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| Plug it in: Since opening a solar-powered car dealership last September, Gompertz has sold only one Zenn, which recharges with a plug. Anne Sherwood/Special to the Christian Science Monitor |
Electric cars in Big Sky country?
Gas-guzzlers rule in Montana, but one salesman is trying to grow a niche market for the environmentally friendly Zenn car.
from the July 9, 2007 edition
Page 3 of 4
In between the detours, one learns that Gompertz set out from San Francisco in a van to promote his record label. After traveling to small college towns throughout the country, he got the itch to leave the big city. He ended up in Montana.
"Frequently I feel like a stranger in a strange land," he says. "I talk fast, I interrupt people when I talk – it's New York culture."
His driving style may also be an indicator of New York culture. Road work has transformed Bozeman's downtown. "What do you mean, no left turn?" he asks, piloting the Zenn car.
Defying the sign, Gompertz veers left, points the car toward the orange cones at top speed, then frantically flips a U-turn into a parking spot, hopping the curb in the process. Men in hard hats and yellow vests look on, concerned.
Gompertz first laid eyes on the Zenns – which stand for "zero emissions, no noise" – at last year's Sustainability Fair in Livingston, Mont. And he couldn't resist. He'd recently seen "An Inconvenient Truth" – Al Gore's documentary on global warming – and felt moved to do something on behalf of his young daughter. The cars seemed like the way to go. He recalls asking a Zenn representative, "'How can I become a dealer? This would be great for here!' He said, 'You're kidding me. Here? You really think so?' I said, 'I don't know if we're going to sell any, but I gotta do this!' "
Never mind that Bozeman, a college/ski town of about 35,000, isn't Portland or Seattle or San Francisco. Locals say Bozeman is a small town with big highways; the little two-seaters Gompertz sells are largely impractical for the town's families and gear-laden outdoor enthusiasts. He's sold about 35 cars so far, most to people outside the region through his EcoAutoInc.com website. All his sales have been gas-powered Smarts – except for a Zenn that he sold to a high school science teacher in Billings.
So is Gompertz crazy?
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