[toeser]

Originally Posted by Stu from NYC

Thanks for info. If traveling say 725 miles to see kids for example that means two stops for fueling. I like to keep moving when traveling a long distance so would not have patience to wait while charging. Would be better while staying here during pandemic and charging at home.

I agree. I would never criticize anyone else's choice of a vehicle, but electric will not be my choice until they get an 80% charge down to 15 minutes and have a range of 400 miles. My car gets 600 miles on a tank of gas and when I'm driving 1500 miles between homes, that is exactly what I want.

[Blue Oval]

Although I do not own an electric car, set aside all the talk about carbon footprint, cost or speed of charging, when a person considers how many times we drive someplace that is at most 50 miles or less (Dr apt, Bank, Groceries, dinner, etc.) they are definitely a viable choice to consider. Combined with rooftop solar panels for charging and the battery to possibly feed back at night, or in emergencies, a package to consider. Longer trips are a different situation, but still quite possible. I never look at the cost per mile of driving a vehicle and I seriously doubt many consumers do, but look at size style and comfort. Electrics are here to stay in my opinion, time will tell if I ever own one.

[biker1]

Sales of electric cars are constrained by the battery supply chain, not demand. Tesla sells every car they can make and they make as many cars as they can manufacture batteries for. There will be gas cars being manufactured 20 years from now but electric cars will become a bigger part of the market as the prices of the batteries drop and battery production increases. It is not all or nothing.

Originally Posted by retiredguy123

I was thinking that you wouldn't own the battery, but pay a monthly service fee to use the exchangeable batteries. If they cannot reduce the charging time, and ensure available charging stalls, I think electric cars will be difficult to sell to people who live in apartments and condos. There may be plenty of charging stations now, but only 4 percent of cars are electric. They don't seem to be selling like hotcakes. Car dealers are selling hundreds of thousands of new gasoline vehicles, and they will be on the road for 15 or 20 years from now and competing with electric cars.

[RARO1]

Originally Posted by villageuser

Curious as to how much it cost to put in a charging station at your home.

Since most homes have their breaker panel in the garage it’s typically a few hundred dollars to install a dedicated 240v outlet (same kind that a clothes dryer would use)

The actual chargers are built into the car, what most of us call the charger is pretty much just a extension cord with some protection circuitry and charge level indicator.

Charging at home at 240 volt is called level 2 charging. You get about 20-30 miles per hour charging this way.

Level 1 charging would be just using a normal 120 volt outlet, this charges a lot slower about 4-5 miles per hour.

Level 1 and 2 use the cars internal charger, using AC power from the grid.

Then there level 3 charging, which you would use on a road trip or a quick local charge stop, this is what you find at Tesla’s supercharging station and at other fast charging chains around the country. On level 3 the cars internal chargers are bypassed and the battery is feed DC power at up to 400amp, giving charge rates up to 1000 miles per hour.

[RARO1]

Originally Posted by biker1

Depends on where you live. In Florida, about 70% of electricity is generated from natural gas. Electricity from coal is relatively small, I believe nuclear is larger.

Just like biker1 says it depends on where you live, but the average US electric car has about 50% of the carbon footprint vs a gas car. Thats a cradle to grave number. If your in a state that has more renewable energy or have you own solar panels it’s much less.

The US dept of energy has a tool you can check what the average emissions Gas VS electric is dependent on what state you live in.

Florida is around the us average and an all electric car has around 4200 pounds of CO2 emission per year while the average gasoline car has about 11500 pounds per year.

Here’s the link to it:
Alternative Fuels Data Center: Emissions from Hybrid and Plug-In Electric Vehicles

[Nancymacy]

I am replying but for a different reason. I am now able to reply but having a problem with posting. Can someone please give me direction as to how to post so I can.
Appreciated. Nancy

[jacRI]

If you're traveling that distance odds are you would need a bathroom break and a quick lunch. Perfect time to charge.

