Electrifying and solar enlightening

Usually the term “enviro” applies to some guy with a passion for saving animals. Or a woman with a master’s in planning who saw the light in a zoning department and turned policy analyst with a focus on New Urbanism. Luckily, life in Spokane generates contradictions and counterintuitive thinking, especially in the world of green. Here’s a different ‘greenie’ portrait: Toby Willis, who had a rough-and-tumble Hillyard boyhood. High school drop-out at age 16. Proud father of a ’73 Chevy Malibu. Dungeons and Dragons addict. Internal combustion engine junkie. He married high school sweetheart, Tana, who worked long hours at a Mexican restaurant to help build what’s unofficially called Toby’s Batteries. You can see the solar-powered Zap car out front, when it’s not zipping around town making battery deliveries. Did I mention this “enviro” never earned his GED? Today, Willis, 42, has 13 people working for him on cars, motorcycles, and RVs, plus repurposing/recycling batteries. By the ton each month. At 14, the oldest of four brothers, Willis found Rogers High School irrelevant, and the money he was making stocking grocery store shelves was becoming his raison d’être. He started catering at the Ridpath Hotel, then to Standard Battery Co., then he and Tana decided to go into business. They used $3,200 to set up shop on N. Cook, and his 1973 Ford F-150 became a rattling, rusted-out gem of a delivery/all-around vehicle. “Toby is not the average guy. His drive to get up every day and work after hours, sometimes until 10 or 11, has a lot to do with the success of the business,” Tana shared. The success of Toby’s Battery and Auto Electric is predicated on a simple truism – everybody needs batteries. The business deals in solar power systems, and battery recycling is a huge portion. About 300 batteries a month, a quarter-ton of lead, get reconditioned and stay out of landfills. Toby modified the solar Zap truck from China to go 50 miles on one charge, at speeds up to 52 mph. Solar panels on top and side kick up voltage to 96. “We do up to 10 deliveries a day, averaging 4 or 5 miles,” he said. It sits in the sun and recharges, and on cloudy days, a 110 outlet does the trick. Willis is proud he didn’t take out a business loan or receive financial support from family benefactors. There weren’t any. Green touches include heating the eight garage bays with used oil from serviced vehicles. Employees split decent bucks twice a year from stuff that ends up in recycle bins – copper, aluminum, steel, batteries. The Willises sponsor a July 4 employee picnic and camp-out at Ocean Shores, Wash. Lighting in the store and bays has been retrofitted –$20,000 for T-5 compact fluorescent bulbs wired to four switches – 25, 50, 75 and 100 percent respectively. The next project is the waiting room: solar everything, including lighting, AC, coffee maker and pop machine. Toby isn’t just motivated to reduce carbon emissions. He keeps his money local, buying tools and materials at Ziggy’s and tires at Hillyard Tire. Willis was born and raised in Hillyard, and wants to give back to the community, which he says is riddled with alcohol abuse, violence, drugs, and drop-outs. He supports Boy Scouts and St. Patrick’s School. He’s turned green AND socially just: “These guys get paid very well,” Toby emphasized. “I want to give them a place where they’re comfortable working … you can’t expect people to do all this for little pay. The investment I’ve made in the guys has paid off for the business.” His business model and green ethos come from a deep place: “I want to look in the mirror everyday and say I made ethical decisions and treated people fairly.” While Toby’s Battery and Auto Electric is going greener, its owner wants young people to have drive, ambition and stay in school. Toby’s way was the hard way.