The time is still not ripe for mainstream use of electric vehicles in Bermuda, industry sources claimed this week.

In October, 2002, an electric Vehicle Demonstration Committee (EVCD) decided that even though electric cars would slash fuel emissions, their time had not yet come.

A year-and-a-half later, the public have heard little about electric cars, despite the passing of a Clean Air Act.

Belco spokesperson Linda Smith said that in 2001 the EVCD tested seven electric cars, trucks and so called neighbourhood cars called Global Electric Motorcars or GEM.

Ms Smith said that all of these test vehicles on the Island had "for the most part been retired because there were no replacement parts. The manufacturers stopped making them".

Ms Smith said that this was a shame because Bermuda had very suitable conditions for electric cars.

"We travel at lower speeds and do not go long distances," she said.

The two electric trucks that Belco were using are now out of service because they could not get parts.

"We got them from Georgia Power but their vehicles are not operating either", she said.

GEM vehicles had a price tag of $10,000 in Bermuda two years ago. EVCD decided that the best use for them were for large estates.

These tiny insect-like mutations between golf carts and Macintosh computers were best suited for application in large estates like the Botanical Gardens EVCD said.

Ms Smith said she thought they were having problems with getting parts for their GEM too.

The technology behind vehicles that run on alternative energy sources is still evolving and growing.

But giant car manufacturers like General Motors, Ford and Crysler are not putting money into their old electric models, Ms Smith said.

However, an article in the New York Times this week said that 28,000 GEM's are now being driven in the US, mostly on internal roadways and places like college campuses and state parks.

The article continued to say that GEM is turning a profit: sales projections were up by 30 percent in 2004.

Websites like gemcar.com praise the funny little cars that run with clean quiet energy.

Ms Smith said that for electric cars to really compete with conventional fossil fuel burning ones the giant manufacturers had to put more research into developing them for the mainstream.

"They need to come up with something reliable, affordable and acceptable to the mass market in Bermuda," she said.

In 2002, Roger Todd from EVCD said that "a lack of support structure made them vulnerable when things went wrong."

This included things like letting people charge their cars for six to eight hours in the car park when they went to work.

According to the New York Times report, GEM can be recharged on regular household sockets of 120 volts.

Ford Th!nk cars, being brought in by Bermuda Motors cost $22,000 in Bermuda two years ago.

Anthony Steede from Bermuda Motors said that the hot new item in environmentally friendly vehicles are hybrid cars.

But these modern marvels do not come cheap.

"Hybrid models cost between $40,000 to $45,000 in Bermuda," Mr. Steede said. "A lot depends on the level of commitment by the industry and the community to be environmentally friendly. It will also need a big shift in our thought process about the way we use our vehicles."