Sometimes you can see in a man`s face a sort of pensive restlessness and hear in his voice a kind of somber inflection that conveys a total, passionate belief in what he is doing-a trait that signifies that man has found his mission in life.
That is the demeanor Doug Cobb takes on when you ask him about the electric vehicles he builds, the Earth`s fragile environment and how he is trying to make the world a better place.
”Our future is at stake. It goes beyond corporations and money. You just can`t put dollar bill signs on life. People are dying because of pollution,” said the soft-spoken Cobb while breezing around the back streets of Melbourne in an air-conditioned electric pickup truck, a product of his company, Solar Car Corp.
Cobb and a business partner, Robert Adams, founded the company in June 1989. Though some improvements are planned, the development work is complete. The finished products are ready to roll. They work just fine, but it`s taken Cobb three years of hell to reach this point.
He has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars building prototype electric vehicles and testing theories that sometimes led straight to a dead-end.
”Thomas Edison went through 10,000 filaments until he found the one that worked. That`s what inspires me,” he said.
Countless times Cobb, 42, has burned those filaments deep into the night and labored alone through weekends trying out new parts, changing this, adjusting that, tinkering here, fiddling there.
Cobb, an electrician by trade, said he has been building electric vehicles for more than a decade. He`s traveled around the country to take part in electric vehicle races to gain exposure for his work and to test his vehicles under tough conditions.
”Even in this world of giant corporations, I believe one man can still make a difference. Every week something happens that says, `Yes, we are on the right track.` ”
Right now, it`s a track that isn`t very crowded. General Motors won`t have America`s first mass-produced electric car on the market for at least another two-and possibly even three-years.
But Cobb believes the environment needs help now. He thinks reducing auto emissions is the first step to giving the environment a breather.
Electric vehicles don`t pollute, and they don`t use natural resources, such as oil.
But there are some things out of Cobb`s control.
There`s no infrastructure for electric vehicles. That is, there is no place where a driver could pull over and recharge an electric vehicle. Imagine having a car in a place where there are no gas stations.
Cost is another consideration. After Cobb converts a Chevrolet S-10 pickup truck and a Ford Festiva hatchback to electricity, they cost more than twice as much as new gas-powered models.
Cobb has the monumental task of convincing potential customers that it`s worth spending $21,000 for a small truck, or $20,000 for a subcompact electric car.
