- June 18th, 2008
- Filed under Protection Services
I don’t know if anyone has noticed but gas prices are insanely high, so I’ve been spending more time at home on the computer and less time doubling down at my favorite southern Indiana casinos. Which brings me to one of the special projects I’ve been working on: finding alternatives to the gas-powered vehicles Security uses to patrol the museum campus. Actually, “finding” alternatives has not been that hard, “getting” them on the other hand…
For instance, I found this nifty piece of automotive hardware that our officers would just love to drive. The Tesla Roadster is an all-electric vehicle capable of 0-60 in 4 seconds and a top speed of 125 mph, good even compared to internal combustion cars. Who wouldn’t want to be seen tooling around the IMA campus in one of these drop-top babies? Alas, the $100K price tag would be difficult to slip into the capital budget without any CFO having an arterial incident. And really, where could the Tesla hit top speed… maybe by the Lilly House, but why bother?
More suited to our needs would be the Miles ZX40, a steel uni-body construction, all electric four-door able to hit a blazing 25 mph top speed.
With the optional AC motor, the Miles ZX40 would travel about 50 miles on a charge and be able to power an air conditioner and CD player, both musts for our patrol officers. The ZX40 would offer low-cost, low-maintenance, zero-emission service while also providing an eco-friendly image to our museum visitors.
I’ve also been able to test-drive the Global Electric Motorcars GEM car. The GEMs are zero-emission electric cars capable of about 20 mph. They look cool, drive smoothly, seem to be well constructed (though with a lot of fiberglass), and they are everywhere. I’ve seen them at hotels, resorts, and airports, but mostly in warm climates. I like the steel, DOT certified construction of the ZX40 better, though.
More recently, I’ve had the local Segway vendor come to the museum to demonstrate the two-wheeler’s capabilities. It’s a neat little unit and they are becoming more and more common around town (Circle Center Mall, Metropolis, Downtown Canal tours), but they don’t fit in well with our patrol needs. Two words: Indiana weather.
As I said, getting vehicles has been one of the snags in my grand plan for shifting to alternatives. Finding the funds to purchase new vehicles has been, as we say in the business, a challenge. We’re still pursuing that avenue but it’s starting to look like I’ll have to organize a few (thousand) bake sales to make the money we’ll need to acquire new wheels.
During the period that I have been seeking new modes of patrol, Security has come into possession of two Trek mountain bikes with full police packages.
They each have red and blue flashing lights and an annoying siren suitable for pulling over speeding staff members. You don’t get much cheaper zero-emissions transportation than a bicycle. However, finding the personnel to pedal the bikes has been snag number two in my plan.
Needless to say, the search goes on to find cheaper and environmentally friendly patrol options for Security. The end result will probably be a combination of foot, bike, and electric car patrol to meet all the various needs of our department, and the museum. However, if there’s someone out there who would like to buy us a Tesla, I wouldn’t turn it down ‘cause I don’t think I’ll be hitting a jackpot any time soon.
July 27th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
Those segways were fun, Gary! I can see why they didn’t work, out, though. Good article!