by Myron Kukla for the Grand Rapids Press, June 7, 2011
HOLLAND — Back in 1999 when he started Lakeshore Custom Golf Carts, Bob Hahn sold nothing but golf carts for recreation and vacation use.
Today, his Lakeshore Electric Cars dealership is a pioneer — selling street-legal electric vehicles, including the new highway-ready Wheego electric car.
“I haven’t sold a golf cart in years, ever since the state banned them from roadways,” he said. “Since 2006, all I sell are electric vehicles.”
Hahn carries street-legal low-speed vehicles like the 25 mph electric Tomberlin and the new Wheego LiFe electric car, a Smart-car like adaptation of a Chinese-made vehicle able to travel at a top speed of 65 mph and go 100 miles on a charge.
“I’m now the Michigan dealer for Wheegos, border to border,” he said.
The California car company delivered its first 2011 Wheego LiFe on Earth Day in Atlanta and is slowly gearing up production and rolling the car out to dealers like Hahn over the next few months.
“We’re starting out slowly, producing fewer than 100 a month to make sure we do it right,” said Susan Nicholson, Wheego’s vice president of corporate communications.
She said the company is still getting out showroom models to its 30 U.S. dealers and plans to ramp up car production in the fall.
“We’ve had a lot of interest but no sales yet,” said Hahn, who is using a factory demo Wheego at his dealership at 432 Waverly Road while he waits for delivery. “We’re still waiting to get cars to sell. I’m scheduled to get my first one in July.”
At $34,000 to $36,000, the Wheego’s price is on par with that of the larger all-electric Nissan Leaf but less than the more heavily publicized Chevrolet Volt’s $41,000 starting price. All qualify for a federal income tax credit of up to $7,500 for electric vehicle purchases.
While the Leaf seats five and the Volt four, the tiny Wheego has a roomy front cabin for two and small cargo space in the rear.
“The (Chevy) Volt is getting all the publicity, but the Wheego is a pretty sharp electric car for commuting — just plug it in every night and go,” said Hahn.
The car comes with all the standard car features, including power locks and windows, ABS breaks, electric mirrors, heater and air conditioning and an electric motor capable of 60 horsepower. The car chassis is manufactured in China with 73 percent of the component assembly done in Ontario, Calif.
“It will charge in six to eight hours on 110 power or four to six hours with 220 receptor,” said Hahn, noting there are about five public electric charging stations in Holland.
Wheego claims the car can go about 100 miles per charge, similar to the Leaf. Like the Leaf, the Wheego has no Volt-like gasoline backup power supply. When it runs out of juice, it must be plugged back in before going farther.
For those who don’t need highway driving speeds, Lakeshore Electric Cars also sells the golf cart-styled electric Tomberlin line, which is designed with road-worthy specs like a steel chassis, hydraulic disc brakes, rack-and-pinion steering, seat belts, headlights and turn signals and even stylish aluminum wheels and radial tires.
Prices on the street-legal Tomberlin range from $7,000 to $16,500.
“I’ve sold over 100 of them, including one to comedian Drew Carey,” Hahn said. “They’re purchased for use around farms, campgrounds and mall security as well as private owners for recreational use.”
The hottest product in the line right now is the Tomberlin Vanish, an all-terrain 4-by-4 vehicle with a 1,000-pound carrying capacity for hunting, outdoor sports and ranch and farm work.
Allendale Township resident Mark Groothuis bought an E2 recreational model for use at the Sandy Pines Resort Campground in Hopkins, where his family has a trailer.
“They have hundreds of acres of camp sites and lake there with miles of road, so everyone has a golf cart to get around,” said Groothuis, who paid $8,600 for his candy apple red E2 LE model in 2009.
“It gets a lot of use when my children and the grandchild show up. Plus, there’s nothing like it there and it’s pretty jazzy, so we get a lot of people looking at it when we go by.”