The New Mexico Legislature will soon vote on a bill that would allow electric vehicles to travel at speeds of up to 35 miles per hour within city limits.
Biology research professor Paul Watson is the proprietor of Zenn Electric Cars, an Albuquerque business that sells electric automobiles.
"There's this new breed of electric vehicle available to the public that is strictly made for within-city use, and, at the moment, all such vehicles are regulated by a federal law that is basically out of date," he said.
Watson said all electric vehicles on the road now are classified as "low-speed" and can only drive at speeds less than 25 miles per hour.
House Bill 294 would create an updated designation for Watson's breed of electric vehicles known as "medium-speed" vehicles.
"We're looking for those vehicles to be able to go up to 35 miles per hour on roads that are posted for 45 miles per hour or less," he said. "This will make this green, progressive, appropriate urban technology much more accessible to the public, and many more people will buy them and will have a much greater positive impact on local pollution, carbon production, as well as contributing to the country getting off of foreign oil."
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Kristin White of La Montanita Co-op is looking into buying an electric car for her commute because of their lack of carbon emissions.
"The environment is really important to me, and I want to be a conscientious buyer, and I want to do my part to reduce carbon emissions," she said. "Getting an electric car is part of that, I feel."
White said the legislation would make the electric car option much more viable for this area.
"I think Albuquerque in particular is very spread out, and I don't think it's practical to think that people would buy the electric cars if they were only able to go 25 miles an hour," she said.
White said she travels on main roads like Coal, Lead, Candelaria and University on her way to work - roads that have posted speed limits between 30 and 40 miles per hour.
Olga Lavrova, an electrical engineering research professor at UNM, said legislation making electric cars practical in Albuquerque would make them more affordable and reduce New Mexico's carbon emissions.
"The basic technology that could be sold to regular consumers is already there," she said. "We do need the legislative (session) and other government initiatives that will help make it more available and less exotic."
If the bill passes, Lavrova said, the high demand for medium-speed electrical vehicles will force car companies to reframe their product line and make electric vehicles more affordable.
"If those legislations are passed, it will increase spending of regular manufacturing companies that will start producing more and more batteries and electric components, so the price will start going down," she said.
According to ZennCarsAbq.com, occupants of medium-speed electric cars are protected with a welded aluminum roll-cage, seat belts and shatterproof glass.
Watson said states such as Washington and Montana have already pushed legislation through on medium-speed vehicles, and several other state legislatures are going to vote on the issue soon.
"Even the most green-leaning people, when they hear that you can only go 25 miles per hour in one of these things, they wince," he said. "Thirty-five miles per hour is really a different story."
