http://www.rrstar.com/article/20150226/OPINION/150229396 My View: Electric car makes driving fun again By Harlan Johnson Feb. 26, 2015
[image http://www.rrstar.com/storyimage/IR/20150226/OPINION/150229396/AR/0/AR-150229396.jpg (x-ray view of Leaf EV) ] I love my new Nissan Leaf. Fully electric. It’s changed me. I used to avoid unnecessary trips. The shock of paying $70 to fill my tank gave me pause. But other EV owners changed my perspective on Jan. 2, the day I brought my Leaf home from Evanston. Right there, at the lightning-quick free-charge station in the Whole Foods garage (near Woodfield Mall), the couple said they go for rides every chance they get. What fun! It's like in the '50s when we'd go for a Sunday drive for the fun of it, when gas was 20 to 30 cents a gallon. My sister Mavis and I would set out on country roads around Rockford getting lost on purpose. Then we'd keep on exploring until we found our way home. Yes, what fun! Now I relish taking several trips a day. The cost per mile is a fraction of what it had been. And the experience of driving this car is really different. If I'm going below 17 mph, there's a "beep beep beep" to warn anyone nearby because the motor is so quiet at slow speeds. Same when I back up. The way it handles reminds me of the MGB Roadster of my youth. It's not a sports car (holds five), but all those batteries under the floorboards give it a solid feel, and it's so responsive. Now I enjoy the jack-rabbit starts I used to avoid to save gas. And it’s so quiet. Everyday trips around town are so far below the 75-mile cold-weather range that I don't worry, and I enjoy the heated seats, heated steering wheel and the heater. It’s almost cozy. I always have plenty of battery power to spare. I don't even need to charge every night. ComEd’s optional hourly pricing rate goes way down in the middle of the night. I can set the car's timer to charge it then. On the other hand, I've learned a new expression: range anxiety. Going to Chicago requires forethought. I use the economy setting, sacrificing pickup. I drive slower, and I’m anxious if it's frigid and windy. That reduces the range. So does the heater. The range indicator on the instrument panel may go down at twice the number of miles I'm driving. That fast charger at Whole Foods is great. After a quick charge, I drive to the Cumberland El station and go to the loop, avoiding crazy downtown-parking costs. The trade-off: It takes time to charge my Leaf, and public transportation takes time. Did you even know about the Nissan Leaf? Probably not. Where are the TV ads? Nissan doesn’t hype the Leaf. New EV technologies have lower profit margins. Subsidies bring the price down. It’s a “ZEV,” a zero-emission vehicle, helping Nissan meet the CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) standard. ZEVs help a manufacturer lower the overall amount of gasoline its cars consume so they can sell more big, less-efficient high-profit vehicles, and they can even sell ZEV credits to other car companies. It’s all about federal regulations. My hope is that soon there’ll be a carbon fee and dividend law. Every household will receive a dividend from a fee charged to all fossil-fuel companies at the source. Gas will cost more, but the dividend can help you buy an EV car and maybe even a rooftop solar panel setup. No complicated government stuff, just simple capitalist principles encouraging us to go fossil-free. Want to help? Join the nonpartisan Citizens' Climate Lobby. Earl Rowe heads the local chapter; call 815-218-0689 [© rrstar.com] For EVLN posts use: http://evdl.org/evln/ http://www.evdl.org/archive/index.html#nabble+template%2FNamlServlet.jtp%3Fmacro%3Dsearch_page%26node%3D413529%26query%3DEVLN%2Bbrucedp2%26days%3D0%26sort%3Ddate http://www.newswiretoday.com/news/150769/ Hi-Efficiency Infineon 650V IGBTs available for EV use http://infineon.com/discrete-automotive-igbt http://www.utilitydive.com/news/proposed-drone-rules-could-revolutionize-grid-monitoring/367721/ edrone rules allow grid monitoring,tend crops, deliver packages + http://patch.com/new-jersey/wayne/wayne-ford-says-it-will-remain-open-during-renovations-0 NJ Ford dealer keeps EVSE available during renovations, Coffee,WiFi,+ + EVLN: Nissan Insane Ultimate Smart BBQ e-NV200 EV w/ Karaoke&Drone (v) {brucedp.150m.com} -- View this message in context: http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/EVLN-Leaf-Electric-car-makes-driving-fun-again-tp4674041.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)
