Hey you guyyyys!

I’m sure everyone caught this in the Alameda Sun, but I am pretty gosh darn excited about the prospect of an electric car dealership in Alameda.  Some highlights:

…On Feb. 10, [Steve] Lowery will partner with car dealer Mike O’Connell to open O’Connell Electric, an electric car dealership on Webster Street, and he will finally get that electric car he has been longing for.

…

A little while ago, Lowery and O’Connell, who met when Lowery took his Volvo to O’Connell for repairs, attended a day seminar hosted by ZAP Power Systems Inc., which produces a line of three-wheeled electric vehicles, including a four-seat sedan and a two-seat compact truck. The pair will feature these vehicles in the showroom and make them available for test drives. The car will sell for less than $10,000 and the truck for less than $12,000.

…

Lowery also touted the economic savings of the car, claiming that ZAP electric cars cost about three cents per mile whereas traditional vehicles cost 25 to 40 cents per mile. Lowery estimates the average cost for a 75 percent charge on the battery is about 25 cents. In addition to this, Alameda Power & Telecom offer monthly rebates to owners of electric vehicles. At the weight listed on ZAP’s Web site, the vehicles Lowery and O’Connell plan to sell would make owners eligible for a $9 discount each month…

Interestingly enough, the Alameda Times Star/Oakland Tribune also published a story about electric vehicles and the newest Alameda car dealership:

…Come Feb. 10, the cute little Xebra cars will be available at a new dealership on Webster Street in Alameda, O’Connell Electric, a division of the existing O’Connell Volvo. You can already grab one of the cars at dealerships in Concord, Napa and Santa Rosa.

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Steve Lowery is partially responsible for bringing the Xebra to Alameda.

“I rented an electric car from 1998 to 2000, until the company killed (the model),” said Lowery, a doctor at Alameda Hospital. “I finally persuaded my Volvo dealer to start selling electric cars.”

Lowery teamed up with Mike O’Connell of O’Connell Volvo to open Alameda’s first electric car dealership…

Although the one thing that makes me a little pissy about that article is the photo they use with the zebra striping and tagged with “A ZAP car has almost zero emissions” is not a Xebra, but it’s a Smart Car.  I know because I have been longing for a Smart Car since 2002 and have been waiting and waiting and waiting for US distribution of the little suckers.  The Smarts don’t run on electricity though, but they get out of this world gas mileage.  But I digress about the non-electric vehicle.

If you want more information about the Xebra Sedan and the Xebra Pickup, you can visit the Zap website, which also has information about the solar powered Xebra Xero and the Obvio, which comes in a trybrid and electric version.  Although the electric version is a lot more expensive than the trybrid, but they do throw in a free Boblbee backpack.

Alameda Magazine blog also caught electric car fever (and stole my idea for a catchy title as well).

If Alameda truly is going to live up to its moniker as the Electric Island then we should start advocating to bring back power stations at locations around the city in order for the Xebras to power up at when out and about the city.  The only place I can recall that still has electric stations is Costco on Davis Street, but they are always being used by the Tire Center people.