Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeff Niceswanger
My son has one. Had it a couple years now. He was over to the house last summer in it and brother John wouldn't even take a ride in it ! LOL ..In two years he has not spent a dime on fuel. Drives an hour each way to work. Plugs it into his garage charger when he gets home from work. Tells me he did not notice any change in his electric bill. So far, its never had to return to the dealer. Acceleration is amazing. I'm guessing, it's gotta be a 13 second car. Its so quiet inside its strange.
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Interesting that he never noticed a jump in his electric bill. A few months ago on the local news, a person who bought a pure electric car, was complaining how much their electric bill had gone up since they started charging their electric car every night. You would have to think charging a battery for 8 or 10 hours every night just HAS to use some juice. Shortly before I retired after 23 years at a Toyota dealership, 2 of the mechanics leased new Toyota Prius Prime Plug In Hybrids. both live about 20-25 miles from the dealership, and under normal conditions, each can make the commute from home without having the gas engine turn on, they then plug the car in at work, and when their 10 hour shift is over, they can, again, usually make it home just before the battery runs down far enough to cause the gas engine to start, and help charge the battery. The one guy had driven his Prius for 3 months, and still had 1/2 tank from when he picked the car up. Of course if you get stuck in gridlock, or need to run the heater or A/C a lot, the battery runs down that much quicker, or if you don`t baby it on acceleration. At home, you can elect to use a conventional 115 volt plug in, and wait 8 hours or more to charge the battery up, or spend $2000. or more, to have a high speed charger installed at home. I suppose if you do a lot of mostly local driving, and live in or near the city, an electric car or plug in hybrid may be worth considering, but I couldn`t imagine having one as your only vehicle if you live semi rural, or need to be able to go on a long drive now and then, without being stuck waiting for the battery to charge along the way. As for being able to tow a heavy trailer long distances, not sure how convenient trying to maneuver a big motorhome or crew cab dually with a 28 foot trailer behind it, between a pair of Teslas suckling at the public charging stations , would be. Not to mention all the big rig tractor trailers criss crossing North America. Really can`t see fossil fuels going away anytime soon. And realistically, do our cities and utility companies have anywhere near the needed surplus power to charge millions of electric cars? Should be interesting!