There is an alternative mode of transportation that is picking up some speed throughout our community.
You may have noticed some interesting vehicles traveling down roadways in Chapel Hill and the surrounding area – they are called ELFs.
John Salmeron owns an ELF for his commutes to Downtown Hillsborough from just outside the town limits.
“It’s a pedal-powered tricycle, but it’s also got a battery that powers a motor,” he says. “Essentially if I’m going up a hill, I’ll use the battery. And if I’m going on the flat or down hill, I’ll pedal it.”
Salmeron says the ELF provides a more economic and environmentally-friendly form of travel, but he had other reasons for purchasing his ELF in December of last year.
“Recently, I had a series of medical problems and ended up with a disability that keeps me from driving an automobile,” he says. “I learned about the ELF, talked to them, and found out that was a great alternative transportation that I could use.
“[It] keeps me independent on being able to run errands, do some shopping, [and] not ask my wife to drive me around everywhere.”
Salmeron says, while you may not be able to head out for the open highway on a road trip with the ELF, it is very practical around the city.
“It goes about 20 miles per hour on a flat surface with the battery, and it’ll go about 13 miles between battery charges if you’re not pedaling at all,” he says. “I usually just take it from my home just outside of Hillsborough town limits [to] downtown.
“And the battery is solar powered. There’s a solar panel on the top of the vehicle that charges it, and you can bring the battery inside your house and plug it into the wall.”
He adds since the man-powered vehicle does not have the same capabilities as its horse-powered counterparts he does try to be friendly on the roadways.
Samleron says so far his road courtesy has been returned by other drivers.
“Who knows what people are thinking,” he says, “but I haven’t had any bad incidents with anyone. People are curious about it. I think people are accepting of it. And, of course, I do get a lot of fun reactions – especially from kids.”
But Salmeron says now when he heads out he has to budget a few extra minutes because the ELF is also quite a conversation starter.
If you are interested in acquiring your own ELF, you won’t have to travel very far. Organic Transit manufactures the vehicles just down the road in Durham.
“If you go down there,” Salmeron says, “they’ll let you do a test drive, like I did.
“They do ship them all over the world. They were telling me that they’re thinking about building a factory in the Netherlands because they’ve got so many orders from there.”
