PHOTO BY TODD COOPER
Mark Murphy and his dog Emily
Call of the BugE
I
t squats like a space pod or Cyclopsian insect-robot, its one tinted
bug-eye glinting in the late afternoon sun. Suddenly, the eye raises
its lid, and from its depths emerges … a man wearing a midnight blue,
wool engineer’s cap and a dark knit sweater. After a warm greeting and
firm handshake, Mark Murphy turns, arms folded across his chest, to
admire his creation: the BugE — a one-seater “neighborhood electric
vehicle” designed for around-town, everyday driving needs.
Murphy’s BugE is both a battle cry
against human-caused global heating and a
practical design for affordable and efficient
personal urban transportation. Driving a
clean, electric vehicle could help break the
shackles of oil dependency, Murphy
believes. In just 30 years, he says, the U.S.
has gone from being the world’s largest oil
exporter to importing nearly $50 billion
worth of oil each year. And many energy
experts believe that since the Earth has
passed “peak oil” — where oil demand can
no longer meet a dwindling supply — find-
ing an alternative is no longer an option; it’s
an imperative. Murphy believes his BugE is
one step towards a solution. “It gives peo-
ple a choice that isn’t a car,” he says.
In his driveway, Murphy commences his
show-and-tell of the vehicle’s features such
as the aforementioned “eye,” a tinted, aero-
dynamic fairing that shields against wind,
rain and toxic exhaust from idling SUVs. The
BugE’s white fiberglass body stretches out,
semi-enclosed, like a reverse recumbent tri-
cycle without pedals; it has two front wheels
and one back. This configuration ensures that
“all the stability is in the direction you’re
going,” says Murphy, plus it ensures that the
BugE can obtain motorcycle licensing as a
three-wheeled vehicle. The BugE has flat
handlebars complete with hand throttle and
brakes; aluminum mag wheels; rearview mir-
rors; a front storage compartment; and an
adjustable seat. Murphy’s design is simple: It
has only 75 part numbers and weighs 385
pounds. It has to be simple. After all, the
entire vehicle is a build-it-yourself kit.
Murphy says he specifically designed
the BugE kit for easy assembly. No build-
ing experience is required. Owners can
build BugEs at their own pace and as their
budget allows. At the same time, they will
learn how their vehicle operates. Murphy
adds that BugE purchases also support local
businesses. “Three-quarters of this is made
right here,” he says: A fiberglasser in
Goshen makes the body and frame,
ProCycle in Springfield makes the turn sig-
nals and street-legal halogen headlights,
and all basic tools and supplies — nuts,
MARK MURPHY RESURRECTS THE ELECTRIC CAR
bolts and the lead acid batteries — can be
purchased at local hardware and automo-
tive shops. A few main components are
made out of state: The 48-volt motor and
battery charger come from Washington, the
canopy comes from California and the
wheels and tires come from North Carolina.
Murphy envisions the BugE as a product
combining economic practicality and envi-
ronmental responsibility. On the one hand,
the car is inexpensive to buy and power: The
kit costs around $5,000, and juicing it up
costs about 1 cent per mile. The power cord,
stored in the front storage compartment, can
plug into any standard 110-volt outlet (found
at home and pretty much anywhere else
around town: outside grocery and conven-
ience stores and, of course, at gas stations).
A BugE completely sapped of juice
might take overnight to recharge. But
Murphy’s idea is for people to charge up as
they go, so the BugE will always be topped
off. Fully charged, the BugE can run for
approximately 20 miles at 40 mph, 30 miles
at 30 mph, or 40 miles at 20 mph — more
than enough power to make several 5-mile
trips to and from the grocery store.
The BugE aims to suit the needs of many
people, from Baby Boomers who seek more
comfortable transportation to those who sim-
ply don’t want to battle cold, stinging rain
biking to Safeway. But more than anything,
driving a BugE makes practical sense.
According to Murphy, more than three quar-
ters of daily vehicle trips are driven by one
BY NICOLE FANCHER
person less than 30 miles. Instead of driving
alone in the Explorer to the video store a
couple miles away, the BugE, Murphy says,
will get you there and back just as fast, and
with a cleaner conscience. While some will
choose the BugE for economic reasons,
Murphy believes, others will buy the BugE
as a statement, a bit of good, clean road rage,
where they can stick it to the human-made
global heating trend and those who deny it.
Some will buy
the BugE as a
bit of good,
clean road rage.
Murphy’s clean car dream has been
brewing for a long time. This man is no Go-
Go-Gadget garage tinkerer — although he
does work out of the yellow and white shed
at his Creswell home. A graduate of the
renowned Art Center College of Design in
Pasadena, Calif., Murphy has been a pro-
fessional industrial designer since 1984. He
worked for BMW and also on projects for
General Motors and Chrysler. But after 10
years of the Southern California “rat race,”
Murphy had enough of designing luxury
gas-guzzlers and moved to Eugene in 1992.
Soon after, Burley Design Cooperative
hired him to redesign their 16-year-old
bicycle trailer, which he turned into the
MARCH 8, 2007 13