We’re a bit obsessed with road midgets: those vehicles that look like golf carts, but are street legal. They’re officially called NEVs (Neighborhood Electric Vehicles) or LSVs (Low Speed Vehicles) and their range of shapes and sizes is big.

There are those that simply look like mini cars, like the Miles EV (that we spotted in a small town North of San Francisco) or the Kurrent (that we demoed in Seattle with Bryce from the Green Car Company).

It’s also becoming more common to see street legal golf carts in the middle of town. Some are actual golf carts tricked out to comply with NEV regulations and there are others that are sold to hit the road (off course, that is).

On a walk through San Francisco, we passed a GEM car (Chrysler’s Global Electric Motorcars): an NEV that looks like a golf cart, so much that its driver wasn’t sure if it was one. After all, he was loaded down with 5 bicycles (the vehicle only weighs 1140 pounds, but can carry 710 pounds, or more than half its weight). We happened to be out walking with our camera so we put the moment on video.

We also have a more in-depth article on Road midgets: DIY NEVs and solar golf carts.