Electric cars, solar ovens to star at EcoJam

Friday, April 20, 2001 | 8:46 a.m.

Frustrated by the inflated gasoline prices and long lines at the pumps during the gas shortage of the 1970s, Bill Kuehl told himself that there must be a better way to drive a car.

For Kuehl, there was.

In 1980 he gutted his 1974 Pinto of its engine and gas tank, installed rechargable batteries and an electric motor and hit the road -- quietly.

No oil. No gas. No engine repairs. No smog test.

"I drove it for about 3 1/2 years," Kuehl said. "And I've been driving electric cars since."

Kuehl is the president of the Las Vegas Electric Vehicle Association, a chapter of the national Electric Auto Association, which promotes the use of electric vehicles.

His red, white and blue 1985 Pontiac Fiero that he converted to electric power nine years ago will be one of several alternative-fuel vehicles on display Saturday at EcoJam 2001 at the Silver Bowl Sports Complex.

The event, a celebration of the 31st anniversary of Earth Day, is sponsored by the Clark County Parks and Recreation department, Nevada Power and local businesses.

Representatives from different organizations will address environmental concerns. Food, entertainment, pet adoptions and a wide array of exhibitors boasting environmentally friendly options to everyday activities will be featured.

The Farmers Market will offer local produce and natural foods. Desert Birkenstock will offer "free tune-ups" of Birkenstocks which include cleaning and sealing the shoe's cork.

"The electric car is a no-emission vehicle," said Kuehl who drives an average of 25 to 40 miles a day in his Fiero. The car operates on 20 six-volt golf cart batteries stored under the hood and in the trunk.

"You get back home with your electric car and plug it in."

Kuehl said that in one year he spent $175 to maintain his electric Pinto and spent $1,175 to maintain his wife's gasoline-operated Pinto.

But the downfall to driving a battery-operated vehicle is the inability to drive long distances, he said. "A person could drive more than 100 miles a day but it takes more ingenuity to do that."

Or an extension chord, which he said can be used to charge the car when visiting friends.

Kuehl said there are only about six people in Las Vegas driving electric cars. The high cost of converting a gasoline-operated car to electric (between $5,000 and $8,000) is the other downfall to driving an electric car, he said.

"The initial cost of converting is the stumbling block to why there aren't more on the road."

And while he would like to see more of them on the road, Mike Little, manager of Las Vegas Trailer Supply on Fremont Street, would like to see more people cooking with solar ovens.

Little, who has prepared meat loaf, baked potatoes and roast in his portable Sun Oven, will be cooking chickens and roasts Saturday at EcoJam. A larger oven, called the world's largest solar oven, will be used to bake cookies.

The ovens are manufactured by Sun Ovens International, Inc. of Illinois and will cook, bake and broil, Little said.

"The first thing I cooked in it was a chicken, right out in the parking lot," he said, pointing to the parking lot of the trailer supply store. "It's easy. You can cook anything (in a solar oven) that you can cook in a (conventional) oven.

"When I want to cook I just put it out on the back patio," he said. "It's lightweight. You can carry it like a suitcase."

The president of Sun Ovens will be speaking about the use of solar ovens in developing countries at the event.

The ovens are used by backyard cooks and campers and distributed to villages in developing countries where deforestation is high, Little said.

It takes 7 pounds of wood to make to make 1 pound of charcoal, Little said. "(That's) pretty inefficient."