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Run Silent, Run Cheap September 2004Along with keeping the town brightly lit, Littleton Electric Light and Water, on Ayer Road, can now start a car at the press of a button. This ingenuity is thanks to the company's recent purchase of a Toyota Prius hybrid that runs on a combination of gasoline and electricity. Meter technician, Rick Bourassa is the light department employee who drives the car the most, covering 200 or 300 miles each week.When the company upgraded its technology through installing radio devices in meters, Bourassa's job was made much easier. "We used to have to go up meter to meter" in a car that could handle difficult terrain, said Bourassa. The "need for a four-wheel drive vehicle was becoming less urgent," as technology improved, he said. Now Bourassa can drive down streets using a tool that reads the radio devices enclosed in each meter from a long distance, eliminating the need for stops and starts. Purchased in April, the Prius has been running well and requires much less maintenance than Bourassa's old vehicle. "In the pick-up truck I was getting like 12 to 13 miles to the gallon and now I'm getting 50," said Bourassa. The Prius is also self-charging, meaning that the batteries are continually charged by the gasoline engine. Bourassa estimates that he has to fill the gas tank every 10 days. Although the exterior of the small hatchback may be deceiving, "it has more than enough room for a large person, too. From the outside you would think it would just fit a small person, but it's comfortable for everybody," Bourassa said. Although the misconception exists that a hybrid car may not be able to drive as fast as a normal car, Bourassa asserts that this is not the case. "It'll go as fast as a regular car," he said. When the vehicle exceeds a certain speed, the car will make a switchover from running on battery power to running on gas. At times when he slows the car in front of a stop sign or a light, Bourassa can hear the engine seem to audibly stop as the gas is replaced by silent battery power. "It takes a little while to get used to not hearing anything," he said. The four-seating white hybrid is certainly useful, "for the commuter that has to travel half an hour or more one way, I would" buy one, said Bourassa. Along with keyless entry and a pushbutton starter, the Toyota Prius features a computer screen that monitors energy consumption, indicates whether the car is running on electricity or gas, and controls the air-conditioning, heat, radio and defroster. "It took a little bit to figure it out," Bourassa said. Although Littleton Electric Light and Water was unable to install a two-way radio into the car because the radio could use up so much energy that it could cause the vehicle to malfunction, a telephone was installed with ease. Another advantage of the hybrid car is it is less harmful to the environment. "Prius will help clean our skies. It's designed to exceed the standards for a Super Ultra Low Emission Vehicle and achieve an Advanced Technology Partial Zero Emission Vehicle rating...this means that Prius has the best emissions rating of any gasoline-fueled car," according to a Ford pamphlet. | ||
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