If Gerard Plunkett has his way, characters on future episodes of Da Vinci's Inquest will tool around East Vancouver's mean streets astride battery-powered bikes and motor scooters.

Plunkett has the connections to pull it off. The West Coast actor plays chief coroner Bob Kelly in the award-winning TV series, which stars Nicholas Campbell in the title role.

As it happens, the Dublin-born Plunkett also owns Canadian distribution rights to a line of snappy-looking and emission-free electric scooters, bikes and golf carts, sold out of the Main Street showroom of his Vancouver company, Green World Electric Vehicles, a.k.a. GWEV.

Plunkett and wife Gabrielle LeForestier hung out their shingle early last year and have been mildly astonished by the strong response. Thanks mainly to word of mouth from satisfied customers, they're already turning a profit.

Bayne Stanley, Business Edge
Da Vinci's Inquest's Gerard Plunkett has a second job as principal owner of an electric motor scooter and bike company.

"We wanted to go into business for ourselves, but we wanted it to be something we could be proud of. We really believe in the product," said Plunkett, an ex-banker. He's also a longtime professional who has appeared in TV's X-Files and wowed Vancouver audiences as professor Henry Higgins during extended runs of My Fair Lady at the Arts Club Theatre.

He realizes that timing, in theatre as well as in business, is everything. So far, Plunkett's has been dead solid perfect.

Public interest in environmental issues has never been higher. And GWEV's line of eco-friendly scooters offers a guilt-free motoring experience. Manufactured in Taiwan (once described as the "motor scooter capital of the world") by a company called Environmental Vehicle Technologies, GWEV products are reasonably priced and dirt-cheap to operate while eliminating noise and fossil-fuel emissions. No more smelly fumes, grimy sparkplugs, dripping grease or muttering mufflers.

"The electric motors have tremendous torque. Our electric scooters do 55-60 km/hr. They're not highway vehicles, of course, but they're ideal for in-town commuting," said Plunkett, who rides his personal unit to the Da Vinci's set. "I can ride right up to my dressing room."

Plunkett boasts that GWEV's battery-powered units are unique in Canada, but he's not the only Canadian vendor who senses the time is right for a power scooter revival.

Vespa, the Italian brand that virtually cornered global markets in the 1960s (remember the movie Quadrophenia?), has returned to this country behind an aggressive new marketing attack. Last spring, Vespa Canada opened 20 new dealerships, including two in Toronto and one each in Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver and Victoria.

After pulling out of North America in 1986 when U.S. environmental legislators turned a cold eye on Vespa's two-stroke, oil-and-gas engines, the company's back on the street with blood in its eye.

"Fifty-dollar-a-barrel oil is one reason. But the real reason is passion," said Morey Chaplick of Canadian Scooter Corp., Vespa's exclusive Canadian importer and distributor.

"If you buy a premium quality product with history and culture, you can look in the mirror and say you have the real thing. Or, you can look in the mirror and say, 'I bought a copy.' " Chaplick says Vespa has already cornered a significant share of a Canadian market dominated by Yamaha and Honda, companies that "have tried to emulate classic Italian style," he sniffed.

In accordance with Canadian law, Vespa's two-stroke engines will be phased out by 2008, but new four-stroke models are expected to pick up the slack.

"Vespa is still the only scooter that offers steel body and frame. When it comes to handling and performance, nothing else compares," added Chris Plante, manager of Vespa Edmonton.

Clearly, Plunkett doesn't agree. His bikes and scooters are powered by sealed, hub-mounted, 48-volt electric motors which are maintenance-free: "No messing around with 115 working parts," as Plunkett puts it.

One GWEV model, the 168 scooter is described as a "retro" design, dripping with cachet. Its lines are loosely based on the classic Vespa. Another model, the 4000E, sports a more modern, streamlined design. Performance-wise, they're identical, retailing for about $3,500 apiece.

Each will travel 40 kilometres on a single charge, more than enough for most urban junkets. A full charge takes from four to six hours, but, as Plunkett points out, "you can take your charger with you."

Ultimately, he'd like to convince the City of Vancouver to buy his bikes for parking control officers. He's already pitched the idea to Mayor Larry Campbell.

No surprise there. Vancouver's former chief coroner, Campbell is the real-life prototype for Da Vinci. "Larry's a consultant on the show," Plunkett laughed.

(Tom Keyser can be reached at tomk@businessedge.ca)