Electric Cars
In 2018, a solar developer from Michigan who has moved to Illinois named Laren Cohie wrote:
[Many] of us can do something significant to move [clean energy] forward here, now, and be personally, and financially rewarded at the same time. About six months ago, we decided to investigate used electric cars. We were just curious. We did not expect them to be economical, yet. So, we had no intention of actually buying one, for at least another couple of years. However, once we started looking, we realized that we could get an electric car for virtually the same cost as for a comparable used gasoline car. We ended up buying a 2015 Nissan Leaf...(same body style and indistinguishable from the 2017s) with about 21,000 miles on it. We love it. Were we being consumers by buying “the latest toy?” Well!....I guess, in some sense. After all, it is really fun for us “environment nerds.” But, when we crunch the numbers, our electric car does not consume the way a gasoline car does. And, since we use it for driving that used to be done in a gasoline vehicle, we actually consume less.
We never have to go to gas stations, wait in lines, stand out in the cold, rain, heat, etc, and then pay to damage the environment. We just plug in at home, where all our electricity comes from on-shore wind (the lowest carbon footprint), so our driving is truly clean/green. In fact, a Nissan Leaf, powered by on-shore wind electricity has a carbon footprint that is literally smaller than a bicycle rider (additional food calorie intake has a carbon footprint, too) And, we average 5.4 miles per kWh (significantly more than average Leaf drivers) so driving is also really cheap, making our electric car, especially in the long run, a very smart financial choice. There are no oil changes, no anti-freeze, no transmission fluid or even a transmission to break, no exhaust and emissions system to go bad and need testing and repairs, no gas tank, gas lines, no fuel injectors, etc. Even ALL of the lubrication is sealed, and totally maintenance free. The regenerative braking reduces standard brake wear to a tiny fraction of that on gasoline cars. The only maintenance is rotating the tires and cleaning the interior air filter, two things that are part of the long list of maintenance and things to break on gasoline cars. Electric cars are way simpler than gasoline cars, which makes them way more dependable and economical, than gasoline cars. Eventually, since we tend to drive our cars to hundreds of thousands of miles, our Leaf can be expected to need a battery replacement. The battery is under the car, where it would be unbolted and unplugged. We expect that, by then, batteries will be both much lower cost (prices are dropping, already) and also higher capacity (which has also been happening). And, just because a battery loses enough capacity that it is no longer ideal for vehicle use, does not mean that it does not have a lot of life left in it for use as a home battery system (for off-peak grid electricity, or home generated Solar electricity).
Take a look at used electric cars (or new ones). You are likely to be as impressed as we were. Maybe you will be impressed enough to “get on board” yourself, like we did. You can be part of moving this transition along even faster.
Laren Cohie is a well-known and well-respected environmentalist in our area who has been educating and informing us for several years now!
Michael Zurakov, another respected environmentalist who has been advocating for electric cars for a number of years also has this to say:
Folks need to know they can get a clean 3 year old Leaf for around $12K, and enjoy super-low operating costs for several years.
The author of this page did buy a used 2015 Nissan Leaf in December of 2018 from CarMax for $13,900. It required $2000 down and a monthly payment of $280, which includes a 5 year/100,000 mile warranty and GAP coverage, although the warranty does not cover the battery. The author has been driving this car happily ever since, although it doesn't work too well when the temperature drops to below 0 degrees F. Other more advanced electric cars don't have that problem.
I thought I'd spend a moment and answer 2 of the most frequent questions that I'm getting from people asking about electric cars:
1. Do you need to buy a special hookup to charge your electric car?
Answer: No. I used to charge my car from a regular 120 VAC outlet in my garage. With that charge, you can charge a 2015 EV car in 8-12 hours (such as overnight) and can routinely get 70 miles on 1 charge. More recently made cars have better range. You can also go to a charging station and charge your car with a “fast charge” in about 30 minutes for very little money, although the prevalence of fast charge stations is not great yet, but there are also many regular charge stations in many locations that can fully charge the car in a matter of some hours.
2. What about long distance trips
Answer: I heard that you can drive all the way from New York to California with your electric car, as long as the car has at least 200 mile range or the longest distance between charging station. You just need to plan your trip. You just need to route your trip to the next charging station each time, and there are enough charging stations around the country to make it work. Also, many newer cars have a live map in them and when you are getting low on charge it automatically tells you where the nearest charging locations are, although sometimes this information is not 100% accurate. There are many phone apps that also show locations of charge stations and even whether they are in use real-time. The car also tells you how many miles of charge you have left at any given moment, although you have to remember it is just an estimate and should typically subtract about 30% for assurance.
There is also a newer EV battery called an LFP battery (Lithium Ion Iron Phosphate LIFEPO4) that contains no Cobalt or Nickel, This is important because there is a humanitarian crisis going on in the Congo right now with the mining of Cobalt in very bad worker conditions. As technology advances, we should be able to arrive at more and more sustainable solutions. Tesla is already planning on switching over to the LFP battery in the near future.
There is also a Chinese EV company called BYD that is making quite affordable EV's but the US is blocking the sale of these vehicles in the United States probably for political reasons.
BYD will mass-produce sodium-ion batteries in 2023.
BYD is expected to start shipping EVs with sodium-ion batteries by Q2 of 2023.
This page last updated on 3/20/2023