<p>I was at a shopping center today and in a few parking spaces, I saw electric car chargers. </p>
<p>I was amazed by how small the chargers were. You can park your car, and charge your car in one stall while you shop or whatever.</p>
<p>After seeing this…and with maintenance being easier and costing less with an electric car…
I think elctric cars are going to become a lot more prevalent.</p>
<p>So? Who has one? Pros and cons? How do you like your car?</p>
<p>Don’t have one–S did look at them when he was shopping for a car but decided they were over-priced and not “ready for prime time” (his words). Three reporters in our local paper also evaluated 3 EVs for a week. The two who had pure EVs with no backup gas engine were the most nervous and concerned that it was hard to find charging stations and get a full charge out of house voltage overnight. The range on the EVs evaluated is only 100 miles, which varies depending on if you use AC, driving habits, etc. This made the drivers nervous about whether they could do the errands they planned & still be able to get to an available charging station.</p>
<p>There are also concerns about the price and lifespan of batteries and said replacements. Just more to think about. They DID say the cars were “fun” but the concern about range and charging stations loomed large in their minds, above and beyond the free parking our state currently offers EVs.</p>
<p>dstark, those chargers were probably from the NRG settlement - I think 100million is being spent to build chargers throughout Ca.</p>
<p>The Tesla model S, which is being released in June has a range of over 300 miles. With tax credits, which are huge and which Obama will be extending, the cars aren’t that pricey.</p>
<p>My city also has charging stations throughout.</p>
<p>
The cars are still pricey - it’s just that taxpayers are on the hook for heavily subsidizing them. </p>
<p>Himom’s S had it right - ‘not ready for prime time’ yet.</p>
<p>Of course, subsidies for all vehicles are everywhere:</p>
<ul>
<li>Road construction.</li>
<li>Foreign policy and military costs due to being dragged into oil-fueled conflicts.</li>
<li>Corn farming subsidies and ethanol in gasoline requirements (which do not otherwise make economic or environmental sense).</li>
</ul>
<p>GGD, that’s a phony argument, since the US is running out of oil and gas - unless the watersheds are polluted with fracking fluids, and even then there is not a infinite source of
oil and gas.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Conversations I’ve had about these “green” cars have them way too expensive. Will we eventually move to something like this? Maybe so, but not in the near future. They are still too expensive and there is still enough oil to go around for some time. They don’t get good enough mileage to make up the cost of the vehicle instead of buying gas…</p>
<p>Phony argument? There’s nothing at all phony about it - it’s factual. Have you checked the subsidy on the Chevy Volt? It’s $7,500 ‘PER CAR’ of my tax dollars and that doesn’t count all of the other subsidies that might be in place for the factories. That’s huge. </p>
<p>But I’ll exit this thread now because I sense it may turn political but I couldn’t leave the idea that due to ‘Obama will be extending the cars aren’t pricey’ alone since in fact, they are ‘very pricey’ when one accounts for the subsidies, which aren’t free since it’s my tax dollars, and even outside of the subsidies the electric and hybrid cars are much more expensive than an equivalent non-battery car. More time in the lab is needed to get the value down to something comparable.</p>
<p>Yes, some states provide additional subsidies, while funding lasts. IF and WHEN we buy, we will probably want a hybrid, just so we don’t end up having it die on us at a bad time or place. Actually, I hope solar cars improve enough so I could get one of those, but as a compromise, when we put photovoltaic on our home, we put in extra so we could put in an electrical charging station as needed or be able to handle increasing electrical needs (like when we have visitors, especially our kids who love their electronics and hot water). I want the batteries to improve in price and reduce in cost, but do know people who are buying electric cars and hybrids. A cousin recently bought a Prius & friend bought an EV. So far, neither has complaints.</p>
<p>It’s part of a product’s development to release it to the public to see how it fares. Do you expect a substitute to be developed overnight when the gas runs out? The oil from the Middle East could be shut off overnight. How much will a tank of gas be then?</p>
<p>Several coworkers have Leafs (Leaves? 
