From the side, it resembles an alien head in repose on the three wheels – a polished maroon cranium with oversized, teardrop-shaped eyes.
Tom Quinn of the Hawai’i’ Electric Vehicle Demonstration Project, is showing me one of the Sunrays that are stored at the HEVDP’s facility in Kaka’ako. He tugs on one “eye” and the passenger side door-window unit slides back. It used to swing open from a pivot point, Quinn tells me, but has been modified so it now glides on a metal track, identical to ones used to guide kitchen drawers.
I climb into the cab with a careful step over the high lip of the car’s side wall and squeeze myself into one of two small, gray bucket seats. At 120 pounds, I find the fit snug. I cannot imagine that an even slightly overweight adult could ride comfortably in these seats.
Ahead of me is a wide, squarish, tinted window. Two cup-sized cuts had been made in it, allowing the windshield to flap open slightly and allow air to enter the cab. Otherwise, the vehicle has practically no ventilation. It is impossible to roll down a window, since the side windows are the doors. People who have driven the Sunray have left the door open a crack to let the air in, only to have the door slide wide open as the car accelerates and slam shut as it brakes. To alleviate the problem, Suntera has provided a battery-operated fan to be mounted on the windshield with suction cups.
Leg room is ample, but the footwell is cramped. My feet rest, one atop the other, in a small rectangle of space remaining between the car’s body curves.
After a minute or so, I get a little claustrophobic. I leave the car, careful to mind the high side wall, and plant my unsteady feet onto the garage floor. High heels and a skirt, I discover, might not be the best apparel for a spin in the Sunray.
— Teresa Dawson
Volume 8, Number 1 July 1997
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