Range anxiety? Like I need something else to be anxious about.

So Consumer Reports has had a chance to drive the oh so interesting Mitsubishi iMiEV (pronounce eye-Meev). Their review of the car is here at this link. Unfortunately they have put me into somewhat of a tailspin. If you haven't figured it out from the title of my rant today it was a less than stellar review of the car.

The two cars I've been most interested in, up to this point, are the Nissan Leaf, if I even fit, Nissan is notorious for making cars that are too small for my 6'6" frame, and a car that hasn't been produced yet, and I'm sworn by a verbal non-disclosure to discuss at this time. Leaving out the iMiEV is not an oversight, it's just really ugly. I'm not sure an ugly car is worth paying $47k US for. That said, I've heard nice things about the iMiEV too. Robert Llewellyn, a British actor, was able to test drive one and from what I saw absolutely loved the ride. You can view the video from Autoblog Green here.

So, onto this issue at hand, range anxiety. I've never worried previously about driving an electric car since the furthest I ever really travel in North Texas is about 80 miles. That would be the ultimate range of the iMiEV and the Nissan Leaf could travel another 20 miles if the information being reported is to be believed. The article from Consumer Reports however would lead you to believe that 80 for the iMiEV is far beyond what could possibly be gained. Running the heater, which most of the people in the US will have to do at some point during the year, will actually cut battery life in half, 40 miles from full charge. Ok, not so cool, that means you have to be very careful in the winter as to where you go and how you drive. Granted you wouldn't have to run the heater quite as hard if the car lets you run the heat or A/C while you have it plugged in waiting to be used. Still, it's a bit scary. If you toss some highways in there you're looking at a much shorter drive. The iMiEV range was assessed to be 100 miles per charge on an apparently ludicrous test track in Japan called the, "Japanese 10-15 test cycle" which if used to asses a standard Toyota Prius will grant you an estimated mpg of 83. That same Prius in the US is rated at 48 or something along those lines, so that gives you an idea for how much range you can expect from the iMiEV.

So the results of all this anxiety? Thinking about the GM Volt a lot. Thinking, 40 mpc is a good range in all electric mode. How important is it, really, to never have to service your car since your electric motor has no fluids to change, nothing to break down? Well there is always the second option (Nissan aside due to speculation that 100 mpc is again not likely). The other car of which I am not to speak, well maybe a little, is supposed to get 280 mpc at highway speeds, have a top speed of 85 and be able to get up to 350 if you are driving all city roads. That's a number I can live with. Also the price tag is pretty handy too, if it is to be believed. $37k before the $7500.00 gift from the government for EVs. Even if that vehicle got 1/3 of it's range I'd feel comfortable, since I'd be able to drive over 85 miles still. Very reasonable.

All in all, there is hope. Who knows, maybe there's room in my garage for a Chevy Volt, A car which shall for a time remain nameless, but all electric, and a Honda Insight, hey, the kid's gotta drive something too.

Just another day without paradise

I don't want you to get the impression that I'm going to sit here and whine about how I can't afford an EV. My goal is to discuss the long road, the many choices, the lack of choices and those things which I either just don't understand, or don't want to.

I'm pretty sure I've wanted an electric car since I was a kid. I reason this out because I remember creating non-scientific ways, as children do, to create the better battery. At the very least I lamented the current technology and thought long hours on what could be done had we the better battery. I've also always been into renewable energy sources, mostly solar. Before I realized there is no such thing as perpetual motion, I created a solar panel so efficient you could run it from lights it powers, which would then power the car that it was all attached to. Sadly, I grew up.

What is so great about electric vehicles? Well I know some of the problems people have with them. They have a limited range, are expensive to purchase, you have to replace the batteries every five to ten years, and that alone can be several thousand dollars. With all that said however, you can charge the car for less than it takes to fill up an ICE (internal combustion engine) with 87 Octane. Since I never drive more than 100 miles in a given day, I would have no issues running a highway speed vehicle around the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Highway being 75-80 mph. I like the idea of charging the car while I'm sleeping so I don't have to dash off to the gas station, or try to find the best deal for gas, and feeling buyers remorse when the price goes down two cents the next day and I could have saved, wait for it, 16 cents. I also love the fact that an electric car can run for miles and miles without breaking down or needing any kinds of major repairs. The breaks will even last forever if you have a decent regenerative breaking system going in your EV. Darrell the EV Nut http://www.evnut.com/ has owned at least two OEM EV's, the EV1 by GM and Toyota's RAV4 EV. During his 7 years of owning the RAV4 he's only ever had to change wiper blades, tires, washer fluid, and wait, no that's pretty much it. The batteries still have over 80% of their initial capacity and that amounts to over 100 mpc (miles per charge). I know that even here in North Texas where everything is a half hour away from you, I still never drive more than 80 miles in a day, and that's about the limit of my driving.

So you're arguing that plugging into the wall is just replacing one kind of pollution for another right? Well, even if you're not, "Many people think that car engines and power plants are equally efficient. They are not. The best power plants (the new GE H series gas turbine) are 60% efficient, the BEST cars, under ideal conditions, are not more than 30% efficient. That's a 2:1 factor in favor of electricity generation right there." (http://www.evnut.com). The ideal situation, however, would be to run the whole thing from solar energy. At the moment I'd have to have something akin to a 6 kW solar array to provide the kind of power my house uses and also charge an EV, but every little bit helps when it comes to solar energy.

Cars in the running?

Well I've thought about having my car professionally converted. It's a paid for 2007 Ford Escape, and I like it a lot. The only problem would be if my wife and I had a second child, which would end in us needing a bigger car anyways.

The Nissan Leaf, when it finally is available for public purchase. That would be an excellent commuter car, 100 mpc initially, and Chelsea Sexton test drove one and said it was a wonderful ride. I've never fit very well in Nissan's though. I'm 6'6" and most of my height is in my top half.

There is a car coming out in the near future, weeks I'm told, which should do the job awfully well. Seats 7, gets 270 mpc at highway speeds. Sounds perfect. What's the price, and tell me more. That's all I have to say about unreleased information.

Lastly the Chevy Volt. If I ever needed to take a trip that would work rather well. I could hop in, get my 40 mpc and then use battery sustain mode, which amounts to a gas engine charging the batteries which run the motors which propel the car. After the 40 miles the car would get 40-50 mpg (miles per gallon), and that's better than most of the parallel hybrids out there like the Honda Insight (the new one) and the Prius. They are always assisted by the engine, more or less, and get 40-60 mpg depending on how you drive.

Plug in America asked American's to hold out for their next car, and make sure it has a plug on it. I'm doing my best folks. Now I just need to finish nursing school, and then I'll finally have some money. Until then, I'm broke, and living in just another day without paradise.