The continuing rise in the price of petrol and long-term predictions of $8/L are causing many of us to rethink our transport options. Hybrid cars are coming into their own (although still expensive) with the general consensus being electric vehicles is probably the way of the future (passing through compressed natural gas, compressed air etc. along the way).

Electric cars are still out of most people's price range but for those of us who can get by with an electric scooter/motorbike/pushbike then we have a few reasonably affordable options.

A couple of our members (thanks Steve) have been researching electric two-wheelers and there is now a group (http://groups.google.com/group/sm-electric-wheels) established to collate information and opinions/reviews etc.

At our meeting in May we had a visit from the Qld. seller of Vectrix motorcycles who brought a machine up for us to check out and at our June meeting there was a great presentation on the pros & cons of what's available at the moment in electric two-wheelers (this presentation is online at the Electric Wheels group). Taking into account the hilly terrain around Maleny and the government licensing requirements is important in determining what type of bike/scooter is going to cost-effective in the long-run.

If we have enough interested people decide on one particular form of electric vehicle we will be in a position to negotiate a bulk buy deal with a supplier so if you're at all interested take a look at the online group.

Seeing roadside plugin power points for electric vehicles outside the MCU or a coffee shop in the main street would be a great sight to see! Especially if it was powered by local renewable energy.