Although $1 per gallon fuel seems like a distant memory, over 260,000 people in the US and Canada pay less than that for every mile they drive. They are the early adopters of electric cars and almost all of them share the same sentiment: they will never buy another gas-burning car. They say it with the kind of firmness, even fervor, that you hear from users of Macintosh computers. They are not going back, and they are quite vocal about their conversion.
When they say things like “I’m driving on sunshine,” it’s charming and a bit idealistic, but a good look at the numbers reveals that in fact, driving an electric car is like driving on $1 per gallon gasoline. Twelve cents worth of electricity will move an electric car three miles; $1.00 for 25 miles. And EVs don’t emit any tailpipe emissions. When fueled from rooftop solar arrays, they don’t emit any pollutants at all.
The initial high price of electric vehicles has given way to a raft of bargains, many now priced lower than their equivalent gas-burning siblings on a total monthly operating basis. Nine electric cars are now available on lease for under $200 per month, which makes the total cost well under $100, or even zero when offset by fuel cost savings. Clean air rebates or tax credits in many states zero out the typical down payment. Because there are no maintenance costs for the first three years under warranty, for many commuters EVs are, on a total cost of ownership basis, free cars.
Electric Car Insider magazine, a publisher of an EV Buyers Guide*, makes the case for the economic, environmental, and energy security benefits of driving electric in a quarterly print magazine. The company in in the final week of a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign that will put the magazine on the newsstand shelf at all Barnes & Noble in the US and all Chapters/Indigo in Canada.
Christopher Alan, the magazine’s editor and a former automotive technician, called the move to electric drivetrains “the most significant development of the automotive world in my lifetime.” Alan says he has three all-electric cars in the household and that they are completely adequate for all the family’s travel. For long distance trips, he drives the Tesla Model S, which in addition to 265-mile range, can be quickly recharged by Tesla’s nationwide network of charging stations. The car, with 25,000 miles on the odometer in a year, has logged numerous trips back and forth from Seattle to San Diego.
Alan has offered his Tesla Model S on loan to backers of his kickstarter campaign. More information about electric vehicles are on the company’s Kickstarter campaign website at: http://kck.st/1zBzwt2
*This article was kindly sponsored by Christopher Alan.
I don't like paywalls. You don't like paywalls. Who likes paywalls? Here at CleanTechnica, we implemented a limited paywall for a while, but it always felt wrong — and it was always tough to decide what we should put behind there. In theory, your most exclusive and best content goes behind a paywall. But then fewer people read it! We just don't like paywalls, and so we've decided to ditch ours. Unfortunately, the media business is still a tough, cut-throat business with tiny margins. It's a never-ending Olympic challenge to stay above water or even perhaps — gasp — grow. So ...
Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News!
Have a tip for CleanTechnica, want to advertise, or want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here.
