An electric no-emission car has made folks gawk and ride Eco-shuttle

The electric no-emission car has made folks park their car and go for a ride

Erik Ibarra, one of the founding partners in the REV Houston cab service, takes three passengers to their class at the University of Houston — Downtown from their office. Erik Ibarra, one of the founding partners in the REV Houston cab service, takes three passengers to their class at the University of Houston — Downtown from their office. Photo: Johnny Hanson, Houston Chronicle Photo: Johnny Hanson, Houston Chronicle Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close An electric no-emission car has made folks gawk and ride 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

It looks like a golf cart on steroids. Or a golf cart that got mixed up, in a good way, with a limo and a VW bug.

For the past few months, the electric cart owned by REV Houston has made pedestrians and drivers stop, gawk or do double-takes. Perhaps it's because the no-emission vehicle — a.k.a. "eco-shuttle" — is so quiet that it sneaks up on you.

REV Houston offers shuttle service in a napkin-sized area around downtown and midtown, bounded by Bagby, Elgin, Interstate 10 and U.S. 59. Company co-founder Erik Ibarra, 28, said he got the idea from the pedicabs hauling folks to and from Astros games.

"I thought it'd be so much more efficient if the guy had, like, a golf cart or something," Ibarra said.

For passengers, the price is right. Drivers work for tips only.

And unless city officials shut the operation down due to a licensing dispute, Ibarra expects to turn a profit fairly soon.

On a recent sunny afternoon, Ibarra picked up two women from the Wells Fargo building in the 1000 block of Smith and drove them to the University of Houston-Downtown, where each was taking a class on her lunch hour. The women sat together in the middle row of the open-air cart, hair flying.

This was Jeanie Robins' fourth ride in the eco-shuttle.

"Instead of me buying a parking pass at UH, I'm going to tip these guys," she explained. "It's like my own little valet."

Fellow passenger Nikki Toca has booked REV Houston twice a week for the next few months to take her to her accounting class and back. Robins and Toca laughed about their first impressions of the vehicle and its drivers.

"My friends and I are thinking, 'Now this guy is trying to save on gas,' " Toca said.

The company's fleet of Global Electric Motorcars, a Chrysler subsidiary, is small. The 6-seater sees most of the action, but there's also a 4-seater in case they need it.

Each car can travel up to 25 mph on a battery that's limited to 30 miles and plugs into a regular three-pronged outlet. It takes 8 hours to charge a completely dead battery, but the company steals time to recharge throughout the day.

When Ibarra and business partner Justin Jones started REV Houston in April, they anticipated a certain clientele.

"We thought the market was going to be mostly baseball games, taking people from their parking spot to the game or between the Toyota Center and parking," Ibarra said. "But that's probably the smallest segment."

Busiest times are weekdays around lunch and weekend evenings. Between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., people don't want to move their cars to go to lunch, said Ibarra. At the same time, they don't want to walk from the 1000 block of Louisiana to, say, Kim Son, nearly 2 miles away at 2001 Jefferson. So they take the shuttle.

Thursdays through Saturdays, from 9 p.m. to the early morning hours, REV Houston is flooded with calls or texts from people going to dinner, ball games, concerts, bars and more.

"We'll drop someone off at a club," said Ibarra, "and they'll say, 'Come back at 2 a.m. to pick me up.' "

The carts also come equipped with rain covers, which attach to the sides of the vehicles and zip up to the top. But it's not a perfect solution, Ibarra admits: "It's like a greenhouse in there."

Still, business is good, Ibarra said. He and Jones financed both of the carts, which cost close to $15,000 apiece, and spent less than $2,000 on advertising. They hope to be making a profit by April, the first anniversary of the company launch.

Certainly, working for tips keeps things interesting. Tips tend to be better at night, when people are relaxed and partying. During the day, a typical tip is $5 a person, said Ibarra, though there are those occasional $2 rides.

That's not the biggest challenge on the horizon, however.

REV Houston does not have a special license to drive the electric carts. Already, the city has given the company three tickets with numerous citations, including operating a taxi without a license.

The city defines a taxi cab as any automobile or motor-propelled vehicle used for the transport of passengers for hire, explained Blanton Daniels, manager of the city's transportation division. Pedicabs don't qualify as taxis because they aren't motor-propelled, he said, but REV Houston's electric carts do.

"They're trying to circumvent the regulation by saying they're working for gratuities," said Daniels, adding that he sees no difference between a taxi for hire and a taxi that works for tips. It's still money changing hands.

In addition, city guidelines say taxis should be midsized sedans.

"We want to encourage green businesses, but there are larger considerations, including safety and the other companies that are playing by the rules," said Frank Michel, spokesman for the Houston mayor's office. "Just because you're green doesn't mean you don't have the play by the same rules as everyone else."

The only way the city could allow the electric carts to operate as taxis is by creating a special ordinance that fits their category of business, Daniels said. Until then, the city will continue to ticket the electric carts.

Ibarra doesn't seem worried.

"We have an attorney and we're going to court at some point," he said. "I just can't believe we qualify as a taxi. The vehicle only goes 25 miles an hour."

maggie.galehouse@chron.com