CityTypes: Electric Car Owner

Sporting a fun-sized electric vehicle called the CityEl, Jens Christensen can be spotted nearly every morning in his "personal" parking place at the Donut King on Venice Avenue—a small cubby between the sidewalk and the actual parking lot. It's a place where only a car of its kind could fit.  

He guesses it's about 10 feet long and 4 feet wide, but it seems even smaller when set alongside a gasoline-fueled road vehicle—mostly because it's a single seater meant for short-distance commuting.  

Unhatching his car's "door," he said he's known as "Grandpa" to the Donut King crowd. In Europe, however, people who drive a CityEl tend to be young, environmentally friendly techies, he said.       

"I first drove one of these in 1999 when I visited my nephew in Denmark for the summer," Christensen said. "I tried to get him to sell one to me—he had two of them—but he wouldn't.  So, since I read and write Danish, I got on the Internet and found one."

Click on the pictures to continue reading the latest addition to Patch's CityType series, which is designed to get behind the people who make the city go around.