(Springfield, MO) -- As summer approaches, temperatures rise and so do gas prices.  

But a Springfield man drives right by the gas station, never stopping unless he needs air in the tires or a soda to cool off with.  He powers his car at home.

Musician Ruell Chappell drives one of only three fully-electric cars in Springfield.  He bought a Miles Electric car over the winter and hasn't looked back.

"The entire process takes maybe six hours to charge fully and costs about $0.18," Chappell says as he plugs his rig into his garage outlet.  "I charge it overnight and am good to go in town the next day."

Chappell paid about $15,000 for the car, which is made in California.  It's only legal to run at about 20 mph there, so a factory in Farmington, Missouri retrofitted the car to run at a top speed of 50 mph.  

The four-door vehicle, which resembles an SUV, seats five, has a side-open hatchback with fold-down back seat, and runs on six batteries which have a life of about 25,000 miles.  The batteries cost about $200 each to replace.  It runs about 40 miles per charge and also has a heater, CD player, radio, but no air conditioner.

"There's not one now," Chappell says, "But they're working on developing one for the future."

Chappell uses his electric car in town only, for errands like shopping and picking up his son from school.  He doesn't drive it on the highways.  He uses his old SUV for that instead.  

"I haven't bought gas in a month," Chappell says.  "I used to fill up once or twice a week and now it's once a month or longer before I visit a gas station."

People filling up at a local gas station have mixed opinions about going electric.  

"I think it would be great if you lived in town," one man says.  "But forty miles to a charge means any distance travel and you're stuck."

A Bolivar woman, though, re-thought the Cadillac Escalade that costs her about $400 a month in fuel to drive.  "I'm thinking $0.18 a charge would be wonderful."

For Ruell Chappell, a no-emission car is ideal.  He and entities like Yale University, NASA and the U.S. Navy, which use electric cars as fleet vehicles, hope the trend catches on with drivers across the country.  

"We should have been driving electric cars decades ago," says Chappell.

If you would like to find out more about Chappell's electric car, visit Miles Electric's website.