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Lakewood Ranch Takes Electric Car-Friendly Steps
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MANATEE COUNTY (4/22/08)- A Suncoast community will soon make its roadways electric car-friendly. Lakewood Ranch is ready to make the switch as more residents buy the green autos.
Lakewood Ranch claims to be the largest green community in the country, and now it has another gem of an idea...with GEM cars, or Global Electric Motorcars. Lakewood Ranch resident Therese Masseo's driveway holds two cars. But one saves her some big bucks. A GEM car is worth its weight in cash for the money it saves, since it's electric. "Number one being the price of gas. I try to park that as much as I can and use this as much as possible." Therese is among a growing number of GEM car drivers in Lakewood Ranch, so the Ranch wants to accommodate them by making the community electric car-friendly.
They're road safe and street legal, and the Ranch will soon assign parking spaces as GEM car only and install plug-in stations for residents to get a charge. But the Ranch won't have to change its speed limit, since the GEM car goes about 25 mph and the speed limit throughout Lakewood Ranch is that or slower. "It really can be planned so that you can get to all the intricate places," says Lakewood Ranch's Sondra Guffey.
Just a few ways to keep this green community and residents like Therese on the environmentally-friendly fast track. "It doesn't go as slow as a golf cart. It does go a little bit faster, so it doesn't take you longer to get someplace," says Masseo.
Lakewood ranch officials are hoping more and more residents will get on board a GEM car. They are working on a program where Lakewood Ranch residents will receive incentives for owning one. GEM cars start at around $7,000, but remember: no gas required. And with gas averaging $3.50 a gallon, a GEM car is looking like a real gem.
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