Do you own or would you buy an electric car?

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Dgflorida
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Joined: Wed Oct 07, 2015 8:10 pm

Re: Do you own or would you buy an electric car?

Post by Dgflorida »

I have driven an electric car as a rental and it was good, but quite a different experience with no motor sound. It handled well. But as pointed out, they are expensive. And the environmental costs of trashing millions of cars and building new ones is substantial. France attempted to force the transition and was met with a rebellion, the yellow vests. I looked into them for my son who doesn't drive much. And indeed the cost to upgrade his home electricity for overnight charging was substantial.
Dgflorida
Posts: 4381
Joined: Wed Oct 07, 2015 8:10 pm

Re: Do you own or would you buy an electric car?

Post by Dgflorida »

Wow! I assure everyone that I had no political intentions with the post. I am sorry if my question upset anyone. I would love to be able to use an electric golf cart for my local shopping. And if I were younger, I would start a campaign to make them street legal as a sensible alternative to gas cars. I can't see why these electric cars cost so much.
Quilter51
Posts: 2815
Joined: Sat Aug 29, 2015 6:04 pm

Re: Do you own or would you buy an electric car?

Post by Quilter51 »

I would consider a hybrid as I do lots of cross country driving and would not want to be caught somewhere I could not charge. Also with my knee and such I really really need something that is hip height. But as someone else said right now I believe the most environmentally sound thing I can do is maintain the car I have and try to drive it to 200 thousand miles instead of trading or trashing and buying the newest thing. And also be mindful of combing errands and such.
SandiSAHM
Posts: 2263
Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 11:46 am
Location: Oklahoma

Re: Do you own or would you buy an electric car?

Post by SandiSAHM »

We have a hybrid, it's 6 years old, bought it new, never had a problem with it. I think it might still be under some portion of its warranty.

At any rate, if we were to juggle cars now that DD is on the verge of needing one, if $ were no object I'd get DH an electric car for his commute (less than 10 miles each way), let DD use either the Camry (heavier, and likely to offer better protection in case of a crunch) or the Prius, because her home-to-campus commute is going to be a little lengthy.

I'd avoid a used electric car. The tech is still changing and I'd want the advantage of a warranty.

Doesn't matter, though, as the $ isn't there to add a new plug-in to the vehicle rotation and I won't buy one on credit, so we're probably going to end up adding a used Corolla (why don't they hybridize the Corolla? I loved my old Corolla and they sure look better than the new Prius) to the lineup for me to use as an errand-runner.

There's a somewhat prevailing idea here that I don't "need" a car available on a routine basis and I kind of see that, but in the event something WERE, finally, to break down, and it left my kid on the side of the road, I want to be able to get to her. Or if DH were on the side of the road, roadside assistance or not, I'd drive to wherever he was, offer him a ride home. He's wrecked 2 of our previous vehicles (totaled that Corolla), but in each case drove the crunched vehicle home.
colonialgirl
Posts: 1835
Joined: Sat Aug 29, 2015 2:01 am
Location: Central Illinois

Re: Do you own or would you buy an electric car?

Post by colonialgirl »

I don't think anyone took it as political DG. It is a good discussion. What always bothers me is - they burn fossil fuels to make electricity - so are electric cars really that much better environmentally? I don't know - I have never really researched anything about them - but they are still burning something to make them go - just in a power plant not the engine.
SandiSAHM
Posts: 2263
Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 11:46 am
Location: Oklahoma

Re: Do you own or would you buy an electric car?

Post by SandiSAHM »

colonialgirl wrote: Mon Sep 09, 2019 1:12 pmWhat always bothers me is - they burn fossil fuels to make electricity - so are electric cars really that much better environmentally? I don't know - I have never really researched anything about them - but they are still burning something to make them go - just in a power plant not the engine.
It's an interesting thought, to me, that eventually the alternate sources of electricity (we see a lot of wind power farms down here, and some solar) could be used to power electric cars - if the day comes that I can put solar panels on my roof to power the car in the garage - YES, I'd be on THAT in a heartbeat. One thing we have here in abundance - sunshine.

And wind. Two houses ago I lived within a mile of 2 houses that used those little personal windmills to power their homes and sold their overage to the city. Different city than here, but an awesome idea across the board.

DH has occasion to go to Norway for work - they've harnessed the tide to generate electricity. I kid you not.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electricity_sector_in_Norway
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