Last week, I was painting away at my home studio when there was a knock on the door. After realizing that none of the other people home were going to answer it, I proceeded downstairs and opened the door to a delivery driver who was dropping of lumber at the construction site next door. “Can I help you?” I asked. “Tell me about your car,” he requested. I explained the basics, answered the standard questions, and gave them permission to take some selfies with it. He offered to trade me his truck, I said no.

You see, I am the proud owner of a yellow Echo3 electric scooter, pictured above. And people love it. Driving around heads turn, people point, we get noticed. My wife’s Covid office overlooks the driveway and all pandemic long she has watched multiple people a day stop to take a look.

One night I was out at a bar with some friends and ran into another friend from the neighborhood. She introduced me to her companions as “the guy that drives that funky little yellow car.” Her friend exclaimed that she new it, in fact, at a neighborhood meeting earlier that year, someone giving a presentation showed a slide of my car and said, “we need more of these.”

I ended up with my Echo 3 because friends Klare and Jeremy decided to open a business importing them. They had brought in a couple of early models and we were excited. We wanted one. When they finally brought in an actually shipment, we were one of the first to committee. And we have no regrets, it’s a fun little vehicle great for tooling around the neighborhood. My kids like it when I do school drop off or pickup in it because their friends think it’s pretty cool. My wife has found it is the perfect vehicle for driving her paddleboard to the lake. Plus, so easy to park, there is always room. Did I mention, it’s just fun!

The standard questions-

Yes, it is electric. We do plug it in. The solar panel holds the charge, I feel (and have been told) if we got a stronger panel it would charge it enough for local driving.

It goes 35MPH, due to a regulator that was installed to keep it a legal scooter.

It can go 40 miles on a charge. We have not gone anywhere close to that distance.

It sits three adults. When our kids were little we got all four of use in, if my wife sat in the back with the kids and I drive.

It has a Bluetooth stereo, a fan for air-conditioning, a heater, and it the alarm speaks Chinese.

It’s registered as a scooter so we only have to register it every two years and the insurance is like $5 a month.

It’s name is ‘ello’, because every car needs a name. It’s yellow. And my children felt that is how British people say Hello. And it’s the kind of car that would say hello in a fake British accent (it’s fun remember.)

No, you can not rent it for your buddies bachelor party (different door knock.) Too much liability.

Echo3 can be reached through their website- https://echo3.energy/ They are located in Denver’s Santa Fe Art district.

About the painting

It is my first attempt at a gouache. It is pronounced gwash or maybe goo-wash. I didn’t pay attention in french class because I was afraid of my professor. She yelled a lot. “Eric, Français, Français.” Cercle vicieux.

I bought the paints a few years back, about the time we bought the Echo3. The connection formed in my head that this should be my first gouache painting/ Then years passed. This year, I have been working on finishing the unfinished and doing the undone. This includes trying lots of new things. I liked the results so, I am currently planning on doing more Gouache.

‘ello’

8×10

Gouache on paper