As is the case with other drivers
I've spoken to, it all comes down to "range anxiety," that fear that
you will run out of electrical juice and not be able to find
someplace to recharge, the worry about the time it will take make a
charge, or both.
Until there are more charging
stations in public areas and the technology advances to the point that a
full charge can be completed quickly, it's going to be difficult
for my wife and I, and likely many other households, to view a 100
percent electrical vehicle as a viable, full-time option.
The Leaf, at full charge, is supposed to go 100 miles. But that depends on how and where you drive it. The range gauge, which I affectionately dubbed "The Estimator," estimates how long you have left to drive on the current charge. But its estimates fluctuate wildly during a drive. Go up a hill and it will drop a few miles. Take your foot off the pedal as you cruise down a hill and it will rise back one or two miles.
The charge time is also a
problem. Using the standard 110-volt outlet in my garage, some nights I
plugged it in for 12 hours, and it was still not completely full.
Fortunately, the two 220-volt
recharging stations at Ewa Town Center have been open each time I've
been there, and that's helped immensely.
***
After a week of test-driving a
Chevrolet Volt — and with the deadline for this story fast approaching —
I knew I would have to be able to answer the question of whether I
would be willing to give up my gas-powered car and join the roughly 1
percent of Hawaii motorists who have made the switch to EVs.
Conceptually the answer is yes. I
loved the freedom of cruising past gas stations and not having to check
whether the price of gas had gone up or down from the day before.
It was also satisfying to know that even though most of the electricity
used to charge the battery was generated by oil, the EV was using
fuel much more efficiently than a typical internal combustion
engine.
The Volt's 40- to 45-mile range on a single charge was more than enough
for my 28-mile round-trip daily commute. And roughly 90 percent of
the electricity I used in the car came from free 240-volt charging
stations in town. The rest of the electricity I used was from a
120-volt home charger at an estimated cost of 8 to 9 cents a
kilowatt-hour, about half the fuel cost for a standard car getting
25 miles per gallon.
Realistically, however, there
are a few hurdles in my particular case that will keep me in my Nissan
Versa for the forseeable future. First and foremost, I have no
place to plug in the car at my townhouse complex. The one time I used a
"home charger" was actually at my father's house about a mile
away.
The other thing holding me back?
Financial considerations. Even after the $7,500 federal rebate for EVs,
the Volt would set me back $31,165 — more than the household
budget could bear at this point.
***
After I put up my first blog post
at evlife.staradvertiserblogs.com, I heard back from a six-month owner
of a Mitsubishi i-MiEV, who said, "Enjoy your week with the Miev
and smile as you drive knowing that you are not contributing to the air
pollution on Oahu!"
At that moment I wasn't smiling.
What was to have liberated me from frequent treks to pay parking meters
during my workday was taking up more time in a near-daily search
for an open battery-charging station and more energy calculating how
much power I needed to get through my day. All of us are
accustomed to jumping in our cars and going, and not being able to do
that became one more source of daily stress.
But on Friday, day five, when I
was asked whether I was giving up the car that day, I said, "No, I'm
going to be like the Hawaii News Now people and return it Sunday."
I have to say, the car had grown on me. The car is zippy and fun to drive. Its small size makes it easy to slip zippy and fund to drive. Its small size makes it easy to slip through spaces where other cars can't fit. Free parking at metered spaces is a plus and makes you feel as if you're getting away with something, so much so that you think you can get away with other things, like illegal U-turns. It feels like a toy rather than a "serious vehicle." Getting accustomed to the car was just a matter of learning its quirks, and I found, in just one week, it was changing my driving habits.
The main cause of stress in the beginning was a miles-to-go meter that, like an hourglass, counts down the miles until your battery charge is depleted. I left the Cutter/Mitsubishi dealership with 67 miles, but by the time I got to work, it was down to 30. Because the meter "predicts" future mileage based on your current driving modes, simply turning on the air conditioner immediately wiped out 10 miles.
The main challenge had been the hunt for open charging stations. There's a lot of competition for the few stations, where you must typically plant your car four hours for a full charge at a 240-volt station. I learned the EV/hybrid crowd is still a small, helpful and courteous community who will call the next person waiting for a charge.
