Local truck goes gas-free

By NATHAN LAMB | Milton Independent Staff Writer
miltonreporter@yahoo.com

Local attorney Grant Rees shows off what’s under-the-hood of his electric Chevy truck. Powered by 21 batteries, the truck can go 65 miles per hour on the interstate and has a range of about 50 miles.

There’s no gas in Grant Rees’ truck, but coffee is the only refill he’s seeking at the local Mobil station.

That’s because Rees’ heavily modified ’88 Chevy S10 is “filled up” each night at an electrical outlet in his garage. Fully charged, it can reach speeds of 65 miles per hour, with a range of about 50 miles. That’s generally sufficient for Rees, who both lives and works locally.

“If you work in Burlington or St Albans, this will get you there and back,” he said. “It won’t replace all of your needs, but I use it whenever I can."
The truck, which has the vanity plate “ELECTRK”, became street legal in late summer, and Rees has already put 1,000 miles on it. That amounts to roughly $250 saved on gas when compared to his other means of transportation, a Dodge Dakota.

While those savings are set against three months of labor and $11,000 invested by Rees to make the conversion, he said there’s also a measure of pride involved.

“I worked hard on it,” he said. “It’s fun to show it off.”

An attorney by trade, Rees said he’s always tinkered with cars as a hobby. However, his interest was piqued earlier this year by the documentary “Who Killed the Electric Car?”,"which indicated that electric cars could work, but the idea was quashed for political reasons.

After following-up with research, Rees secured the conversion design from a group known as Electric Vehicles of America and began work in May. While concern for the environment was a factor, Rees said $3 per gallon gas prices were also part of the equation.

“I think you ought to do what you can do,” he said about environmentalism. “It wasn’t my driving force, but it was a reason.”

Powered by 23 car batteries, the truck has about 100 horsepower at startup, which drops to about 30 during continuous operation. The batteries are dispersed in homemade metal boxes beneath the hood and truck