It's tiny, has 3 wheels, and runs on electricity

It's tiny, has 3 wheels, and runs on electricity
But what is this dealer selling, a car or a motorcycle? Well, that's what the state is trying to figure out

By LARRY LANGE
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

KIRKLAND -- For the moment, Alastair Dodwell may be the only car dealer around without a lot or showroom. But as the only emerging Eastside electric car dealer, that's not his only unusual trait.

The product he sells, called a Corbin Sparrow, is half the length of most regular cars and looks like a cross between a miniaturized 747 cockpit and a vacuum cleaner.


		Phil H. Webber / P-I
	Alastair Dodwell services a three-wheel Corbin Sparrow electric vehicle at his shop in Kirkland. The California manufacturer says the Sparrow's 25-horsepower electric motor can carry it as fast as 70 mph and as far as 40 miles between electrical charges. There's a radio/CD player and one windshield wiper, but no airbags. Price: $14,900, excluding taxes.

Because of its size and three-wheel configuration, its manufacturer calls it a motorcycle, and 11 of the tiny vehicles have already been licensed that way in the state. Now, though, the state's not sure that was correct -- or even how the vehicles should be classified.

Sparrows don't technically fit the state's legal definition of a motorcycle, although authorities could designate it that way. The key to that -- and to Dodwell's dealership -- will be an upcoming State Patrol inspection, which is to determine whether the vehicle is technically roadworthy.

Dodwell's attempt to market the tiny vehicles has caught the state flat-footed, and the state admits it needs to more closely watch the entry of new vehicles into the market.

"This is something completely different, and that's part of its appeal," Mark Varadian, spokesman for the Department of Licensing, said of the Sparrow. "But it also presents a challenge for us and for the State Patrol. So we're working through it."

The three-wheel vehicle's manufacturer, Corbin Motors of Hollister, Calif., says the tiny Sparrow's 25-horsepower electric motor can carry it as fast as 70 mph and as far as 40 miles between electrical charges. There's a three-point seat belt and a radio/CD player and one windshield wiper, but no airbags. Price: $14,900, excluding taxes.

Dodwell left a telecommunications software job in June to sell the electric vehicles, marketing them as a solution to congestion and pollution. Most daily travel averages less than 20 miles, he said, well within the vehicle's range.

"This is now my daily vehicle," he said, pointing to his own yellow Sparrow parked across the way at a shopping mall.

The car's shape and size attracted a couple of dozen curious onlookers in three hours.

"For somebody like me it might be an option," said Sheila Mickool of Kirkland.

But the car provokes questions as well.

People ask a driver where to get the car, how much it cost -- and whether it's a car at all. That also may be a question the state must resolve before it can decide, albeit slightly late, whether the Sparrow is roadworthy in Washington.

Corbin describes the three-wheel vehicle as a motorcycle. Dodwell says the vehicle meets the broader federal definition of a motorcycle, weighing less than 1,500 pounds and using three wheels. The state's definition is more explicit, saying motorcycles can have three wheels but must be steered with handlebars and piloted by a driver who sits "astride the motor unit or power train."

The Sparrow, by contrast, is steered with a wheel and the driver sits ahead of the motor and the batteries.

The Licensing Department has registered 11 of the little vehicles as motorcycles, through agents apparently not mindful of its issues. The department says owners presented purchase papers and Corbin's statements of origin to licensing agents who, in turn, accepted the description and issued the licenses.

"There would be nothing for (an agent) to question," Varadian said. "I imagine there are a lot of brands of motorcycles that nobody's ever heard of."

While the 11 are legal, the state said, owners must have motorcycle endorsements on their driver's licenses to legally operate them on public roads.

Eventual licensing of Sparrows as motorcycles, if that happens, would put current -- as well as new -- owners in the clear.

If they're to be licensed as cars or other types of vehicles, the first 11 may simply be "grandfathered" as motorcycles or redesignated later as their yearly licenses are renewed, said Brad Benfield, a state spokesman.

If they're found to be illegal?

Well, that could burst Dodwell's dealership dream.

And what of the 11 who have legal licenses now but may have to give them up?

"One of the Sparrow's owners is a lawyer, so I suspect we could dig up some legal advice," Dodwell said. "Let's hope we don't get into that position."

Benfield and Varadian conceded that the state needs a more-formal procedure for examining new vehicles and models as they come onto the market and enter the state.

This time, the Sparrow flew in under that radar.

Dodwell said that when he has orders for more Sparrows he plans to open a shop next door to the Harley-Davidson outlet at Totem Lake. He hopes that the patrol inspection will be a "formality" and that he can push ahead with his venture.

The electric car market, though, remains small, and Dodwell may have a hard sell even with a state OK.

Kim Lyons, renewable technology specialist for the Washington State University Energy Program, said the odds are long in a market that totaled about 730 vehicles last year nationwide.

But, "if it's a small outfit and they only need to sell a handful of cars it might work for them," Lyons said. "You never know."

TO LEARN MORE

Visit the Seattle Electric Vehicle Association at www.thinkenergy.com/assn/te000677.html The Web site lists vehicles and provides information on a variety of energy sources.

Visit the Cycle Electric International Consulting Group of Fort Meyers, Fla., at www.electric-bikes.com The Web site lists vehicles from bikes and scooters to commuter cars.

Visit the Electric Auto Association of Concorde, Calif., at www.eaaev.org The Web site lists vehicles and electric-car events.

P-I reporter Larry Lange can be reached at 206-448-8313 or larrylange@seattlepi.com

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