Hospital to try electric truck

By Erin Nicholes - 07/31/2008

A new-age vehicle that runs on electricity may help cut the fuel bill at Montana State Hospital at Warm Springs.

The hospital recently bought a Zap XEBRA, an electric, three-wheeled truck that will be used for mail deliveries and other on-campus errands.

“We have a lot of packages and we’re moving charts and stuff back and forth,” said hospital spokeswoman Tracy Thun. “Some of our deliveries from our warehouse we’ll be able to put in there.” The hospital bought the $13,000 truck in an effort to reduce fossil fuels usage, and will test the truck for a year before deciding whether to buy more.

“We want to see how it does in the winter and on the roads out here,” she said.

The truck will be delivered Monday by Prestige Auto & Toppers in Butte, which is one of few ZAP Electric Vehicles dealers in the Pacific Northwest, salesman Bob Worley said.

“The next closest dealer is in Seattle,” he said, adding the fuel crisis prompted the dealership to stock electric vehicles. “We just felt there was going to have to be an alternate form of energy to propel these vehicles since gas has gone to $4 a gallon.” The business began selling XEBRA trucks two months ago. It ordered three initially, and has sold two, Worley said.

The trucks, which seat two people, can travel up to 40 miles an hour, carry 300 pounds and can make it 25 miles fully charged. They are battery powered and can be plugged into a standard 110 volt AC outlet.

“What you plug the vacuum or Mix Master into, you can plug this into,” Worley said.

Hospital officials purchased the truck as part of Gov. Brian Schweitzer’s 20X10 Initiative, which asks state agencies to reduce their fuel consumption by 20 percent by the year 2010.

“Even after counting emissions from electric generating plants, XEBRAS produce 98 percent fewer pollutants than gas cars,” a hospital news release said. “The approximate cost to operate the vehicle is 1 to 3 cents per mile.” Reporter Erin Nicholes may be reached at erin.nicholes@lee.net.