Why choose an electric vehicle (EV)?
There are many reasons why you might choose an EV instead of a fossil fuel vehicle. Here’s some that we find are important to us.
- Safety. In government crash tests, the safest vehicles are, in order, the Tesla Model Y, Tesla Model 3, Tesla Model S, and Tesla Model X. Because of the low center of gravity the battery pack creates, the impact resistance of the battery pack, and the crumple zones the design allows, these are the safest vehicles you can buy.
- Clean. There are no emissions. Although we use clean, renewable hydro power here in Chelan County, even if our electricity came from old coal power plants, studies have concluded that there is less air pollution by driving an electric car. From “cradle to grave” EVs produce less than half the emissions over their lifetime than a comparable fossil fuel car. And, our national electrical grid is getting cleaner all the time as more of our power is produced by solar, wind, and natural gas power plants. Transportation accounts for over 40% of climate changing emissions. The most effective thing each of us can do to have a positive affect on global climate change is to drive an EV instead of an fossil fuel car!
- Lower “fuel” costs. At Chelan PUD rates of $0.028/kilowatt hour, our electricity is equivalent to $0.28 per gallon gasoline! Less than a penny a mile compared to about $0.14/mile for a fuel efficient small sedan. Our fuel dollars stay in our local economy. Electric rates are regulated and stable, unlike volatile and unstable gas prices. You can produce your own “fuel” with a home solar, wind, or micro-hydro power system. We calculate that we saved almost $3,000 in fuel and maintenance costs over the four year lease of a 2012 Nissan Leaf, compared to a similar fossil fuel vehicle. We saved over $3,500 last year on “fuel” costs for our Tesla Model Y.
- They are extremely reliable and require less maintenance. Typically rotating the tires, changing the cabin air filter, and replenishing windshield washer fluid is the only maintenance required. Brakes last much longer because of regenerative braking. A typical internal combustion engine (ICE) has about 200 moving parts. An electric motor has 1 moving part!
- Quiet. EVs are virtually silent. Although there is still a little wind and road noise, driver fatigue is greatly reduced.
- Powerful. Electric motors have 100% torque at zero rpm. Even “low performance” EVs go from 0 to 60 mph in 5 seconds or less! We don’t drive EVs for that feature, but it’s nice to know it’s there if you need it.
- Meets most driving needs. About 80% of us drive less than 40 miles a day. Reasonably priced EVs with 200+ mile range are available. Our 2013 Tesla Model S had over 200 miles range and we used the national network of Tesla SuperChargers on two 4,500+ mile trips to New Mexico and spent less than $50 on “fuel”! Our Tesla Model Y has 330 mile range and our last road trip to southwest Texas cost about $150 for “fuel”.
- Charging infrastructure is available. Although most electric vehicles are charged overnight at home, public charging stations are available for longer trips (see plugshare.com).
- “Level 1” charging stations are standard 120 volt outlets, available everywhere, and require several days to fully recharge. (5 miles of range per hour of charge.). Even with daily errands, you can be fully charged in a few days.
- “Level 2” charging is 240 volt, like a dryer outlet, and takes four to six hours to fully recharge. (30 to 70 miles range per hour, depending on the charger in the EV.)
- “Level 3” charging is 440 volt and takes 30 minutes or less to recharge a Leaf to 80%. (150 miles of range per hour). Tesla Superchargers are even more powerful, fully charging a large battery Tesla in 20 minutes. (300 to over 1,000 miles of range per hour!)
- Public charging stations are available throughout north central WA, over Hwy 2 to Puget Sound and east to Spokane, along Hwy 20 over North Cascades Hwy, and on Hwy 97 to Canada. More are being added.
- Tax credits. These incentives change, so check with an EV dealer or tax expert.
Learn more about EV models available at the national Electric Auto Association web site, myeva.org, for a listing of available EVs see plugstar.com, or, for local north central WA electric vehicle info from Plug-In NCW, plugincw.com.
R. Brooks, 9/18/23