You’ve probably seen it driving around Chandler - a small egg-shaped vehicle with an older man behind the wheel.
Is it a car or a bicycle? Motorcycle? EV? Or what?
It’s none of them, really. Or, well, somewhere between a bike and an EV.
“Organic Transit Elf, is what it’s called,” said owner George Smokorowski as he sipped coffee in one of the front booths in Boomerang Diner. “Organic Transit was out of Durham, North Carolina. And that’s where I ordered it off the internet.”
An Elf can be used like other bikes with pedals powering it, but it also comes with a 48v battery. Smokorowaski admits that with all the hills in Chandler, he doesn’t use the pedal option that much.
He got the Elf in 2018 because it looked like a good way to get around town for short distances. Mostly, he takes it up to Boomerang, where he has breakfast most mornings, or to run errands. Smokorowski said he even treks it out to Walmart.
“One battery will get me out to Walmart and back, then I have to recharge it,” he said.
It only takes about two hours to charge and Smokorowski said it’s a bit of an inconvenience. However, it’s not like owning a Tesla, which requires wiring a breaker. The Elf, thankfully, can be charged with regular household voltage.
It’s cheaper than a car, with Smokorowski saying it doesn’t need gas, oil changes or other maintenance that one would normally have. It’s a 2FR model, which means that he can fit another person in the backseat, depending on how much they weigh. It’s also covered to protect from rain and other elements.
“In the morning, if there’s heavy dew, I have to get a paper towel out, wipe the windshield down, inside and out. Because it fogs up,” he said, adding there are no windshield wipers.
He also said getting parts for it is a bit of a challenge. Last year, he took it out for a camping trip at Bell Cow Lake and burned out the motor.
Smokorowski said he must have overloaded the trailer he was hauling. Thankfully, his son from Kansas was able to get in on a trailer and found him a replacement motor from Canada.
The only downside is that he can’t take it on the interstate - the Elf is too slow. Its top speed is around 25 to 35mph.
“There again, it depends on whether you’re going uphill or downhill,” he said.
Smokorowski is most definitely a regular fixture at Boomerang, alongside his Elf. He’s been going there for about 10 years, give or take, according to worker Shelbi Metcalf, and always orders the same breakfast. She said they haven’t really had a conversation, but he’s polite and tips.
He also sometimes parks right on the sidewalk, said another worker, Sadie Bobo. Both Bobo and Metcalf found it amusing.
“If there’s no spot, he pulls that thing right up here,” Metcalf said. “ And I’ll be like, ‘George, what are you doing?’ He goes, ‘There’s no parking spot.’” Bobo said she thinks electric cars are starting to creep into Chandler.
“But he’s most definitely the OG,” she said.