select CategoryID, istopic from ( SELECT CategoryID, EXISTS (SELECT * from topics_equivalence te WHERE te.categoryid=acl.categoryid) as istopic FROM eZArticle_ArticleCategoryLink acl WHERE acl.ArticleID=87387 ) as subquery

G8 Leaders Get Electric Cars For Summit

Environment News Service (ENS)

G8 Leaders to Drive Electric Cars at Sea Island Summit

To travel around Sea Island, Georgia during the G-8 Summit next week, the leaders of the eight most industrialized nations in the world will use zero emissions electric vehicles custom designed for each of them.

On Tuesday, the Sea Island Summit Planning Organization (SISPO) unveiled the GEM cars the leaders will use during the Summit next week on Sea Island.
Savannah Mayor Otis Johnson, Savannah City Council members, and Chatham County Commissioners paraded the GEM cars under police escort into Telfair Square in Savannah's historic district.

Mayor Johnson led the parade with one of the GEM cars designed for President George W. Bush. Officials followed in cars designed for the leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the European Union - nine leaders in all. Two GEM cars were designed for each leader, making a total of 18 custom vehicles.

Each vehicle displays custom graphics representing the colors of its leader's country. The custom flag designs were created and applied by Digital Image, a Savannah graphics company.

GEM cars are produced by Global Electric Motorcars, LLC, a DaimlerChrysler Company, in Fargo, North Dakota. Currently, there are nearly 28,000 GEMs on the road across the country.

Street legal and designated by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration as Low Speed Vehicles, the GEM cars measure are a little over 10 feet in length and weigh over 1,200 pounds. They travel at speeds up to 25 miles per hour and last 30 miles on a full charge.

After the short parade, the cars were then transported to Sea Island in preparation for next week's G8 Summit events.

�We thank Mayor Johnson and all of the area's elected officials for their continued hospitality and assistance,� said Barry Bennett of SISPO. �Today's event is fitting symbolism for all the cooperation that has gone into preparing for the Summit."

President George W. Bush will host the 30th G-8 Summit at Sea Island, Georgia on June 8-10, 2004. The United States assumed the Presidency of the G8 from France at the beginning of 2004.

The Presidency of the G-8, and responsibility of hosting the G-8 Summit, rotates each year. Italy hosted the G-8 Summit in Genoa in 2001, Canada hosted in Kananaskis in 2002, and France hosted in Evian in 2003. The United Kingdom will host the G-8 Summit in 2005 and Russia will host in 2006.

Sea Island is located on the southern portion of the Georgia coastline, 80 miles from Savannah, Georgia. Previously, the United States has hosted G-8 Summits in Dorado Beach, Puerto Rico (1976), Williamsburg, Virginia (1983), Houston, Texas (1990) and Denver, Colorado (1997).