 GEM OF A DEAL: Randall Williams, right, of Fleet Services and Frank Kitchen of Facilities check under the hood on one of the new tiny additions to the campus’s fleet of vehicles — electric-powered “GEMS.” Fifteen of the vehicles — built by Global Electric Motorcars, a subsidiary of Daimler-Chrysler — were recently donated to campus by Chrysler at a value of almost $138,000. The zero-emission vehicles can travel up to 25 miles per hour, can run for 35 miles on a six-to-eight hour charge and can plug right into a standard 110-volt wall outlet. Departments receiving the GEMS include Facilities, Intercollegiate Athletics, the Arboretum and Environmental Health and Safety. The cars will replace some older electric vehicles as well as regular gas vehicles currently in use on campus. “They will provide transportation options that we did not have in the past and are a major addition to our alternative fuel program on campus,” says Barbara Greene, assistant manager of Fleet Services, who helped bring the cars to campus. Seven of the UC campuses took advantage of the donation of the vehicles. The GEMS going to Facilities alone will save them more than $42,000 a year, she said. Debbie Aldridge/Mediaworks
|
 Chancellor Vanderhoef examines state of the campus
|
Dateline Home Page | About Dateline | Letters Policy | Contact the Editor | Archives UC Davis | Public Communications Dateline UC Davis is the faculty and staff newspaper for the University of California, Davis. |