An electric car and the differences it can make for you

A friend of mine on Facebook wrote a bit yesterday about his Chevrolet Volt electric car.  What he says was rather eye opening to me and I think it may well be to lots of Americans who may not be familiar with what's possible here:

When I first got my Chevy Volt at the end of 2013, Keith Reynolds asked if I could give a one month update. With how obviously it behaved differently in the cold than warmer temperatures, I decided to wait until I had more info on different conditions to give a review. I'd say after a 75 degree day I'm now due.

The first thing I should say is it is an absolute joy to drive. It's like a silent hovercraft with instant acceleration and good (not killer) cornering. And the low drive setting engine brakes really hard so I rarely touch the brake, and just absorb whatever speed I was doing back into battery storage as I slow into braking traffic or lights, or down hills. I can come to a stop just taking my foot off the accelerator even on a downhill upwards of 10%.

I've driven it a bit over 5500 miles in four months, just over half of it electric and the rest on long trips out to NY state (230 miles each way). In the depth of winter I was getting only about 32 miles on a 10+ kWh charge (which costs me around $1.20), and low 30s mpg on gas. Its biggest weakness is heating the inside without the engine running, so it was using gas partly for heat, partly for locomotion. Today I got over 49 miles on the same 10+ kWh charge. Around 40 mpg with the gas engine charging the battery, which drives the wheels. I've used almost 76 gallons of gas in almost 2600 miles on gas, and about 2960 on electricity from my outdoor outlet and free public parking charges, probably about $80-90 in electricity.

So under 7 cents a mile to drive, and way more fun than any car I've ever had or driven, stick shifts or not. I swore I would never drive an automatic, but this car has totally changed my thinking. I would never buy anything but an electric car again. It's effectively getting well over 120 mpg on days I drive under 50 miles locally, I can go wherever I want, and I look forward to zipping around in it every morning. Among the hadfull of best purchases I've ever made.

So think about it.

You save money.

You buy less gas.  A LOT less.

You pollute less.

Those are two HUGE wins.

Wins for you. Wins for all of us.

Let's et this party started.

Link:  Three Years Later, Most Consumers Don't Understand