“Driving America Green” was painted on both sides.

This was not the average gas guzzling sports car monster: the Roadster is powered by electricity.

“We are resurrecting the electric car,” Craner said to a crowd of professors, students, and automobile enthusiasts.

The Renew America Roadtrip, billed as “the First Coast-to-Coast drive for Green Charity” stopped at Western Michigan University Tuesday afternoon to bring awareness to eco-friendly and sustainable technologies.

The brainchild of Craner, a patent agent, and Madushini Gunawardana, a medical student, the Road trip began in New York city and will finish up in San Francisco, Calif. on July 31. There are to be 21 stops along the way.

“We want to make a difference,” Gunawardana said. “If we can do this, you can buy a recycling bin.”

It’s not just about the electric car, but the entire sustainability “green” movement.

According to Gunawardana, the Tesla is a “crowd magnet” to attract people.

“When a 16 year old girl comes, she will be more drawn to what I am wearing than the car,” he said.

And what she is wearing is a wardrobe made out of “sustainable materials” from Element Skateboards, one of the 17 sponsors.

But for everyone gathered at the flagpoles, drawn by either the engine or exterior design, it was all about the automobiles.

“I’ve read a lot about this car,” Brandon Darr, a WMU Aeronautical Engineering major, said looking under the hood. “It’s nice to finally see it in person.”

But that’s not all there was.

Next to the “big whig” Roadster was a Honda CX with a custom electric engine.

“It wasn’t that hard to do,” Paul Pancella, Ph.D., and Physics Department chair said. “The hardest part was finding a place to do it,” – gutting and converting the car.

“I really didn’t know that much about cars,” Pancella added.

Pancella began the process a couple of years ago as a hobby. Information on the process was readily available on the internet in blogs and forums, where people share their advice, stories, and mishaps.

On average it can travel 25 miles on a single charge. Once it went 30.

The future of the CX is uncertain. Pancella hopes to have it running in the Winter to commute to campus – he normally rides a bike.

Electric cars have already made their impact on campus, although there are very few. Parking Services has designated 15 parking spots at the College of Health and Human services, and one is “plug in,” according to an email from Director Capt. Carol Dedow.

For Gunawardana, the hardest part about the trip has been finding a place to charge the car: the only places that have found the correct hook-ups have been at RV parks.

“They always are really positive,” Gunawardana said of the RVers. “But they do give us a lot of weird looks.”

Back at home, the couple drives a Infiniti G30- not the most fuel efficient vehicle- but they plan on purchasing something like a hybrid soon.

Jay Gromack, studying mechanical engineering at WMU, was also impressed by the technology– which is nothing new.

“The technology has existed for a while,” Gromack said. “It will just take a lot of legislation to get more on the road.”

Tesla has recently announced that they will release a a $50,000 electric sedan. Ford has also announced a new line of electric cars to be released soon.

How much would Gromack pay for an electric car?

“That’s a tough question,” he said, citing all the costs and speculating on the depreciation in ten years. “Probably a quarter more.”