SKATEBOARDER SAVING GAS.

Byline: Brad A. Greenberg Staff Writer

Michael Bernheim's solution to soaring gas prices costs $1,000, has four wheels, weighs 52 pounds and is covered in grip tape.

It's a 40-inch-long, battery-powered skateboard that tops out at 22 mph. It'll take you 14 miles before its batteries need to be recharged. ``Refueling'' takes three hours, but only costs about 20 cents.

``You don't have to have insurance. It's nonpolluting. It's portable. And you can carry chicks on it,'' said Bernheim, co-owner of California Motors Co.

On the niche company's Web site, Bernheim is marketing the electric skateboard as a practical alternative to high gas prices.

The average price of a gallon of unleaded fuel in Los Angeles has mushroomed more than 50 cents during the past six weeks. Many Americans are turning to gimmicks and gadgets to stretch their thinning fuel budgets.

In fact, there are many practical things motorists can do to cut fuel costs. The Environmental Protection Agency recommends avoiding quick acceleration and braking, properly inflating tires and driving at or below the speed limit.

John Millett of the EPA, however, says steer clear of ``bogus contraptions'' -- gizmos that can be added to the fuel line or air filter. In 30 years, EPA tests have only found one that improved gas mileage, and that technology has since been incorporated into most vehicles.

As for the Fuel Genie, Platinum Gas Saver and Tornado Fuel Saver, ``Don't waste your money,'' Consumer Reports said in November. ``They don't work.''

A motorized skateboard could help someone struggling with gasoline prices, said Carol Thorpe, a spokeswoman for the Automobile Club of Southern California. ``But given the commutes of most people, is riding a motorized skateboard a rational answer?''

It is for Bernheim, who uses his board to get to the grocery store, the library, the movie theater. If a business doesn't want him lugging the board through their shop, he checks it like a bag.

Sometimes he skates the 10 miles from his Santa Monica home to Beverly Hills, where he is the marketing director for The Balance Disorders Institute of Los Angeles. While he works, the board's batteries recharge.

Growing up in Burbank in the 1960s and '70s, Bernheim was an avid skater. He still looks the part: slate gray Pumas, light jeans, a plain blue T-shirt, large Ray-Ban sunglasses and shoulder-length, wavy red hair.

As a teen, he rigged a board with a four-stroke lawnmower engine and another with a two-stroke weed-whacker engine, but they were too unstable.

Two years ago, he and two partners decided to build their own skateboard engine and power it with two 12-volt batteries. The engine purrs yet is powerful enough to climb Coldwater Canyon Boulevard in Studio City, as Bernheim demonstrated Monday. The throttle and brakes are controlled by a remote plastic handle.

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Michael Bernheim displays the electric-powered skateboard that he uses around town to save money on gas.

Andy Holzman/Staff Photographer