternative to swallowing high gas prices |
By: By CLARE KENNEDY
|
Posted: Saturday, July 19, 2008 10:48 pm
|
 Email  Print
|
Michelle Mead of Tonna Auto Sales in Owatonna rides one of the Wildfire gas scooters on Saturday.
|
|
OWATONNA — As gas neared $4 a gallon, Barry Gillespie decided he’d had enough. Gillespie, who will turn 60 in November, bought an X-treme electric scooter.
“I wanted something inexpensive that would go at a half-way decent speed and save me money,” Gillespie said.
Gillespie found an inexpensive model online, $199 plus shipping. It came unassembled in a box, with “very unclear instructions” but Gillespie got it together.
Now each morning he leaves his Acura at home and putters to work on the scooter. The top speed? Seventeen miles per hour, with the wind at his back. But at nine minutes his commute time is about the same and Gillespie needs no gas. The scooter needs two or three hours to charge, easily accomplished in an empty cubicle space at his office.
“It’s been fun, especially in the mornings when it’s cool,” Gillespie said.
With the unrelenting uptick in fuel prices, Gillespie is not the only one looking for low gas or no gas alternatives.
At Straight River Sports & Fitness, sales of bikes have been strong across the board. Co-Owner Katie McIntosh attributed the high sales figures to good weather and the economic stimulus package rather than gas exclusively. But the way customers use their bikes has changed.
“The biggest thing I’ve noticed is that parents are having children ride bikes more to get to extra-curriculars,” McIntosh said. “People who do ride have been accessorizing with wracks and bags for groceries.”
McIntosh has not seen customers buying bikes for their commute.
“We might see more commuters in Owatonna if we had more bike racks. Even in our downtown we don’t have any at all,” McIntosh said.
Another option is gas-engine scooters. One local car dealer, Tonna Auto Sales, is now carrying gas-engine scooters that get 100 miles to the gallon.
Co-owner Michelle Mead said the dealership had been getting flyers in the mail about the Wildfire scooters for three years, but the small vehicles didn’t appeal to them until this year when gas prices forced them to re-think their business.
The Meads ordered their first shipment of Wildfires in April. They are on their third shipment and have sold 20 so far. Mead said that there has been interest in the scooters from every age group, from teenagers to one grandmother who said she could no longer afford to visit her grandchildren in her car.
Tonna Auto Sales has also gotten plenty of calls from customers who want to trade down from their SUVs or trucks into something more fuel efficient, but the dealership is leery to trade. Tonna Auto is having a hard time selling off bigger models that they already have.
“We’re trying to avoid getting them. We’re stuck with some from earlier,” said Ron Mead. “The whole market is going to change. The scooters have helped us get through summer, and we’re a smaller dealership so we can change pretty easily. We don’t have a lot of inventory.”
At Hursh Motors General Sales Manager Mike Hamilton said the dealership had not yet considered scooters or motorcycles.
“We’ve joked about it,” Hamilton said.
He has also seen many people come in hoping to trade down.
“So far we’ve been taking them, but it’s getting harder and harder,” Hamilton said. “You have too many used truck and SUVs.”
There has been much more interest in the more fuel efficient cars and vehicles that burn E-85, the ethanol-gas mix. Soon Hursh should be getting a shipment of hybrids, including a hybrid version of the Malibu and the lumbering Chevy Tahoe SUV.
A lot has changed, but in the long haul, Hamilton thinks trucks and SUVs are still viable products.
“I think it will come around,” Hamilton said. “People still need to be able to pull their campers and boat and certain occupations need trucks and bigger vehicles.”
Clare Kennedy can be reached at 444-2376.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Top Jobs | Top Homes | Top Cars
| Top Jobs | General
Unity House
Various Part Time
Positions to W... | General
Detention Center Social Worker
South Central ... | Healthcare
Work as a contractor
completing insurance
... | United States Census 2010
It\'s In Our Hands
Apply Now!
T... | Trades/Construction
Ellingson Companies
is now hiring ... |
| Top Homes | LOGISTIC COORDINATOR
TRYSTAR is looking for a full time Log... | Available 2 BD
Upper, $650/Mo. Owatonna
507-213-9862... | 2 Bedroom Townhouse
Excellent Condition, CA,
1.5 baths, ... | Large 1 bdr $545 or
Large 2 bdr $625
Balcony, A/C, Heat,
... |
WELCOME TO YOUR NEW HOME
WOODBRIDGE
APARTMENTS
1... |
| Top Cars | 1997 Ford F350
1 ton dually , white recent brake, tires a... | 1995 BONNEVILLE SSEI Red, super charged & pretty 1 small rus... |
|
Digg
Del.icio.us
Facebook
MySpace
StumbleUpon
Google
Yahoo!