There are not nearly enough stations to serve all EV drivers. I considered going to Kahala Mall on Saturday but didn't because I had no guarantee the charging station would be available.
During a workday, recharging is generally no problem, because I have eight hours to leave the car. On the weekends I'm not likely to linger in one place that long.
This should be no problem for car owners who can charge up their cars on their home electricity for 12 hours or install a faster-charging unit.
For me the cost of the EV cars — the i-MiEV sells for $21,625 after a $7,500 federal rebate — is still a factor in whether I would own one. My current BMW?Z4 cost $11,000, paid in cash, two years ago. My Chinese parents didn't raise me to be a financial fool, and the cost difference between running an EV car and gasoline-engine car is negligible when you consider that any savings in gas will, in the long run, go toward buying a new battery.
The main cause of stress in the beginning was a miles-to-go meter that, like an hourglass, counts down the miles until your battery charge is depleted. I left the Cutter/Mitsubishi dealership with 67 miles, but by the time I got to work, it was down to 30. Because the meter "predicts" future mileage based on your current driving modes, simply turning on the air conditioner immediately wiped out 10 miles.
The main challenge had been the hunt for open charging stations. There's a lot of competition for the few stations, where you must typically plant your car four hours for a full charge at a 240-volt station. I learned the EV/hybrid crowd is still a small, helpful and courteous community who will call the next person waiting for a charge.
There are not nearly enough stations to serve all EV drivers. I considered going to Kahala Mall on Saturday but didn't because I had no guarantee the charging station would be available.
During a workday, recharging is generally no problem, because I have eight hours to leave the car. On the weekends I'm not likely to linger in one place that long.
This should be no problem for car owners who can charge up their cars on their home electricity for 12 hours or install a faster-charging unit.
For me the cost of the EV cars — the i-MiEV sells for $21,625 after a $7,500 federal rebate — is still a factor in whether I would own one. My current BMW?Z4 cost $11,000, paid in cash, two years ago. My Chinese parents didn't raise me to be a financial fool, and the cost difference between running an EV car and gasoline-engine car is negligible when you consider that any savings in gas will, in the long run, go toward buying a new battery.
***
Visit HawaiiNewsNow.com for reviews on the Mitsubishi i-MiEV, Nissan Leaf and Chevy Volt by Dan Cooke, Steve Uyehara and Tannya Joaquin.
For video reviews on each car, visit the following sites: Dan Cooke's Mitsubishi i-MiEV: goo.gl/cgNZs; Steve Uyehara's Nissan Leaf: goo.gl/TqjJW; Tannya Joaquin's Chevy Volt: goo.gl/sWl8e
*** [5/22/12]
On a somewhat related note, I was always kind of interested in getting an electric scooter. Ever since I saw some a few years ago at the 99 Ranch shopping mall. They had it discounted to $100, probably because the store was going out of business. But I didn't know that and while I was mulling it over the store had sold out and/or closed.
Now I see an ad in the December 14, 2011 MidWeek about a place called Aloha E-Bikes. Their website is alohaebike.com. I see they have an electric scooter for $300. Might be fun to try out. No mention of charging time or range (unlike the $800 and $850 models). Their top of the line is their electric motorcycle which will run you $7600.
*** [5/30/13] The LA Times reviews the Nissan Leaf, Fiat 500e, Honda Fit EV
For video reviews on each car, visit the following sites: Dan Cooke's Mitsubishi i-MiEV: goo.gl/cgNZs; Steve Uyehara's Nissan Leaf: goo.gl/TqjJW; Tannya Joaquin's Chevy Volt: goo.gl/sWl8e
*** [5/22/12]
On a somewhat related note, I was always kind of interested in getting an electric scooter. Ever since I saw some a few years ago at the 99 Ranch shopping mall. They had it discounted to $100, probably because the store was going out of business. But I didn't know that and while I was mulling it over the store had sold out and/or closed.
Now I see an ad in the December 14, 2011 MidWeek about a place called Aloha E-Bikes. Their website is alohaebike.com. I see they have an electric scooter for $300. Might be fun to try out. No mention of charging time or range (unlike the $800 and $850 models). Their top of the line is their electric motorcycle which will run you $7600.
*** [5/30/13] The LA Times reviews the Nissan Leaf, Fiat 500e, Honda Fit EV
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