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The Wheego goes electric -- at 25 miles per hour

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Ironically, on Lee Highway, which is free of roundabouts and humps and is given to more traffic volume, the Wheego Whip made more sense. Lee Highway's bumper-to-bumper rush-hour traffic moves so slowly, a 25-mile-per-hour vehicle fits well within that motoring milieu.

But that is hardly a selling point, especially for a front-wheel-drive car that is bereft of air bags, electronic stability control, and robust side-impact crash protection because it essentially is meant to be operated in the manner of a golf cart.

The Wheego Whip LSV has all of the appearance, pricing (with a base manufacturer's suggested retail price of $18,995), and much of the function of a real automobile. But it is not a car meant for the mass market.

Instead, it is an automobile meant for visionaries, for people who can see beyond gasoline because they are keenly aware that gasoline, like the oil from which it comes, is not forever. It is a car for committed geeks, people who know that all-electric vehicles eventually will occupy a significant place among personal-transportation products and who are willing to accept short-term sacrifices and other trade-offs in support of that development.

warbro70@aol.com

-- Special to The Washington Post

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