As a fan of cars...I am interested in the way the automotive industry is trying to move.........anywhere. Mainly in the direction of alternative fuels. I guess Electricity is an alternative fuel.
Next year, Nissan and GM will be introducing the Leaf and Volt into the mass market. The Leaf is 100% electric and can travel about 100 miles. The Volt is another, more hybrid-ish option. You can travel 40 miles on all electric but can go up to 350 with assistance of a gas engine. Neither is new to the world, but this is the first (that I'm aware of) mass release of a plug-in electric vehicle.
I love the idea of an electric vehicle, however I can really say this isn't for me. (Shocking for people who know me. "Wayde...NOT wanting a car?") Well, the electric car is cool, and I would be on this if I lived in a house where I could charge my car. I live in a town-house now, and mainly lived in apartments and condos.
Then, I have to say....what's wrong with gas? Well for most, it's pollution and sustainability. Here in Hawaii, most of our electricity comes from fossil fuels....but we're working on it. We also have one of the highest electricity rates in the nation. Even with this, the Leaf takes 22.1 kilowatt hours to charge from 0-100 (100 miles). The Oahu residential electric rates are 22.51 average cents per kilowatt hour (on the low end) and the Big Island is at 32.69 cents per kilowatt hour. I travel about 350 miles per week. It would cost me about $17.41 per week to drive a Volt on Oahu. This is compared to my $35 I spend to fill my Honda Civic.
The problem I see with the Leaf is the limited 100 miles per charge. 100 miles depends on your driving conditions. If, for some reason, I decide to take a trip to the other side of the Island....like I did a couple of days ago....I would be screwed. The Volt fixes this problem. I could go only on Battery, then if I need to go farther, I can depend on a hybrid mode. But then, there's the life of the battery....Batteries lose their charge potential as they age.
If you switch out batteries as the car ages, what do you do with old batteries? Is this environmental to have all these batteries? In conclusion, I vote Fuel Cell!~ haha
Still has electric drive and can simply fill the fuel tank if I run out of juice (instead of waiting to charge) and less net carbon emissions than plug-ins (in my opinion).
Credits:
Please listen to this NPR article comparing both the Chevy Volt and Nissan Leaf.
Hawaii Electric rates were collected from the HECO website.
Nissan Leaf charge amount came from the Hamiltonian Function blog (I think that's what the blog is called).
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