http://www.heraldchronicle.com/?p=12954 Gambler charges way through middle Tenn. in electric car trip April 27, 2014
[image http://www.heraldchronicle.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/getimagecar.jpg Richard Sharpe, from Henderson, Nev., proudly displays the Tesla Model S he was traveling in from his home near Las Vegas through Tennessee on his way to New Jersey. He was filling the vehicle, which has the electric equivalent of 416 horsepower, at a public charging station near Winchester City Hall. Sharpe, inset photo, views a map displaying where charging stations are located along his travel route. ] Gambling for a living — which routinely involves throwing away money — and buying an electric car to save energy might seem like polar-opposite approaches, but to Richard Sharpe, it makes perfect sense. The professional gambler from Henderson, Nev., who has played in the World Series of Poker, passed through Winchester recently on his way to see relatives in New Jersey. He decided to take a more southern route to mix in a little work with his recreational venture. The trek included attending college basketball’s Final Four tournament in Dallas, Texas, and the itinerary involved traveling through Tennessee along the way toward his Northeast destination. Sharpe was driving what most would not initially, at first glance, label an electric car. He was in a $90,000 Tesla Model S, which performs more like a thoroughbred than an energy conserver. The Model S is a full-sized electric car produced by Tesla Motors. It goes 265 miles on a full charge, and to speed buffs, can go from zero to 60 mph in 4.8 seconds — way faster than normal economy car standards. Sharpe explained how using his gambling proceeds to buy the Tesla fits into his lifestyle. “I’m a little bit more liberal than most people around here,” he said. “I’m into protecting and preserving the environment. “But this is a (phenomenal) car. It’s not a Nissan Leaf.” Sharpe said communities in California, such as Fremont, where the Tesla is made, have fast charging stations, which can electrically fill the Tesla in about a half hour and usually perform the service for free. However, areas where electric cars are less prominent have slower charging platforms, like Winchester. Sharpe said the slower units charge at a rate that will allow the car to go 16 miles for every hour it is on the charger at a cost of $1 an hour. Waiting can seem like an inconvenience, but he said most electric car owners do their own slow charging overnight at home which minimizes relying on the slower public electric chargers. Sharpe was waiting at the city’s fi ll area, near Winchester City Hall, several hours to charge the Tesla with enough electricity to make it to Knoxville. He added that faster charging units would be along the way to New Jersey, but it was also nice to take a laidback approach and visit some different territory. He said he is thankful Winchester and other similar Tennessee communities have public access to charging stations. Sharpe paid tribute to Tennessee, which had made the move to have accessible electric charging stations when Gov. Phil Bredesen was in offi ce. “What they’ve done here is really great,” he said. Sharpe said spending $90,000 to conserve energy might seem cost-prohibitive, but the purchase included a $7,500 tax credit, reducing the out of pocket cost on the Tesla to $82,500 — not much of an incentive for many motorists to venture into the high-performance electric-car realm. However, he said Tesla is working on a more consumer friendly model that should cost about $35,000. With the electricity to charge it either free or at a much-reduced rate, compared to operating gasoline-powered vehicles, the economics start to work. “At that point, the math starts to add up,” he said, referring to how the energy savings begins to amortize the vehicle purchasing cost. [© 2014 Lakeway Publishers] For all EVLN posts use: http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/template/NamlServlet.jtp?macro=search_page&node=413529&query=evln&sort=date EVLN: $750 Beijing Bubble EV & Smart42 EV video http://www.tflcar.com/2014/04/photo-of-the-day-bubble-car-of-beijing/ EVLN: Seattle EVA will showcase their converted & production EVs 5/11 http://www.bellevuereporter.com/community/257179731.html + EVLN: British Gas orders 100 Nissan e-NV200 electric vans {brucedp.150m.com} -- View this message in context: http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/EVLN-Gambler-charges-way-through-middle-Tennessee-in-a-Tesla-S-EV-tp4669492.html Sent from the Electric Vehicle Discussion List mailing list archive at Nabble.com. _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org For EV drag racing discussion, please use NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
