I am not in favor of artificial price supports like tax credits, but I think there is a misconception about electric cars being a replacement for gasoline powered vehicles. When limited to a single vehicle, most people will choose one which possesses the greatest capacity for their needs (e.g, a large SUV). The biggest hindrance to purchasing an additional vehicle for specific needs like daily commuting is the duplication of costs (sales tax, license fees and insurance) which make this otherwise rational choice economically unviable. Perhaps we should suspend (or at least minimize) these additional costs in order to promote the purchase of these cars as additional vehicles and also provide a boost to the economy.
I`ll go back and click on the Thank You tab after I responded to your response...because it was sensible..
but "sensible" is a relative.
What you have said applies for city dwellers in a climate zone with mild winter temperatures. Berlin is such a city but even there they found out what happens if you get a few days of winter temps, that are common in Minneapolis or anywhere in Canada:
Carsharing-Projekt : Frost stoppt die Elektro-Euphorie - SPIEGEL ONLINE
Carsharing-Projekt : Frost stoppt die Elektro-Euphorie
Understand?
Frost = frost
stoppt=stops
Elektro Euphorie= "Electro-euphoria"
As it turns out even at a mild -1 C day you have to be careful how often you use your windshield defroster/fan unless you want to walk the rest of the way. I don`t know where you are driving, but in Montana, the Dakotas ,Minnesota and in all of Canada you either wind up in a rear end collision or have to start walking if you can`t defog or defrost your windshield.
I would have to recharge my car after I picked up my mail in Edwin Manitoba before I could go get my groceries in Portage La Prairie...in the summer...never mind in the winter.
And if we all had to use electric cars we would have to relocate everybody from Montana, Minnesota, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario,Quebec, the NWT, the Yukon, Nunavut, Alaska to California.
b.t.w. fuel cost is the least expensive component in driving a car.
Depreciation, insurance and maintenance are the top 3 expenses.
I`ve been driving and maintaining my vintage F150 for only a fraction of the cost what an e-car costs per month just sitting still in the driveway.
No way would I want to cram my wife, my 3 kids and the contents of a grocery shopping cart into a Chevy Volt and then hope I can make it back home before the battery beeps out because I had to use the headlights and keep the interior from turning into a deep freezer.
Yes on occasion I`m the only occupant in this full size van with a V8 engine,...but most of the time it`s packed with people and groceries, often pulling a trailer behind it + some more stuff on the roof rack...like 12 sheets of ply-wood and 2 dozen 2 x 6 x 12 foot lumber.
It`s not an "over sized car" for my needs, it`s a family transport, a transport truck, a snow plow...a tow truck, a crane...a general purpose work horse.
I`ve got dual tanks holding 120 liters but I can drive it over slightly over 1200 kilometers before I run low on gas...because I took my lap-top and re-programmed the injector pulse width rpm factory default ECM settings and a few more things like that:
When I got to Sioux Lookout it would have been a disaster with anything less than a full sized van. Every motel was crammed full with evacuees from a massive forest fire in that region and my wife and kids would have been sleeping in a car seat during a cool +2C night instead of the large beds in the rear section of a warm car that idled all night with fresh air coming in through 2 open windows.
We used to live in the Yukon before and to get groceries was a 1100 km round trip at > -40C over 3 mountain ranges. So the car we need is something entirely different what somebody "needs" in L.A. or New York where there is a public transportation bus/subway stop on almost every block.
Well, actually, you could drive at 65 mph but you'll only get about 4 exits down the highway!!!!