) and are very happy with them. Especially the people who also have solar panels. None of these individuals have long commutes, so it works well for them. It’s a nice car, but the range is too limited for the type of driving I do. The editor of a local paper bought one and has found that the actual range he’s getting is far far more limited than advertised.</p>
<p>One coworker has a Tesla, the sports car big bucks one. It’s a great car, and it’s totally out of price range for the vast majority of us. This particular couple has long supported electric vehicles–had an EV-1, in fact.</p>
<p>Love our Prius, which we run on battery as much as possible. But it has saved us many thousands in gas costs, and we got/needed no subsidy. </p>
<p>Not going to buy an electric car till they fix the problems, and we can drive it further than around the block without plugging it in.</p>
<p>Who knows, we may buy one, depending on needs and how we manage with grants and retirement and an extra year of tuition. I do like that we produce so much PV electricity, even in the winter with overcast days. My brothers also put in excess PV so they could put in an electric charging station if they bought an EV.</p>
<p>We have 2 Priuses (Prii?) and love them. Having traveled to Saudi Arabia and having been forced to wear a burkha, I am more than happy to not have my hard-earned money go to enrich the Middle East. We anticipate getting our kids electric cars when they graduate from college in a few years.</p>
<p>I guess part of our problem is that the last car we purchased new as in 1999, when EVs still had considerable room for improvement. The other cars that have come into our lives were all gently (or not too gently) pre-owned. I am interested in learning more about EVs and especially hybrids that allow for back up energy other than just electricity, just in case.</p>
<p>Just bought a Prius c, the new compact version. The price was way lower than an electric, even figuring in a tax break. Agree with Himom’s son. The all electrics just aren’t ready for prime time yet.</p>
<p>We just bought a new Prius also…the regular size one…love,love,love it.
DH was intrigued by the Chevy Volt but the price was prohibitive and the newness of it made us a little leary as far as long term perfomance. We travel a lot and who knows which towns along hundreds of miles of interstates would have charging stations.
Love my little semi-electric.</p>
<p>I wonder what ever happened to fuel-cell based electric cars. Bloom Boxes seem to be getting popular for high-tech companies to generate their power needs locally. It seems to me to be far more efficient at turning fuel directly to electricity than it is to burn it to heat water to spin a turbine and then send the power over long distances to companies.</p>
<p>This was a research area many years ago but it seems to have died out.</p>
<p>On oil+ng prices: NG prices are in the toilet right now - we have more of it than we can use. Some trucking companies are converting their fleets to use CNG - these are companies that do regular routes - there aren’t enough stations for long-haul. There are some individuals experimenting with CNG cars too.</p>
<p>Oil prices are down about 20% from the recent peak (down about 40% from the peak several years ago). This is due to the decline in global demand. Commodities can go up very quickly and then down even more quickly so energy supply going up can result in a tipping point which results in a crash.</p>
<p>MA has charging stations. They’ve had them at the Alewife T station for about 20 years. I’ve seen a few of them at Government Center too. I have no idea as to how they work.</p>
<p>I don’t see myself buying one anytime soon.</p>
<p>People tend to buy a car which will satisfy perceived “needs” they will rarely, if ever, encounter. Most people who buy 4WD SUV’s rarely (if ever) drive off road, in the snow, or carry 7+ people in them. (Some do - I’m not talking about them.) But they want the 4WD just in case they do any of that. Similarly, the “need” for 300 mile range is something that occurs rarely for most people.</p>
<p>90% of Americans drive less than 30 miles per day 90% of the time. It’s easy to build a cheap electric car with a 30 mile range with standard technology (golf-cart batteries, etc.) Longer trips could be accomplished by renting a gasoline powered car (or truck) when needed.</p>
<p>But that would require a paradigm shift in people’s attitudes. It would be “different.” It could be done, but the motivation isn’t there yet. I could see it happening, however. Already young people are increasingly less attached to cars; more live in urban areas, take public transportation, use Zipcars, etc. Cutting the umbilical cord to the gas guzzler in the driveway saves a lot of money and hassle.</p>
<p>(My family owns 5 cars. I’m speaking theoretically here.) :)</p>
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<p>I live in NH so everyone in the state will generally drive in snow and
ice regularly outside of those that refuse to drive in bad weather.</p>
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<p>30 miles isn’t always 30 miles. Your normal commute into Boston could
take an hour. With an accident, it could take two hours. So you make
sure that you have enough fuel for at least double what you will
normally need unless you have an incredibly reliable fuel logistics
system.</p>
<p>Similarly, we had a major power outage last fall with recovery times
of three to seven days for most people. Most of the gas stations
didn’t have power so they couldn’t pump gasoline. Those that did have
power either had huge gas lines or ran out of fuel quickly. So there
was stored energy in vehicles and in small gasoline containers. With
very little capacity in an electric vehicle and no convenient ways to
store fuel, you might be stuck with an electric car that depends on
the electric grid for power.</p>
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<p>There’s a lot of inconvenience involved too. You can get your tank
filled in ten minutes for a range of 400-500 miles. How much time do
you have to spend recharging your batteries? Do you have to hook
something up at home which requires your vehicle to be in a particular
place? I don’t particularly care to spend a lot of time refueling when
it’s 5 degrees outside.</p>
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<p>That’s a cost-based trend that is independent of fuel choice though.
I had a look at ZipCar for a rental to move furniture recently. They
have an initiation cost and an annual membership fee - it was more
efficient to rent a van from Home Depot to do the furniture move. I
looked into renting an SUV or Minivan and they weren’t cost-efficient
either.</p>
<p>The former gas guzzler in the driveway is getting a makeover. You can
even get Corvettes, BMWs with powerful engines and SUVs that get high
twenties and mid-30s for gas mileage.</p>