For most of the past decade the Elkinson family has been getting around in cars that never need to be filled up at a gas station ? and the reason is not because the Paget family has been amazingly frugal in their gas consumption.

The family is now on their second all-electric car which can be plugged into a power socket at home and charged up to run for up to 50 miles without needing another top-up of electricity.

While the source of energy comes ultimately from the burning of oil at the Belco power plant, their four-door family car itself is arguably cleaner and more environmentally friendly your usual internal combustion engine vehicle. For one thing the car does not create any fumes as it travels along roads. It is also extremely quiet like an electric golf cart.

When a monitoring exercise was done by Belco eight years ago it was found that the car was costing the Elkinsons $20-a-week to run, compared to the $60-a-week they had been paying to refill their previous standard car.

As far as the Elkinsons know theirs is the only electric car on the Island. However, Fiona Elkinson said she would like to see more of the vehicles in Bermuda as the Island is ideally suited to the cars due to its small size and relatively flat geography.

The example of the electric car, which is powered by 12 batteries, is included in the final section of the Draft Sustainable Development Strategy and Implementation Plan to be discussed this evening. The theme of the meeting is entitled ?Living within Bermuda?s Limits? and one of the areas of discussion is how the Island can meet its energy needs without relying entirely on imported fossil fuels.

As an example of good practice in this area the Elkinsons? electric car is mentioned as a way of diminishing the reliance on imported gasoline for motorists and ?If Bermuda?s electricity were generated from renewable sources, using this vehicle would not contribute to carbon dioxide emissions.?

But is having an electric car desirable or practical?

Mrs. Elkinson said the initial cost of buying the car was $40,000 ? much higher than a comparable price for a conventional car, especially as the electric car has basic features, although these do include air conditioning.

The lower running costs should, in the long run, balance out the initial investment. If the car needs repairs or replacement parts it can be frustrating finding someone skilled enough on the Island to do the work, or having to wait until the replacement parts can be shipped across from the US.

But having pointed this out, she noted the car had only been out of action for a handful of weeks during the past eight years.

The car?s plus points, according to Mrs. Elkinson, include its quietness, its cheap weekly running costs and the ability to get from one end of the Island to the other and back on a single charge up.

She would like to see other Bermudians using such cars because of the lack of fumes they create on the streets, although she recognises the initial cost is prohibitive for many people.

The Elkinsons are not the only ones who have an all-electric transport solution. Environmentalist Stuart Hayward also gets around on an electric motorbike that he recharges at home.