The Catskill Chronicle

WOODRIDGE, NY  – In conjunction with more than one hundred events nationwide commemorating the National Alternative Fuel Vehicle Day Odyssey, BUZZ Equipment Company and Kantrowitz Brothers Auto Repair will be joining forces on Friday, October 15 to host an informational ride and drive in Woodridge.

Anyone visiting the companies’ 49 Roosevelt Avenue location between the hours of 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. that day will be able to drive a Neighborhood Electric Vehicle manufactured by Miles Electric Vehicles of Santa Monica, California, and have their questions about alternative fuel vehicles answered by experts.

Participants can also view interactive displays designed to demonstrate the workings of an all-electric vehicle. These displays were developed by Joe Conway, partner in BUZZ Equipment Company and owner of Kantrowitz Brothers Auto Repair, for use in the course, “An Introduction to Electric Vehicles,” which is offered at Sullivan County Community College.

The fall semester course starts Thursday evening October 14, and runs for five consecutive Thursdays. Registration for the class is through the college’s Office of Continuing Education, Workforce Development and Lifelong Learning, 845-434-5750 ext. 4398.

Neighborhood Electric Vehicles are a special class of electric low-speed vehicle that have been certified as Standard 500 compliant, or meeting the requirements of that provision of the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards. In New York and most other states, these vehicles are legal on roadways where the speed limit is 35 miles per hour or lower. Their top speed must be no more than 25 m.p.h., and their gross vehicle weight cannot exceed 3000 pounds.

The ride and drive and information session is part of the biennial National Alternative Fuel Vehicle Day Odyssey, conceived by the National Alternative Fuels Training Consortium (NAFTC) based at West Virginia University in order to promote cleaner choices in transportation. The NAFTC undertook this project because of the critical need to support the alternative fuel vehicle (AFV) industry.

The Consortium states: "More public awareness is necessary to help ease our dependence on foreign oil, and we must support those manufacturers that are making AFVs a viable option for individuals everywhere. With everyone joining together on one day, working toward the same goals, we cannot help but compound the effect of our individual efforts. Such unity will further increase the impact of each individual site’s program and will catalyze the momentum for the advanced transportation movement nationwide. Together, we will bring national attention to AFVs and advanced technology vehicles and promote them as a cleaner and more efficient choice for transportation."

BUZZ Equipment Company and Kantrowitz Brothers Auto Repair have been selling and servicing alternative fuel vehicles, including flex-fuel, biodiesel, hybrid and all-electric drive for more than ten years. They have also collaborated to create The Sullivan County Electric Bus Project, to provide a cleaner, healthier, quieter ride for school children.

For more information on the ride and drive event, call Joe at 845-434-5710.