Climbing gas prices have one sect of our community lamenting the phenomenon and another singing its praises.

Record breaking gas prices have many local cab drivers changing the way they do business. For example, the cabbies parked in front of the downtown Hilton say on any given Friday afternoon you could usually find them driving around looking for fares. But soaring gas prices are now forcing them to park and wait for passengers to come to them.

Daniel Ogwuu, an Austin cab driver for eight-years sat with his engine off meaning he had no air-conditioning in 96-degree temperatures.

"By sitting down this way you have to spend more hours.  Instead of finishing a 12-hour shift you still have to stay about two or three more hours to achieve your goals.

Across town, Brian Lasseter, an IBM engineer is not phased by the rising gas costs. That's because the member of Austin E.V. -- electric vehicles -- just completed revamping a 2002 Saturn into a fully, efficient electric car.

"We hear people talking about dependence on foreign oil like it's something you can't do something about and we looked around and said sure we can do something about it" says Lasseter.

The engineer spent $20,000 revamping the Saturn, a car which can get up to 100-miles an hour and run for 40 to 50-miles without being charged.

Lasseter says the non-profit group Austin E.V. has been getting more and more inquiries from people who want to know more about building their own electric vehicles.