Electric Cars In Milwaukee?

By Katie DeLong

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JANESVILLE - Milwaukee is one step closer to allowing a new and unusual type of car on the streets. Is it the future, or is it going to make traffic problems even worse? It’s a microcar called a Zenn. It stands for zero emission, no noise, and right now, it's illegal to drive in Milwaukee. The electric cars don't even have enough juice to get you from Milwaukee to Green Bay, but the Zenn was actually built for people who live in the city and want to travel short distances. "They are not designed to be used on the highway, they can only be used on streets with a 35 mph speed limit or less," Tim Thompson of Green Autos said. More and more cities are allowing them on the streets. They typically cost less than $15,000 and they're a cheap and easy way to get around the city. "The average cost to operate this vehicle in terms of power, would be $200 a year, in terms of electric usage, which is very attractive," Alderman Tony Zielinski said. Not everyone likes these little cars. They can't go faster than 25 miles per hour. Some say that's going to make traffic problems even worse. TODAY’S TMJ4’s Michael George: "Do these cars impede traffic at all? They go much slower than most of the other vehicles on the road." “There's some impeding going on, but not a great deal," Earl Huebner of Columbia Par Car said. Thursday, a Common Council committee approved the cars for use in Milwaukee. If the full council votes yes, it won't be long before you see a Zenn on the road. Manufacturers are hoping pretty soon more Milwaukeeans will be using these cars to get where they're going - even if they're not going very fast.