While the economy tanks, new car sales drop, and major automakers tinker with their plans to mass-produce electric cars, the market for electric vehicle conversions has shown signs of growth.
Of the 240 million vehicles on US roads, about 70,000 are electric, up from about 56,000 in 2005, according to the Electric Drive Transportation Association. That estimate includes conversions, factory-built electric cars, and low-speed roadworthy electric vehicles like forklifts, said Jennifer Watts, spokeswoman for the association.
Several automakers have announced plans for electric cars, and although technologies have been emerging quickly, plans for the mass-marketed electric vehicles have been delayed in part by a tight credit market and the troubled economy.
General Motors' four-cylinder electric Chevy Volt has an expected roll-out date of late 2010 and an initial price of about $40,000. Tesla Motors's 2009 Roadster is on sale now for about $109,000 but has a 12-month wait period, according to its website.
But if Alexander's customers are any indication, some people don't want to wait around for electric cars from the big auto players - or they don't want to pay the expected price of upward of $40,000.
Alexander, who's been converting cars to electric for more than 30 years - "since the first oil embargo" - charges about $12,500 to convert any car or pickup truck to electric.
He now converts about four cars a month, up from about one or two cars a month last year, and believes he's got the busiest conversion shop in the country. He says his cars can normally reach speeds up to 70 miles per hour and can go about 35 miles at that speed on a single charge. They plug into a 110-volt outlet and are recharged in about five hours.
Operators of some of the several US conversion-related businesses also report recent sales boosts.
Ryan Bohm, owner of EV Source LLC, a Logan, Utah, company that sells electric vehicle components, says his business has grown by about a third since summer.
"There definitely has been an upturn. A lot of people ask me if business has gone down with the downturn in the economy, but it has stayed really strong," said Bohm, who started EV Source as a part-time business in 2005.
