whisperonthewind

Battery Investing for Beginners

One other comment: Because I live alone, it is not practical to own two vehicles, so whatever vehicle I drive has to be able to work for the local driving as well as the long distance driving.

Battery Investing for Beginners

I like the smaller cars, and currently own one that gets about 35 mpg, city driving, and better than that on the highway. I will get an even smaller car eventually, maybe next year. I most likely will choose not to get a battery operated vehicle - no matter what kind of battery they offer - because although I don't always drive more than 20 or 30 miles in a day, I do drive more than 100 miles in a day at least once a week, and several times during the year I drive more than 800 miles in a day. I like to drive! I would be willing to drive a CNG vehicle or even one the runs on hydrogen, but I am not willing to be grounded to 100 miles per charge. My closest family member lives more than 100 miles away, and my kids live in different states (where there are jobs), several hundred miles away, so to limit myself to a battery would mean plane, bus, or train plus car rental. It would be cheaper to pay for the gasoline for those drives.

When the rest of the real world catches on that they'll be limited to a 100 mile round trip, the battery idea will be relegated to the golf cart/wheelchair crowd. I'm not ready to join that crowd yet.

The Plug In Vehicle Scam

For the people who live within big city limits where mass transit is an option, or people who only live a few miles from where they work, shop, or find entertainment, electric vehicles will perhaps be an option. For those who choose to live "in the country" for whatever reason, mass transit and fast drives to work are not an option. Admittedly, they chose those places, and knew that travel time to work or to town might be longer. Clearly their reasoning for moving outweighed that expanded travel time. And, with that in mind, just as clearly it will outweigh the choice for power.

If an electric or battery-operated vehicle can't make that distance, the purchase will not be made. Why buy something you can't use?

Cities are not the only place to live, and by the choice of many, also not the best place. I have spent the last 30 years moving farther and farther from the big city, and with each mile I've met more people who are doing the same. We have more lakes than restaurants, more rivers than barbershops, and more wildlife wandering across our roads than most areas have traffic lights or children crossing those roads. We brake for ducks and turtles, and we like it. So the electric vehicles won't be used here because they can't get us to work and back home to the areas we love, and there are no buses out here.

Now excuse me, I have to go out and watch the birds.