[TheWarriors]

If you’ve never driven a Tesla and are into performance vehicles, you will be sold immediately. Zero to sixty in 3.2 seconds, nothing compares in the ICE world for comparable dollars spent. I charge at 40-44 miles per hour at home, longer trips do add time but being retired, that’s all I have now!
As for Villagers jumping on the bandwagon, most older people are not receptive to change. Electrification is coming fast, simpler technology and over the air software updates dictates this is the future. It’s great to be in America where we have choices but no one is going to get to excited about a new ICE vehicle that feels outdated as soon as you drive it off the lot. These vehicles are not the Prius.

[PugMom]

Originally Posted by Stu from NYC

They keep reducing the charging time and lengthening how far you can go on a charge. When you factor in the cost of the electricity are you really doing anything for the environment?

don't you need coal to produce electricity?

[Number 10 GI]

When is the government going to charge road tax on electric vehicles? Should have already been doing that. I'm tired of tax payer funded incentives to sell electric cars, let them sell on their own merit. Do some research, manufacturing batteries is a filthy polluting process, so much for environmental concerns. When they can make an electric car that lets me drive as far and refuel as quickly as a gas vehicle I'll be one of the first in line to buy one.

[RARO1]

Originally Posted by Number 10 GI

When is the government going to charge road tax on electric vehicles? Should have already been doing that. I'm tired of tax payer funded incentives to sell electric cars, let them sell on their own merit. Do some research, manufacturing batteries is a filthy polluting process, so much for environmental concerns. When they can make an electric car that lets me drive as far and refuel as quickly as a gas vehicle I'll be one of the first in line to buy one.

Once manufacturers reach a certain number of cars sold the tax incentive roll back, Right now there isn’t any federal tax incentive if you buy a Tesla, and GM will be phased out soon too.

Yes producing a EV creates more emissions than a gas car, the typical EV takes 1.5 years to pay its deficient back. Cradle to grave the average American EV has 50% less emission than gas, thats counting manufacturing, charging/fueling and end of life disposal.

Many states with EVs do charge ev road tax, the average amount payed on road tax for a gas car is $73 a year, states that have a special EV registration charge between $50-200 a year, I agree we should pay our fair share of road tax, and it’s happening in more and more states.

[Stu from NYC]

For the very limited driving we do now we fill up tank every 6-8 weeks.

Down the road if they can get charging time down to 5-10 minutes would seriously consider when we are back doing our longer trips.

[zendog3]

The question to ask before buying a Tesla: How many times in the last year have you had to fill up your car outside your garage? How much time have you spent standing at gas pumps.That can add up to a lot of hours. Now ask yourself, how many of those fill-ups have you HAD to fill your car more than 100 miles from your garage. Looks like the electric car will save a lot of your time, standing at the pump, even if some of that time you spend at a charging stations on the road.

As for cost, I recently had electric panels installed on the roof of my house, so I would be driving at pennies per mile. If I bought a Tesla, my carbon footprint would be close to zero.

Global warming is real. It is driving hurricanes in Iowa, fires in California, sea level rise around the Globe, etc. If you live in Florida, where the sun shines every day, you should call out the solar company for an evaluation. My bill to pay off my solar roof is what I used to pay for electricity. I did not install solar on my roof to save money. I did it to help the world my grandchildren be a better safer place. I may look into an electric car if I ever need to replace the one I have. It would be nice to think that when I die, I will have achieved near zero carbon status.

[jweber555@gmail.com]

The cost depends on the electric carrier. An average time to fully charge is 1/2 hr.

[La lamy]

Originally Posted by Nancymacy

I am replying but for a different reason. I am now able to reply but having a problem with posting. Can someone please give me direction as to how to post so I can.
Appreciated. Nancy

Go to "talk of the Villages Forums' green tab at top of page. From there, get into whichever forum your post is about like "Current Events" then you'll see a red tab for "New Thread".