although I live in Colorado I belong to a club in Fla at least on FB… I don’t have an extension cord that will go that far… dream to live in a place like The Villages… if you don’t know about The Villages… it is a community made up of miles of roads for NEVs… Google it…
my friend Bob Busby attended the meeting last night and posted this…
Yesterday managed to make my way to Global Electric Motorcar (GEM) (Low Speed Vehicles - LSV) Car Club meeting at Saddlebook Recreation Center, The Villages, Florida at 7:00 PM. Have not been to a GEM meeting in many months due to my ills which had me staying in after dark. Yep had that issue of my body turning into a pumpkin if I ventured out after dark!
The GEM meeting is always a good place to meet and talk with other GEM car owners and talk about issues with GEMs, learn about the past, present and future of GEMs.
Last night there were about twenty-five folks at the meeting, most drove their GEMs so the recreation center paring lot was dotted with multi-colored GEMs of the two and four seated styles, soft doors, hard doors, no doors, enclosures and wide open.
The group leader Tom Sanders qot our noisy bunch to quiet down and got the meeting off to a fun start by challenging the memories of those who were at the last meeting by asking questions about several types of LSVs which were similar to the GEM. The audience got about half the questions correct while the unanswered questions were lost in thought or something like that.
As usual, Richard Gallop, Service Manager, Bill Bryan GEM a regular at the GEM meetings was in attendance and talked to the group about past, present and future areas of concern with GEM. Richard talked about the various maintenance issues with GEMs, what the GEM mechanics can do for us, tires, batteries, regular maintenance and the fact the GEM folks do not charge to pick-up and drop off our GEM for service appointments.
There were numerous questions for Richard about maintenance of GEMs and LSVs regarding batteries, turtle mode, turn signals, doors, and type tires. After a good discussion on the issues, Richard talked about what Polaris the manufacture of GEMs has done and is doing to improve the GEM. Most folks were under the impression Polaris was not improving the GEM but Richard talked about the improvements to the engine, electrical, body, frame, batteries, lights, and steering letting us know Polaris is fully engaged in improvement of the GEM.
Richard talked about the new GEM em 1400 electric utility vehicle and how it will good for all the folks in the area who need small electric utility vehicles at the farm, ranch, school, company and so on.
Before, during and after the meeting GEM and LSV owners talked about various issues, battery life, type tires for the road and the gold course, cost of batteries, support for GEM owners, and many other neat GEM and LSV related issues. Folks in attendance also talked about golf carts, street legal carts, rules of the road and trails in The Villages and of course the cost of insurance.
The meeting started at 7:00 PM and ended about 8:30 PM, some folks left then, some stayed around to talk and have a cookie, punch, coffee or tea before heading home.
The GEM club is a large group but not everyone is always at the meetings so each meeting may have a totally different group of faces with the same questions ask at last meeting. That is just part of being a part of a large club, never hurts to hear the same information along with some new. Smiles.
Anyone interested in GEMs can go to the link below and check them out, they are not cheap, but comfort and ease of driving makes the price easy to deal with. There are many styles of GEMs, we see them all over The Villages and will see more in the coming days, months, and years.
2014 GEM e2 Electric Passenger Vehicle : Photos
Bob