So over the past weeks, I have been in search of a new car that would fill the niche my old car will leave empty. I want it to have four doors instead of two, to have a working AC, and most of all, be full electric. That is why when I stumbled upon all of the pre-owned electric cars that I did, I was amazed. When they first came out, they were $30,000, but now I was able to have a barely used Nissan Leaf for a little over $10,000(obviously a little skewed because of rebates and tax deductions, but still). Now this was music to my ears. Unfortunately, this meant making sacrifices in terms of distance, but I only ever really travel 40 miles in a day, to school and back, and with the range a little over 80 miles, I realized this could be done.
During the weekends I take trips to see my girlfriend who lives up in Orlando, which is an 80+ mile drive, but with goal in mind, I quickly found quick charge stations all along I-4. So the question now is when?
I plan to get the car within the next few days and write a follow-up review on how I believe it will either successfully fill my need, or leave me with uneasiness as to where I am going, but needless to say I am excited!
With the little research I put into this before setting my heart out, I have realized two things: range anxiety, and battery life. I disregarded these two because of my short trips, and the charging station at my school, leaving me with the full range after my classes offering plenty of miles to get home and stop anywhere I please. I have also rationalized that if need be, I could go any farther than that distance with my 250cc motorcycle which sips gas at a comfortable 70 mpg.
I really hope the progress we have made with full electric cars will continue to sky rocket the way it has into the future because at the moment they are only making leaps and bounds in the battery technology, driving efficiency and feasibility that these cars can offer. And at a lower price point to where in the future these can compete with internal combustion engines on a fair playing field. We can see that most companies, if they can and would like to continue adding power and increasing efficiency with the goal that we will forget the oil we use to make gas is not renewable resource. But soon enough, range will be met with and so will the manufacturers cost, so it is only a matter of time before it becomes the norm.
And it is a norm, that I cannot wait for.