Not ready for prime time.

So all these folks pushing for electric cars: You know, Coal powered cars.

I actually took the time to look at electric cars: Not the expensive Teslas, but the Leafs and the Bolts and the Mitsubishi IMiEV (I tried to get some specs on the Fords, but their web pages either won’t load or go to an error page…I finally gave up, so I can’t comment on them).

I thought , Hey, much (90+%) of the time we go less than a hundred miles in a day, total, so why not check them out? Might save us a bit of cash, fuel wise, and we’d still have the other car for those longer trips……And the truck to carry anything heavy, long or large.

Ultimately, it comes to this: One can get a small (very small) car for about $30,000 after incentives….government rebates, power company rebates, etc. About $10K off the actual price. One with not a whole lot of features…(the features are available, but at a higher cost…like $5-$7 K more). Less room than most cars, even less cargo capacity. Performance that is not bad, but not great. Of course, the Bolt has a backup camera washer jet that is kinda cool, but not enough to offset the other negatives….

Charge time is more than overnight for most cars from full to empty; at least 6 hours for a half full battery, which only gives you about 100 miles range, tops.

So one gets a smaller car, with less performance, long refuel times, at a cost that is about 25% higher than an equivalent (or even nicer) gasoline fueled car….And a gas or diesel car can be refueled to full 250+ mile range in 10 minutes or so…

And in addition to that inconvenience, one must drive the car for about 45,000 miles to make up the difference in cost….yep, 45,000 miles to break even cost wise. And that isn’t figuring any resale value (which seems to be much less for full electric cars). And that isn’t counting the cost of the home charger and installation, either, nor the cost of the actual electricity to charge the car.

So:

More money, less car, less range, less convenience, for no monetary savings for at least 4 years for the average person (12K miles per year)…Not counting depreciation and resale losses.

Why should we buy these cars the “green” folks want us to? Less (much less), for more money?

And they are still coal powered cars! Somehow their CO2 savings calculations never take that into account. most of your electrical power still comes from burning a hydrocarbon of some kind….

4 thoughts on “Not ready for prime time.

  1. Buy used Leaf from Carmax, 2 years old $10500. Battery age is important not miles and the economics are much better.

  2. Not to mention that in states like the Peoples' Republik of Kalifornia, legislation is already in the works to charge you by the mile for driving your car, as opposed to charging you the same, via the various and sundry taxes at the pump. Don't entertain any thoughts that other states won't follow suit. Hell; Kommifornia is even trying to outlaw vehicles with internal combustion engines entirely!

    Like you said; the electricity to charge those cars needs to come from somewhere. Factor in the loss between the generating station and the outlet feeding the car's charger, and you're already running a net loss. And those batteries; probably made in China, where environmental controls are a joke. Then they're loaded onto fuel-burning ships, then onto fuel-burning trains and/or trucks to reach the assembly lines. Then the finished cars are loaded back onto those fuel-burning trains/trucks and taken to the dealer. Woo-HOO! This is sounding greener by the minute!

    And how about those "updates on the fly?" If Tesla can update or change programming on their cars as they're being driven, what's to keep "them" from shutting off your car with a mouse click? No; I'd rather keep burning dinosaur squeezins, and be able to go where I want, when I want, without governmental permission…

    Of course, most voters these days seem to only are about getting free stuff, while watching Dancing With The Stars, while smoking a J…

  3. Plus batteries only last 5-6 years depending on how often they are recharged.

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